The archeological complex of Tazumal is considered one of the most distinguished Mayan sites in El Salvador. It is situated in the heart of the modern city of Chalchuapa in the western part of the country.
We’d recently crossed into El Salvador from Guatemala and settled for a while in the city of Santa Ana. It’d been three months we were traveling around Central America and had so far visited but a single archeological site (Teotihuacan in Mexico). Hearing about the existence of Tazumal nearby, we decided it was about time to go on a ruins-watching excursion once again.
Chalchuapa is located a mere 13 km west of Santa Ana. To get there we caught the local bus 218, which departs from a place along 9a Calle Poniente between 8a and 10a Avenidas Sur (coordinates: 13.9914, -89.5614). I’m not sure how frequent these routes are, since urs happened to pass upon the very moment we arrived on the spot, but I imagine there must be several every hour. The ticket cost $0.32 per person and the ride was comfortable and fairly quick. With a few stops and aberrations here and there, in less than half an hour we were dropped off in Chalchuapa downtown.
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If you rather avoid the public transport hassle, you can arrange a private transfer here. Or you may as well join one of several organized tours from Santa Ana or San Salvador on Viator or GetYourGuide.
The bus dropped us off in front of the cemetery that encircles Tazumal. The entrance to the site is located at 7a Calle Oriente (coordinates: 13.9805, -89.6745). We had to walk about 200 meters from the bus stop to get there. The road before the gate was full of restaurants and souvenir shops, whose owners called us in urgently yet not too persistently.
As foreigners, we had to pay a $5 entrance fee at the gate. The price was $1 for locals and $3 dollars for nationals of other Central American countries.
After we had already paid—so to make sure that we do pay to begin with, I suppose—a lad came to inform us that, due to Covid regulations valid as of June 2022, we could stay within the premises for a maximum of 45 minutes. That was kind of unfair but overall inconsequential…
The site was rather tiny: a path of some 300 m to walk around the main pyramid, and everything else was restricted by fences. So we wouldn’t really have much of a reason to stay for longer than 45 minutes even if we were allowed to.
The site wasn’t what I’d call an experience of a lifetime, but quite a pleasant place to be on the whole. There was a central pyramid surrounded by a few more, smaller structures. I found them charming mostly in combination with the beautiful enveloping gardens that composed an environment of heavenly serenity. They also maintained a museum with a modest collection of some pretty curious artifacts.
Having used up our 45 minutes, we left Tazumal and continued our walk around the town. I found Chalchuapa a cute place: colorful, shaded little neighborhoods; ubiquitous street markets; amiable locals…
After a coffee and a sandwich in a local place, we finished our day trip with a walk around Laguna Cuzcachapa. This was a lovely lake surrounded by lush vegetation that, was I brought there blindfolded, I’d find it hard to believe it is located right amidst a city.
Taking the same bus, we were back in Santa Ana by early afternoon for some rest in our comfy and cheap hotel.
Accommodation and Activities in El Salvador
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