I am Australian and visited El Savador last year.
Many travellers are loathe to go to a country which still gets such bad press.
Nevertheless, this is the volume which I and almost all budget travellers use on their journey. Needless to say many of the locals whom I engaged in conversation were none too impressed by the manner in which their country is described and many travellers avoid it on the basis of this information alone. I, like many hundreds of other backpackers, was completing a diving course on the island of Utila off the coast of Honduras. I had travelled from Mexico and it was always in my plans to visit El Salvador. I had even obtained my visa, only required by E.S., of all the C.A. countries, in Australia before my departure.