You may be planning to skip Metapán, El Salvador. That would be a mistake.
The flags of five Central American countries fly in Constitution Square in Metapán, El Salvador.
Getting to Metapán
It’s the little things that can make a trip. Like cruise control. Since leaving the bitumen bliss of US and Canadian highways behind we’ve been rumbling, bumping, and pot-hole surfing our way south over roads that often put the GM test track to shame (and we’ve driven the GM test track so we know what we’re talking about).
However, throughout El Salvador we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the comparatively good condition of most of the roads we’ve traveled down but we were still stunned by the heavenly smoothness of the new Northern Highway to Metapán, a nearly US$300 million project which was funded in part by the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This stretch of road is so good that Salvadorans recently held a skateboarding competition on it. We used our cruise control for the first time in years on this highway as we rolled smoothly into Metapán. It was nice to know it still works.
Metapán’s city hall looks a bit like a casino. The fence around that big cat is made from defunct gun barrels.
Exploring Metapán
Metapán is the birthplace of Isidro Menéndez, a key figure in El Salvador’s independence movement and sometimes credited with drafting the country’s first constitution. This helps explain why El Salvador’s Constitution Square is in Metapán, not San Salvador.
Firing up one of about 30 traditional lime kilns around Metapán in El Salvador where limestone rocks are cooked down to quicklime powder the (very) old-fashioned way.
These days Metapán is known more for its lucrative deposits of limestone than homegrown revolutionaries, which explains why the town’s nickname is “the white city.” Some full-size factories have set up shop in Metapán where they process limestone rocks into quicklime (mostly for use in concrete) on a grand scale. However, there are still about 30 lime kilns around Metapán which cook rocks down to this fine, white powder the old-fashioned way. And when we say “old-fashioned” we mean practically prehistoric.
A calero, or traditional lime kiln worker, in Metapán, El Salvador.
Called las caleras, these kilns are constructed by workers called caleros who meticulously stack quarried limestone into an igloo shape. The stones must fit tightly and the finished igloos are gorgeous–like something US artist Andy Goldsworthy might make and every bit as temporary.
A fired and steaming traditional lime kiln smokes in the sunset near Metapán, El Salvador.
Next, a massive amount of wood is stacked inside the igloo and then it’s lit on fire. Over the next 12 days the fire reaches epic temperatures and cooks the rocks until they quite literally change form–going from dark to pure white.
Wood fires are stoked to incredible temperatures as limestone rocks are turned into limestone powder in traditional kilns which are still used in Metapán, El Salvador.
Take a look inside the fiery, ancient world of a traditional lime kiln in our video from Metapán, below.
It takes three days to cool the rocks to a temperature at which they can be handled. At that point water is poured on them causing a chemical reaction marked by bubbling, cracking, and fizzing until the rock turns into white lime powder (called quicklime) right before your very eyes.
Watch this amazing process in our video, below, of the transformation from limestone rock to quicklime powder, below. If you don’t think chemistry is cool after you watch this then there’s no hope for you.
Cool off with some river rafting
An adventure of a different kind takes place on the nearby Guajoyo River where Raul Sanabria has created an aquatic park called Apuzunga where you can cool off in naturally fed swimming pools (US$3 per adult), zip line (US$10 per person), camp, and go rafting with some of the best equipment and most professional river guides we’ve seen in Central America (US$40 per person and each raft always has three guides).
Heading out for a white water adventure on the Guajoyo River in Metapán, El Salvador.
A raging section of the Guajoyo River in Metapán, El Salvador.
Rafting guides paddling out on the Guajoyo River in Metapán, El Salvador.
Raul also has a tilapia farm which supplies the freshest of fish to his open air restaurant and bar overlooking the river. Our post-rafting lunch was huge and delicious. Followed by cold beer and a nap in a hammock, it’s a perfect day.
The prince of pupusas
Forty years ago a teenaged Amadeo Gonzalez fled Metapán to escape the vicious civil war in El Salvador leaving behind a coveted spot on the national soccer team—a team that went all the way to the World Cup the following year during which the so-called Soccer War with Honduras began (though people in both countries are quick to point out that this short but passionate altercation was caused by much more than a soccer match).
By that time Amadeo was in San Francisco working at the Levi’s factory (back when the iconic American jeans were still made in the USA). An invitation to play soccer with a local team in SF turned into a paying gig which allowed Amadeo to quit the factory job he hated and eventually open a restaurant.
Twenty five years ago Amadeo opened Balompie Café in the Mission district long before gentrification made this neighborhood safe and stylish (the word balompie is a combination of the Spanish words for “ball” and “foot” which used to be used instead of futbol).
A second Balompie restaurant followed, this time in Amadeo’s hometown of Metapán. Then Amadeo opened a third Balompie in San Francisco, solidifying his standing as the source for Salvadoran favorites to a growing Latin population in the city who craved dishes like yucca and chicharron and the most iconic Salvadorean dish of all: the pupusa. This gooey, rich, steaming disc of grilled masa (rice or corn) is traditionally filled with beans, cheese, and chicharron though Amadeo has expanded the offerings to include ingredients like basil and mozzarella.
Amadeo Gonzalez: Metapán native, soccer lover, owner of Balompie Cafe and the Prince of Pupusas.
The pupusas at Balompie have been voted Best Pupusa by SF Weekly and 7X7 magazine (which put a luscious picture of a plateful of Amadeo’s pupusas on their food issue cover). Balompie has also been named one of the top 100 Budget Bites by the San Francisco
Chronicle.
We haven’t been to Amadeo’s SF restaurants but we have eaten at Balompie in Metapán with Amadeo and his wife Evelyn and their gregarious son Ama and we can tell you that it’s impossible to beat the open air balcony with views of Constitution Park and the San
Pedro church which some say is the most beautiful colonial church in El Salvador.
The food was delicious and Amadeo’s very personal wall of soccer memorabilia and the fact that the back of his restaurant opens up right into the soccer stadium make Balompie a very smart upscale sports bar too. For more, read our story about Amadeo and his pupusas for The Latin Kitchen.
Metapán travel tips
Odds are your guide book will recommend that you stay at either Hotel San Jose, Hotel Cristina or (God forbid) the trucker-filled Hotel California while in Metapán. That’s because they don’t know about Hostal de Metapán. Opened in June of 2011, owners Rafael and Estrella have created a spotless, centrally located newcomer with eight rooms including private double rooms with A/C, Wi-Fi, parking, bathroom, free coffee, and daily breakfast for US$20.
We liked Metapán so much that we extended our stay and got into some day trip adventures including an amateur paleontologist and fried cow udders.
Here’s more about travel in El Salvador
Rafting and delicious pupusas? Sign me up!