Has anyone here ever visited El Salvador and tried paying with bitcoin there?

[Arenga pinnata]

(Reupload on Talkimg / Sourch Image : https://pintu.co.id/news/29826-el-salvador-ubah-citra-negara )

I'm quite curious, of the many users on this forum, has anyone ever visited El Salvador and felt the sensation of paying with bitcoin there?
This may be a trivial question but I'm sure many of you are also curious about this.

Or maybe someone intends to go there someday. Just to take a vacation and enjoy the country's friendliness towards bitcoin. And don't worry about crime in El Salvador. because it seems that their president, Nayib Bukele, has made the country much safer from crime during the period he was president. And fortunately he was re-elected as president there. Even though it is not completely free from crime, the crime rate there seems to be decreasing based on news reports spread on the internet.

And yes, I also heard that tourism in the country has increased interest or visitors after adopting bitcoin as a legal means of payment. So I hope there is someone here who has visited there. or at least have the desire to go there. And want to share the story here.

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[pinggoki]

Now this is a thing that I want to check out, it's definitely something that would pique our curiosity especially mine because I'm a bit scared of doing flights, really want to know how is it there? It seems that no one has been to El Salvador in this forum, that would be a really awesome thing if someone would share their travel experience. I haven't even seen yet any people that are from that country too, no one shared their experience yet as an El Salvadorian so it's still a mystery to me and it's weird that we haven't seen any kind of interaction from them in the forum too, by now there should be some people in that country that would stumble across this forum by chance since bitcoin is a big deal there already right?

[DeathAngel]

I haven’t but here is an article detailing the experiences of a student who went to ES & tried to live on Bitcoin for 2 months. https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/08/07/two-months-in-el-salvador-the-ground-game-for-bitcoin-adoption/amp/

[Synchronice]

Or maybe someone intends to go there someday. Just to take a vacation and enjoy the country's friendliness towards bitcoin. And don't worry about crime in El Salvador. because it seems that their president, Nayib Bukele, has made the country much safer from crime during the period he was president. And fortunately he was re-elected as president there. Even though it is not completely free from crime, the crime rate there seems to be decreasing based on news reports spread on the internet.

Your question is interesting and I would love to see either how many Bitcointalkers went to El Salvador or even are from El Salvador but I can't agree with you about your attitude towards crime there. El Salvador is still a country with one of the highest crime rate and it's not only about crime, criminals there are brutal killers who torture people. I personally wouldn't risk it, doesn't worth for me.

By the way, I saw Cointelegraph's video about that a year ago and would love to share it:

[goldkingcoiner]

No, I am not exposing myself to 16 hours worth of flight radiation just to spend Bitcoin in El Salvador.

I can spend Bitcoin in basically any country in the world as long as I have an internet connection. Hell, I could sell my entire wallet seed without an internet connect, in an emergency situation, if I had to do that.

[dzungmobile]

Bitcoin legal tender, Bitcoin Beach, Bitcoin City, Lightning Network adoption are what helped El Salvadord to attract more visitors. They came to the nation for vacation, curiosity and for business like expanding their company business to El Salvador like Paxful years ago.

Effects actually exist but for El Salvadorians, not all of them are happy with legal tender. Because they are not Bitcoin investors and hodlers so with legal tender, they are forced to accept & receive bitcoins while they don't want it.

If their bussiness is small, their budget for bussiness operation with volatile price of Bitcoin. It affects value of their income at time of receiving bitcoin and time of cashing it out.

[Reatim]

I am sure that many bitcoin enthusiasts are interested and curious to see the possible future of our world starting from El Salvador.

I personally have not been to El salvador myself and in my country, there’s almost no sign of bitcoin anywhere. From what I heard however is that stalls and other businesses in El Salvador are already using bitcoin as a payment method but not yet 100% of the country is bitcoin-friendly. Still, it’s nice to know that there is a step towards adaptation of bitcoin somewhere in the world.

[Plaguedeath]

If you only want get experience to use Bitcoin as a currency, you don't have to fly to El Salvador, just find the stores in your country using this maps https://btcmap.org/map and verify it by make some research.

Currently I don't want to use Bitcoin as a currency yet because people still think someone who own Bitcoin is rich, so it's dangerous. Since I also really care with my privacy, I would think twice to do it.

[Jatiluhung]

Maybe one day El Salvador will become one of my travel destinations. But I doubt whether I will be able to not get bored with the flight which takes more than 1 day 1 night. I checked and it takes about 26 hours from here with two layovers. But I probably wouldn't want to do it if it was just to spend bitcoins. But if it's for the purpose of traveling around the world I'll think about it.
It would probably be very interesting if there were actually El Salvadorans who had joined this forum and told stories about the country in this forum after the adoption of bitcoin. Because so far I have only observed this country through news on the internet.

[Nrcewker]

Why there is need to visit and try? You don’t believe that Bitcoins are actually legal there? Bitcoins have really impacted a lot in the live of the people at El Salvador. The government knows the value and capabilities of the coins, and hence without giving a second thought they made the coins legal. Soon I have heard that they are also interested in giving people the options to invest in the coins with exciting investment plans. So yes we need to praise El Salvador for their bold decisions.

[alastantiger]

No, I am not exposing myself to 16 hours worth of flight radiation just to spend Bitcoin in El Salvador.

I can spend Bitcoin in basically any country in the world as long as I have an internet connection. Hell, I could sell my entire wallet seed without an internet connect, in an emergency situation, if I had to do that.

I agree with you. I admire El Salvador and the great job their president has done with bitcoin and its technologies. However, I do not see difference between it and other countries where bitcoin is also accepted and people use it daily.

Personally, I do not think that the experience will be any different from watching the YouTube videos of those people who have gone and are sharing their beautiful and amazing experiences with us.

[Die_empty]

It would probably be very interesting if there were actually El Salvadorans who had joined this forum and told stories about the country in this forum after the adoption of bitcoin. Because so far I have only observed this country through news on the internet.

This question about any forum member from El Salvador has been asked several times and I doubt if we have any member who resides or has visited the nation. We would have had a first-hand account of the Bitcoin situation in the country. Maybe one day we might have a member from the location.

Personally, I do not think that the experience will be any different from watching the YouTube videos of those people who have gone and are sharing their beautiful and amazing experiences with us.

Personal experience will be different from videos because everyone will have a unique experience. El Salvador also has different regions which might also bring diverse exposure for different tourists. I will not also want to visit El Salvador because of its malfunctioning legal system which has led to the incarceration of many innocent people who didn't receive fair trials. Such a trip will also be expensive for me and I don't want to spend my Bitcoin for now because it's my investment.

[stompix]

This question of asking about any forum member from El Salvador has been asked several times and I doubt if we have any member who resides or has visited the nation. We would have had a first-hand account of the Bitcoin situation in the country. Maybe one day we might have a member from the location.

It is always a funny topic, we have hundreds of pages of people praising Salvador, a ton of badmouthing their own country and situation, cheering on how Salvador will attract crypto lovers who will flee the countries that are antagonistic to crypto, how great things are there to spend your crypto, how wonderful everything will be yet...
In all this forum full of tens of thousands of crypto lovers there isn't a single one who has ditched his self-labeled shitty country for Salvador!

Serves as another proof that just babbling all day about crypto is not enough, there is Twitter and the forum where you can clap or say whatever and then there is real life!

If you only want get experience to use Bitcoin as a currency, you don't have to fly to El Salvador, just find the stores in your country using this maps https://btcmap.org/map and verify it by make some research.

And this is the reason all those plans about building a community or stand-alone town only with crypto as a liaison is pure vaporware at this moment.

[Lucius]

If you want to see how paying with Bitcoin in El Salvador works, you can find the experiences of people who have been there and posted it on YT. However, do not live in the belief that you will be able to pay with Bitcoin wherever you want just because it is "legal tender", things are not exactly what they seem.

Younger people who have an entrepreneurial spirit have accepted Bitcoin, while the older ones still prefer to do business with the US dollar, which has been the official currency in that country for more than 20 years anyway. Sometimes it seems to me that some people think that El Salvador is the only place (country) in the world where Bitcoin can be spent in a physical store, but in fact in many countries where Bitcoin is not "legal tender" there may be more people who accept Bitcoin than in El Salvador.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

I'm quite curious, of the many users on this forum, has anyone ever visited El Salvador and felt the sensation of paying with bitcoin there?
This may be a trivial question but I'm sure many of you are also curious about this.

I have never visited the country and never know how it is there, but from several sources I have read that El Salvador has implemented payments using bitcoin even though in some places it still accepts purchases or payments using fiat currency. For the thrill of purchasing using bitcoin, I once spent several items in an online shop that accepts bitcoin and I'm not that interested in now buying items using bitcoin.

And yes, I also heard that tourism in the country has increased interest or visitors after adopting bitcoin as a legal means of payment. So I hope there is someone here who has visited there. or at least have the desire to go there. And want to share the story here.

The increase in tourism cannot be separated from the country's policy of utilizing bitcoin so that tourists and investors feel protected when visiting there. El Salvador has shown validity regarding the mindset towards bitcoin and they have managed to reach a much better level of adoption. This country continues to show rapid progress and is perhaps one of the countries that many people are interested in visiting.

[mamesso]

Until now, visiting El Salvador as the only country that makes Bitcoin a legal medium of exchange is still just a dream for me. The very long distance from where I live and the financial limitations I have make it difficult for me to set foot in the country, but I have felt the sensation of paying using Bitcoin at the place I shop that accepts Bitcoin as a means of payment.

I just hope that even though it is very difficult to realize it in my country, like what is currently happening in El Salvador, one day it will be easier for Bitcoin users with the availability of the facility to pay using Bitcoin in my country. This forum is very broad, maybe there are some people here who have visited El Salvador and can share their experiences here.

[Pandorak]

It would definitely be an amazing experience if we could feel the sensation of being in a country that fully supports bitcoin, unfortunately we don't have a special board for Salvadorian on this forum so we can't expect direct experiences from native person there.

Unfortunately, what we think from outside is very different in its implications, in Lina Seiche's blog post on Bitcoin Magazin ^[1], she says:

"Fast-forward to today, I can’t use bitcoin as much as I would like. I would’ve loved to pay for my hotel stay in bitcoin, but the hotel couldn’t find its POS device. I’d love to pay my rent in bitcoin, but my landlord thought otherwise. I’d love to pay the customs office—well, I’m not sure I would love to pay them, but if I have to, I would like to do it in bitcoin. That didn’t happen either."

By the way, this discussion has already been discussed in another thread with "Buying/Selling & Using Bitcoin in El Salvador." title ^[2].

[1] https://bitcoinmagazine.com/el-salvador-bitcoin-news/i-moved-to-el-salvador-ask-me-anything
[2] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5488260.0

[YOSHIE]

Has anyone here ever visited El Salvador and tried paying with bitcoin there?

In essence, the news we read is El Salvador, one of the countries that has adopted Bitcoin the most, almost the people there use the Chivo Wallet to make it easier for them to carry out transactions, this is based on the policy of the president of El Salvador.

As I once read: El Salvador Adopted Bitcoin as an Official Currency; Salvadorans Mostly Shrugged.

The researchers were impressed by how many people were aware of and downloaded the app: almost 68 percent of potential users knew about Chivo Wallet; 78 percent of that group at least tried to download it.

Talking about the experience of using Bitcoin in El Salvador, honestly I haven't gone and tried it, what's it like doing Bitcoin transactions there.

However, don't worry there is someone experienced in the adventure of using Bitcoin there.
for example, he tells something interesting.

I attempted to spend two weeks traveling in El Salvador, living on Bitcoin. I tried to pay for every single thing with Bitcoin, or satoshis — small amounts of Bitcoin.

The information I got.

As a result, and unsurprisingly, my experience using Bitcoin varies wildly. From Bitcoin maximalist coffee shops running Lightning full nodes to cash-in-hand street merchants on volcano trails who literally cannot access the internet, El Salvador has certainly put a spell on “magic internet money.” I hope this article sheds light on the experience of paying in Bitcoin across the country: an investigative report, light-hearted entertainment, and maybe a handy guide for your trip to spend satoshis in Bitcoin Country.

This is to complete the information that needs to be seen: What it’s actually like to use Bitcoin in El Salvador.

[SatoPrincess]

It is always a funny topic, we have hundreds of pages of people praising Salvador, a ton of badmouthing their own country and situation, cheering on how Salvador will attract crypto lovers who will flee the countries that are antagonistic to crypto, how great things are there to spend your crypto, how wonderful everything will be yet...
In all this forum full of tens of thousands of crypto lovers there isn't a single one who has ditched his self-labeled shitty country for Salvador!

Serves as another proof that just babbling all day about crypto is not enough, there is Twitter and the forum where you can clap or say whatever and then there is real life!

You don’t really expect people who would travel all the way to El Salvador or move there just to be able to use their bitcoins as legal tender. It’s a nice thing to say on paper but when you consider the cost of such a move, you realize that it is not so easy. If anyone should consider moving to El Salvador because of their bitcoin friendly government, it should be miners. Bitcoin is not a legal tender in my country, but you can still find businesses that accept bitcoin as payment methods.

[coolcoinz]

I remember seeing a few videos on youtube where people talked about their visit to El Salvador. The general theme was that most people don't use bitcoin and they don't use the wallet provided by the government, but some hold bitcoin and treat it like an investment, or a piggy bank.

It's not one or the other way round, so people who are enthusiastic about the use of bitcoin in the country are obviously wrong, but people who say there's no use and bitcoin has failed are also wrong. It's an unpopular form of payment, but a popular form of investment. Also, you can pay using lighting in a lot of places. I've read an article by a guy who tested it and he wasn't only on Bitcoin Beach, but paid for a cab and stuff.