The pupusa argument, settled on the airport road

Twenty minutes from the airport on the road to San Salvador there is a stretch of highway where every building is a pupusería, and they all make them with rice flour. This is not a coincidence and it is not a gimmick. Olocuilta has made pupusas de arroz for long enough that the town is the reason anyone argues about it.

The difference

Corn masa gives you a soft, forgiving disc. Rice flour gives you something thinner that blisters and crisps on the comal and holds its structure when the cheese goes liquid. It is better. I understand that people disagree and I have stopped being polite about it.

How to order

Two or three per person, revueltas — beans, cheese, chicharrón. Curtido from the jar on the table, as much as you can stand. The salsa is thin and warm and goes over, not beside. Eat with your hands.

Nothing here costs more than a dollar and no stall takes a card. Bring small notes, which is true of most of this country.

The arrival-day case

Almost everyone lands at SAL in the afternoon and goes straight to the coast. Stopping here on the way adds twenty minutes and turns the first meal of the trip into the best one. The airport guide has the rest of the arrival logistics; the food guide covers everything after pupusas.