Suchitito, between the buses. El Salvador

Founded in 1528 Suchitoto was the first capital and major Spanish settlement in what is now El Salvador.

The conquistadors used Suchitoto as a base for subjugating the surrounding region before they established San Salvador as the capital city in 1545 .

Nowadays Suchitoto is seen as the cultural capital of the country, forward thinking with eco groups and womens groups fighting for their cause

The town still retains a lot of colonial character, the streets are mostly cobbled and the buildings 'white washed" in various colours, lovely red tiled roofs.

Suchitoto: meaning in the Náhuat language: “place of birds and flowers."

Ratoncito Pérez, a fantasy mouse in hispanic folklore, similar to the western "tooth fairy"

Love the swan neck balusters

Love the guitars and saxophones too

Yup I love the umbrellas as well

Suchito people

'It was the death squads that drove the people out of Suchitoto,'' says a lifelong resident who relays the information in a hoarse whisper. ''Everyone became a suspect. Mutilated bodies were appearing every morning on the roadside. Suddenly our town was enveloped by a horror we could never have imagined.'

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Remembering how calm life used to be, one woman says, ''On summer nights everyone sat in their chairs on the street corners, talking under the light of the moon.Now my father and I, when the bombs fall and the soldiers fire into the night, sit together in the darkness and remember the town we love, to fight the sadness.''

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Although during the civil war Suchitoto became virtually a ghost town, thanks to the efforts of local filmmaker Alejandro Cottan agreement was made by both sides that the township buildings should not be destroyed.

The historic centre has been designated a national cultural heritage site,