A Weekend of Surprises

While the past week has had its fair share of quirks, oddities, and laughs, this coming week promises to be just as interesting. For the past few weeks and for the upcoming month I’ve really been staying in my site as much as possible and much more than I had in the past. This is part of an effort to make a big push with a few of my projects that floundered a little while I was traveling for two weeks around Christmas and New Years and to let my bank account recover from my most recent travels and hopefully prepare itself for my next round of Central American adventures. However, to my pleasant surprise, while life in San Luis may not be as initially exciting as exploring monumental Mayan ruins and relaxing at gorgeous Pacific beaches, it none the less holds just as many, if not more, daily surprises and excitement.

Just yesterday, during one of the many digressions that led what should have been a 2-hour morning meeting of mine to last till past 3 pm, over 7 hours in total, a Salvadoran engineer helping my community with our planning of an improved water system commented on how weird Mexicans were because they ate grasshoppers—“sometimes even in chocolate.” I sarcastically contested that it was sort of comical for a Salvadoran to really make that comment, since they eat frogs, chicken feet, iguana, turtle eggs, snake, and raccoon, along with just about any thing else that moves. The entire room just shook their heads and worriedly mumbled that since I was a “gringo norteamericano” I would just never understand some things. After that and everything else that occurred this past weekend, I guess, maybe, they were right.

This past Friday I lost about half my girl’s soccer team, despite the fact that I will most likely be receiving a $500 grant in the next few weeks to finally buy them a set of uniforms, new balls and practice equipment, and pay for San Luis to host a tournament with three other guest teams from neighboring communities. It all started innocently when the Evangelical church across the street from my house announced they would be hosting a movie night and just about the entire population of San Luis proceeded to show up. Despite the fact that just last week I had found a great pirated copy of Forest Gump in the Santa Ana market, I was still excited to get a chance to watch a movie, which I figured would be something from the action or comedy genre…but couldn’t have been more wrong. The church showed a 2-hour documentary featuring numerous interviews with people who described the moments when they had “found their God” then went on to describe the improvements to their lives afterward. The movie also featured interesting interpretations of visits from the devil and other various demons, images of Pope John Paul being ignited and engulfed in flames, and a finale of a re-enacted exorcism. While I only made it through the first 20 minutes of the movie before politely excusing myself to go eat pupusas outside then retreat to my house to go to sleep early (I didn’t have too many other options—the amount of power needed to project the movie across the street meant my house had lost its power), the movie proved to be so inspiring (or frightening…I guess it just depends what perspective you take) that half my girl’s soccer team, including the captain, who even co-signed the aforementioned grant request, all took an oath of sorts to revoke the life of sin and devote their life, going forward, to the church. For Evangelicals in El Salvador, that means soccer is forbidden—it is a sin in their religion. While I still don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing with the grant money, since my girl’s team is now all but inexistent (that movie night really did seem so promising early on…), I think my boy’s soccer team may just be receiving a surprise round of new jerseys and equipment pretty in the coming month. I guess sometimes even the seemingly most simple and complication-free projects can fall apart and some things about development work will just never be understood or overcome.

In another notable surprise from the last few days, I was woken up at 4:30 am Saturday morning by screams of, what seemed to be, an absolutely petrified pig. After fruitlessly attempting to go back to sleep for over 30 minutes thanks to the continuing screaming of the pig, I finally decided I at least wanted to get to the bottom of what exactly was happening. Venturing down the street and across the bridge led by the beam of my flashlight (still so early in the morning that it was good and dark) I discovered a family just a few houses down from me had decided to slaughter their pig. What had led them to do that at such an ungodly hour or why it took them so long to kill the darn thing, I guess is just yet another aspect of life in San Luis I will never understand.

Also, in the impossible to understand category—the lunch I was served by a lady in a neighboring community, Casa Blanca, during a lunch break in an almost all-day meeting yesterday (the same one featuring the conversation about hard to believe, or imagine, foods)…hard-boiled eggs in a very-healthy size dollop of tomato sauce (actually just ketchup).

In the coming week, I will be teaching my newly-formed women’s group how to make their first batch of shampoo, in an attempt to start some small, but sustainable, income-generation programs in San Luis, and making a trip to the Ministry of the Environment in San Salvador with the leaders of my community and a neighboring community to pitch our proposed water project. Despite the fact that there is sure to be much occur which is outside my realm of comprehension, I’m hopeful that through all that I’ll likely never understand, I’ll continue to have a great time every day and possibly make a little bit of a difference down here in El Salvador as well.

Photos From A Second Trip To Tacuba

Vacation!

I recently completed a good two or three weeks traveling around El Salvador and Honduras. That is a big part of why it has been so long since I last posted. To make up for it, I’ll try and highlight some of the highlights of my travels:

Playa el Sunzal: Christmas Day and New Years Day are the only two days of the year when buses do not run in El Salvador. However, the 25^th of the December I needed to get to Sal Salvador. I started out hitch-hiking early in the morning figuring it wouldn’t be too hard to get to San Salvador based on my belief in a forthcoming bounty of Christmas spirit. The very first ride I got was with a family who was headed to the beach but were going to be passing close by San Salvador, through Santa Tecla on their way to the beach, and happily announced to me that they would be able to bring me almost all the way to the capitol city. Within 30 minutes of leaping into the back of their truck I had been convinced to go to the beach with them and promised a ride to the airport later that night. My ease in being able to be convinced to go to the beach with a family of strangers ending up being quite the stroke of luck—turns out their grandparents are the caretakers of a magnificent beach house perched high on a dramatic cliff apparently owned by one of the founders of Western Union. It was located high on cliffs that were buffeted by violent waves throughout the day, but had a set of stairs down to its own private, white sand beach and a pool which would fill up at high tide then provide a perfect place to relax during the rest of the day. On the way to the airport they invited me to come along with them on their next trip down to the beach…and I am excitedly awaiting the call.

Tazumal and Casa Blanca Ruins: These two sets of ruins are located very closet to my site and referred to as the “best” ruins in El Salvador. Frankly, I had been embarrassed that I had yet to visit them. Turns out the ruins are more embarrassing than I was. While Tazumal was pretty cool and its one pyramid was large, well-preserved, and impressive, it remained just one pyramid, so it really took all of 15 minutes to check out. The highlight for me was discovering the surprisingly high number of young Salvadoran couples which apparently go to the ruins to make-out. However, while Tazumal can at least be respected as serviceable ruins, the Casa Blanca really still strikes me as a prank. It featured multiple mounds of earth, a lucky few of which had stones sticking out from the ground, which very serious signs declaring things such as “Structure 3” or “Do Not Climb on the Structure.” None of the mounds even rose above my waist. Maybe it was just my trip to Copan in Honduras a week later, where arguable the best ruins in Central America are located, but I ended up pretty disappointed in El Salvador’s “best” ruins…apparently this just isn’t the place to come for ruins. However, the resourcefulness of Casa Blanca’s staff is commendable. Upon entering, I was quite pleased with myself for bargaining the price down from the tourist price of $3 to just $1, since I kinda am living in El Salvador semi-permanently (at least for two years). While I was leaving, I talked to the managers for a little about potentially bringing my youth group there in the future. While discussing prices, they excitedly invited me to bring my youth group on a Wednesday, when admission was free. Only a few minutes later, while walking away, did I realize it was Wednesday. My pride in bargaining them down to a $1 entrance fee quickly disappeared…

Parque Nacional El Imposible: This national park definitely stands as my favorite place, to date, in El Salvador. Although there are multiple jumping-off point for entering the park, we went in through Tacuba, which also secured its place as my favorite small pueblo in El Salvador for its atmosphere, people, and history. It is perched high in the mountains near the western border of the country, the storefronts up and down all of the streets are all covered with colorful murals, and it features a tiny completely organic and vegetarian restaurant (unheard of in El Salvador) run by a sect of Hindu monks who must have, at some point, gotten very, very lost, but are now inexplicable living there in Tacuba. Interestingly, Tacuba is also the site of the Americas’ first Communist Revolution, which though short-lived, occurred in 1932. We only had one day for El Imposible, but our 7-hour definitely has me excited to get back. We hiked down through coffee plantations then through natural forest, spent 2 or 3 hours wading and swimming through a clean, cold, and very clear river while jumping off a series of 7 or 8 waterfalls and sliding down multiple natural waterslides, then hiking back up through the forest and coffee trees.

Playa El Tunco: Known simply as Tunco in El Salvador, this beach is an international backpackers and surfers haven. It is certainly the only place I’ve been in El Salvador where it is easy to forget you are in El Salvador. English is more or less the first language, long hair and tattoos are commonplace (yet virtually unheard of in the rest of El Salvador), and it is rare to actually meet someone from El Salvador. Its tiny size is also appealing—it boasts only a handful of bars, just one or two hotels, and about 6 or 7 small hostels. We ended up staying in the house of the bar manager of the most popular bar there. Although the beach is rocky and definitely not one of the best beaches for relaxing or swimming in El Salvador, the surf-break is widely regarded as Central America’s best. We ended up only be there for one night, New Year’s Eve, but I can’t wait to go back. The laid-back and relaxed vibes and chance to work on my surfing skills will definitely be a great respite throughout the rest of my two years here in El Salvador. Also, as is a requisite for any location I thoroughly enjoy and intend to return to, Tunco has great food—the international and backpacker influence is clearly visible in the bagels, granola, smoothies, vegetables, and pancakes which dot its menus.

Journey to Honduras: 4.5-hour bus from San Salvador to El Poy (the Honduran border)—standing room only. 1-hour walking across the border and dealing with two fairly strange border stations (the Honduran border agent rejected my first effort to pay my entrance fee claiming my $10 bill was counterfeit). 1-hour van ride from the border to Nuevo Ocotopeque, the closest city in which we could catch the next bus. 3-hour bus ride to La Entrada, the narco-trafficking capitol of Honduras (high-lighted by a driver who took the nearly empty bus as a sign to do his best Formula-1 impression…I honestly think I preferred the slow and packed Salvadoran bus ride). 2-hour van ride in which I spent the first hour hanging out the side door in a crouch position because the van was so packed. The van also featured a puking child and a very aggressive cell-phone vendor.

Copan Ruins: Though I do thoroughly enjoy museums or the like, I usually have about a 2- or, perhaps, a 3-hour time limit before my brain hurts, it all starts to look the same, and all I can think about is food or a bed. We spent about 6 hours wandering around and examining the ruins of Copan and I was never bored for a moment. Although I haven’t been to Tikal in Guatemala, which is supposed to be the only set of Mayan or Central American ruins which rival Copan, I have never been more marveled by both the size and intricate detail in the expansive zone of building featured at Copan. It is particularly well-known for its intricate Stellae, which are tall, stone, statuettes carved on all four sides. The class of stone used in Copan is for some reason harder than stone used in other parts of Central America, so they are particularly more-detailed and better-preserved. Copan also features the Heiroglyphic Stairway, which consists of 63 steps all intricately covered in several thousand glyphs which explain over 300 years of the ruling Mayan dynasty at Copan. Though they are still not fully understood, they are the basis for much of what archaeologists know about Mayan history. Also, there is Central America’s second largest Mayan ball court, mostly cool since after every game their equivalent of the MVP was sacrificed…quite the reward!

Lago de Yojoa: Lago de Yojoa and its nearby Pulhapanzak (almost certainly the world’s hardest-to-pronounce waterfall name) are only part of the reason to visit this part of Honduras. While Lago de Yojoa is beautiful and the 43-meter height (that’s real tall—trust me) of the waterfall, which you can swim under, behind, and all around while marveling at its huge mist, is impressive, the D&D Brewery & Hotel is the real draw here. It is a small brewery set up by an Oregonian (not 100% sure if that is the correct work for a dude, or just anyone, from Oregon) in a very random but gorgeous spot of Central America. It is Honduras’s only microbrewery, and though the beers probably wouldn’t be anything to write home about in the States, it is a great place to chill, listen to music, play cards, have some killer blueberry pancakes, and obviously, enjoy some beer (and the owner even comes out with his slide guitar some nights).

Copan Ruins--Honduras

Adventures Across El Salvador

Parque Nacional El Imposible

Tazumal Ruins, Chalchuapa

Playa El Sunzal