El Salvador is something like the reformed Medellin that was. Yes, it’s still suffering from astronomically high crime rates and marauding drug cartels. Yes, there are pockets of startling poverty to deal with. However, ask anyone who’s traveled to this great slab of Central America and they’ll tell you: the vast majority of the volcano-dotted, jungle-dressed land is gorgeous!

El Salvador tour guides have not been silent either. They too have been trying to get a slice of region’s booming eco and adventure tourism industry. They talk of brooding cinder cones at Chaparrastique, of legendary surfing spots along Las Flores. They tell tales of lively sangria-filled cantinas in the Zona Rosa of San Salvador, awesome watersports at Intipuca Beach, mind-boggling colonial facades and relics in San Miguel and intrepid coastal hiking at El Cuco. Meanwhile, supervolcanos host lakes on the tops of Ilopango and pupusa breads beckon from the roadside eateries, mango juices slosh about the beach bars and Joya de Cerén is hailed as the Pompeii of the Americas. Not bad eh?