I have generally been trying to bypass urban areas on this trip in favor of the natural beauty everywhere. Even so, I had to spend some time in Santa Ana as I passed through on my way to Juayau. Pictured above is the city’s gemgem of the city, the Catedral de Nuestra Señora Santa Ana. Below, a municipal building and small church.

Just outside Santa Ana is the Parque Arqueológico Tazumal, the best-preserved pre-Hispanic Mayan site in El Salvador. It was inhabited from 1200 BC until its definitive abandonment around 1200 AD. Its name, of Maya-Quiché origin, translates to “the place where the victims were burned.