El Salvador Travel Guide

Letters from San Salvador generally take about one week to the US and nine or so days to Europe. The main post office in San Salvador is open Mon-Fri 8am-5pm and Sat 8am-noon; itoffers a parcel service, but if you're sending anything of value it's better to use one of the courier services . The safest place to receive letters is at the lista de correos (window 14) of the main post office; alternatively, there's the American Express office, while some embassies hold mail addressed to their citizens. Post offices in smaller cities and towns keep the same hours as in the capital but aren't recommended as places to receive mail, while letters posted here take longer to arrive at their destinations.

Telecom , the recently privatized phone company, has newly renovated offices (all open daily 7am-10pm) in every town from where you can make local, long-distance and international calls. Offices in the larger towns also offer Internet services. Reverse charge (collect) calls can be made to the US and Canada, but not to the UK. A three-minute minimum call to Europe costs about US$8, and direct-dial services are available to the US (AT&T, MCI, Sprint). The telephone code for the whole of El Salvador is 503.

Most public phones in El Salvador are now cardphones : either the yellow Telecom booths (with instructions in both Spanish and English) or the lime-green Telefónica booths (instructions in Spanish only). Both require prepaid cards which can be purchased at many stores, gas stations and the Mister Donut restaurant chain; the Telefónica card uses a unique number code which must be keyed in before use (don't insert the phonecard). You can make international calls from both types of cardphone, but it's cheaper to go to a Telecom office. There are also a limited number of red coin-operated phones , but they don't always work and you can't make international calls from them. Rates for local calls are the same at Telecom offices; a minimum call costs 1 colón.

Faxes can be sent from Telecom offices, but don't expect great service, and all hotels with a fax machine will usually send one for you, though at a considerable premium. Most towns now have places with Internet access, particularly around universities and in shopping malls. Connections are generally very good and prices range from US$2 to US$4 per hour.