El Carmen Parking (Eddie's Place) | Informal Campsite

March 14th, 2024 by midstorey00

Eddie is an awesome guy, very welcoming. I stayed for 3 nights while he fixed two problems on my van. safe gated area for myself and my dog.

March 6th, 2024 by anschnallenabfahrt

Wow, soooo welcoming! Stayed for 5 nights, because we had some things to get fixed and we had a great stay!
Eddie and Irene are fantastic people. Eddie helped us a lot with everything f.e. received our drone (sent it from Costa Rica to this place), fixed our car and even invited is to join a little Barbecue-Night.

The stay between all those old cars had something special, too. We liked it.

Of course there are still some things, they need to improve (f.e. installing lights and hooks in the bathroom and make the parking space a little more spacious), they are working on this and try to make their place nicer and nicer for overlanders all the time. So just be open & tell them and they will try to improve :)

15$ per night per vehicle incl Wifi, electricity, bathroom (vold shower) and a very safe place.5$ to get in to downtown with an Uber.
Highly recommended!

January 20th, 2024 by disindientes1

Great base camp to explore San Salvador, Santa Tecla and El Boquerón vulcano. 20 mins away from centro Historico by uber(4-5 USD). In my opinion, more than a fair price for what you get: Safe parking in the city, quiet street/area, good power, fast internet and clean wc+ shower. On top of that Eddie is a smart and talented car mechanic with good tools and wide knowledge of any kind of car, he helped us with our F-350. Highly recomended.

October 26th, 2023 by laynetraveling

NOT WORTH $15.00. You are stuck surrounded by broken down cars and trucks. The neighborhood is extremely noisy from dogs barking to loud music playing both late into the night and early in the morning. The bathroom area is quite primitive but clean. There is no light in the bathroom so it’s challenging at night ( remember you’re walking between cars)

October 23rd, 2023 by scm173

We were looking for a mechanic in San Salvador for our various problems with the car.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find this place (which is the same as El Carmen Parking) in the "mechanics" category since it's only marked as a Campsite.
However, Eddie is a natural mechanic (read the other reviews) and we wish we would have found him sooner.
Hence, we add this place for future travelers.
Highly recommend!

September 6th, 2023 by Team Bodyduck

Eddie and Irene are very helpful and very good hosts. Eddie speaks perfect English, German and Spanish. We spent four weeks here and felt very comfortable. Clean shower, water, very good WiFi and electricity are included ($15/night). The access is a bit narrow with low hanging trees, but is doable with any rig size. The city can be reached by Uber in 10 minutes and costs $2-3.

August 30th, 2023 by danielcw95

Eddy and Irene are wonderful hosts and Eddy is an incredible mechanic with great connections in town for anything he can't fix himself. Eddy managed to fix a leak in our power steering that every other mechanic had told us they could not fix! $5 to uber into the historical center or to Santa Tecla, both worth seeing.

July 22nd, 2023 by munduomx

Everything still as said before, Edy and Irene are amazing, we stayed 2 nights and then came back for an extra night a week later, they have a table and some chairs, amazing, and they even set up some lighting for night because we needed to work late night. They also gave us suggestions for laundry, and an amazing place to visit on the beach. Bathroom clean and really good shower. 15 USD per night.

Just consider that the place is in the hill, we are traveling in a VW 79' combi, and it was a little tough to get, the road is in good conditions, but it is just a little steep.

June 5th, 2023 by henco44

Eddie is the best, guys.
we did a service for our camper truck in Guatemala which was awful and they made us issues with our rear braking system. Eddie fixed it easly. He welcomed us into his home and was very fun with. He's also really generous and an intresting man.

May 17th, 2023 by ed30003

As mentioned, still 15 USD for a van and 2 persons. Functional shower and running toilets on site, no need to go out of property. Eddie IS very curious and observative about mechanic, he may save you useless repairs by pointing quickly at the crucial points and sort out thé problems by order of magnitude. In other words: smart ...

March 8th, 2023 by justin.fossorier

Perfect stop at Eduardo's, happy we got to know him, very pleasant guy and experienced mechanic.
We stayed a couple of nights, the time to discover the city and for some work on our car (oil change, brake discs resurfacing and rear pads replacement), at a fare cost.
The place is peculiar, as you camp in the middle of the garage, with a nice set-up, iron table and chairs, shadow all day long, fast speed internet.
Thanks again Eduardo for receiving us! See you around

February 20th, 2023 by paulina.joyce

Really nice place to stay at when staying in San Salvador! Eddie and Irene are super friendly and we could talk german with Eddie too! He has space for 1 or 2 vans.
And his yard is packed with a lot of interesting cars.
Please let him know that you come in advance.

February 5th, 2023 by douhe

Wow what a place. Eddie and Irene are super friendly. Really special Overlander place. Clean toilet and shower. 15$ per car per night. If yo have trouble with your car Eddie is for sure a good place for help.

January 5th, 2023 by roland

what a wonderful host Eddie thank you. A must for car lovers. the area is partly residential. with uber you can get to the city center for 4-8$. extremely good WiFi. please contact Eddie beforehand as he has limited space!

January 3rd, 2023 by margaux.pignard

We've spent 1 night in Eduardo's house after we tried El Ecoparque El Espino, but they didn't have water. He received us in last minute, answered directly by phone.
He's passionate by cars and has a lot of very impressive models in is parking, but he found a place for us. Super nice, was had shower with great pressure, electricity, and a table under the trees to eat something. Perfect to visit San Salvador and spend a quiet night. Bongo his dog is super friendly and calm. Wifi available on the parking.

March 19th, 2022 by @alyvanblake

we stayed in San Salvador for a few days while getting some repairs on our van. Eddie and his wife are great! he speaks excellent English, Spanish, and German and easily jokes around in all 3. small secure parking area with high walls with room for 1 or 2 rigs at the moment. Eddie is a car fanatic and it was great chatting with him about his cars. there are many parked here. he allowed us to hook up to power to charge our batteries and a water source to fill our tank. large spacious bathroom. coldish shower with excellent pressure. dog friendly. a nice shady area with a table and chairs under a few mango trees. he allowed us to work on our vehicle to do some minor repairs and let us do an oil change. we had our own tools to do the repairs we needed but he offered what he had to help. even took us to the store at the bottom of the hill for groceries. the location isn't very close to anything and it's pretty high on a hill so walking down is a chore, but it's quiet and a lot cooler at night than staying in town. he is currently charging 15 a night.

February 25th, 2022 by bshafs

Eduardo is very friendly and his place is very eclectic and worth a visit. he offered me a beer when i arrived and meet two of his dogs and his cat. i paid $15/night (that is probably negociable).

he is a crazy creative builder / mechanic and will love to talk shop with you. as a bonus he can almost certainly fix any problem you have or give you a mod (4x4, wench, etc).

March 11th, 2020 by sigfrido58

Overnight parking, including running water, ample spaces, nice climate, no restroom, but there is a petrol station nearby, safe area, access to electricity, mechanical help and parts, closed secure installation, phone number is (503)75068896 and (503)78776244 Eddie or Irene