¡Hola Amigos!
Ever since spring break I’ve been incredibly busy. My family came to visit for four days at the end of break. I was excited to have them here and I had a good visit with them. We went to Suchitoto, the beach, and I showed them around San Salvador. In Mariona we had a fiesta to celebrate their visit.
On Friday, the Casa students got to have a special meeting with Robert White, the former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador during the war. He told us that if the U.S. hadn’t intervened, the civil war in El Salvador would have been very, very short and the current ARENA party would not be in office. He also said the gang situation wouldn’t exist now and the government wouldn’t be as corrupt if the U.S. had stayed out of the war. White said that it is one thing to have power, but if you don’t use it for good then power means nothing. Despite popular American belief about the war in El Salvador, White said the revolution was justified and that it had nothing to do with Communism. The fight was against decades of injustice. He admitted that the news is skewed and stressed the importance of turning off the TV news and actually doing research to find the real truth.
Saturday was the 17th Romero Anniversary and there were festivities all day. At 4pm we all joined the march to the Cathedral. On the way we stopped and said five Stations of the Cross. The march was beautiful. People were waving Romero banners, carrying candles, singing, and yelling “¡Vive Romero!” Once we got to the Cathedral where Romero is buried there was a huge mass. It seemed like the whole country was there to celebrate the life of Romero.
Sunday was Gene (our history teacher) and Lupita’s (one of the Casa cooks) wedding. Casa students were in charge of the decorations and I was on the decorating committee (since I’m an experienced wedding coordinator). We worked long hours all week making streamers, center pieces, a banner, and casamiento (beans and rice that you throw on the bride and groom when they leave the Church. It’s called casamiento because the beans and rice come together in a “marriage”). Since Gene and Lupita know pretty much everyone, there were 400 people at the wedding. That means we had to make a lot of decorations for all the tables. The wedding began at 11:30am, and we starting setting up at 9am. It took us so long to move tables and set up that we arrived late to the wedding and had to rush to decorate the Church. Luckily, like all good brides, Lupita was late so we had plenty of time to set up. The theme was blue and white, El Salvador’s colors. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was so much fun. There was a live band and great food. We knew a lot of the people at the wedding so it was fun talking to everyone. We also danced all afternoon. This was pretty much the wedding of the year.
Paz,
Stephanie
Monday, March 26, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Vacaciones
¡Hola Amigos!
This past week was our spring break. My friend Amber and I went to Panajachel, Guatemala. We took a four hour bus ride to Guatemala City then a three hour bus ride to Panajachel. We stayed in a very touristy area which was weird since we’re not used to being around other white people. Panajachel is one of many small villages on Largo de Atitlan, a beautiful lake surrounded my volcanoes (See pictures). We took a boat tour of the lake and stopped at a few of the different villages. We wanted to go on a hike up one of the volcanoes, but we were told by a travel agency that it was very dangerous so we decided against it. There was a huge artisan market by our hotel so we did some shopping. I some how managed to go five days with only $80. I think the exchange rate for Quetzals really helped me out. It was fun relaxing in Panajachel (we had hot water and a TV in our room, something I haven’t been a around in months), but it was so nice to be back in El Salvador. I missed the other Casa students and I just feel more at home in El Salvador.
Random side note—while on break I read an amazing book for my theology class called "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. If you are looking for a good read and want to challenge your world view I highly recommend it.
Paz,
Stephanie
This past week was our spring break. My friend Amber and I went to Panajachel, Guatemala. We took a four hour bus ride to Guatemala City then a three hour bus ride to Panajachel. We stayed in a very touristy area which was weird since we’re not used to being around other white people. Panajachel is one of many small villages on Largo de Atitlan, a beautiful lake surrounded my volcanoes (See pictures). We took a boat tour of the lake and stopped at a few of the different villages. We wanted to go on a hike up one of the volcanoes, but we were told by a travel agency that it was very dangerous so we decided against it. There was a huge artisan market by our hotel so we did some shopping. I some how managed to go five days with only $80. I think the exchange rate for Quetzals really helped me out. It was fun relaxing in Panajachel (we had hot water and a TV in our room, something I haven’t been a around in months), but it was so nice to be back in El Salvador. I missed the other Casa students and I just feel more at home in El Salvador.
Random side note—while on break I read an amazing book for my theology class called "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. If you are looking for a good read and want to challenge your world view I highly recommend it.
Paz,
Stephanie
Friday, March 09, 2007
La Realidad
¡Hola Amigos!
Most of our house visits so far in Mariona have been to homes where the families live simply, but are not incredible poor. Most people we have visited make enough money to meet their basic needs. On Wednesday, though, that changed. We went to San Francisco (a zone in Mariona) to the home of three of our English students- Samuel, Gabby, and Eduardo. Rosa, who worked with us in the cooperative and recently immigrated to Spain also lived in this home. When we entered the home we were greeted by a cloud of black smoke from the huge vat of tortillas hanging over a fire. The house was small, only three tiny bedrooms for about 16 people. Flies were everywhere and the whole house felt like an oven. We sat down to talk with the grandparents. They explained that they are originally from the campo and made a living by farming. Once the war broke out, they became refugees and were forced into the city where they had no land and no money. As farmers, it was hard to find work in a city setting. They couple had 8 children (one died when he was a baby). Rosa and her brother are both in Spain because they couldn’t find any work in El Salvador. Immigrating to Europe is much easier than immigrating to the U.S. It costs between $6,000-$8,000 to just get to the U.S. border from El Salvador. So Rosa didn’t have a husband and she left her two small children with her 21 year old sister when she went to Spain. According to her parents she is still looking for a job in Spain. The father of the three children in our English class was a taxi driver and was killed two years ago. Their mother works two jobs and is a little irresponsible so they kids live with their grandparents. They also have an older sister who has some mental problems and can’t go to school or work. A few other children and grandchildren live in the house who we didn’t meet. The only source of income for the family is the tortilla business. The situation was so sad. We’re trying to convince our casa to buy tortillas from this family to help them out a little.
Thursday in Praxis class, Rick Jones, the director of CRS spoke to our class. He gave us some interesting statistics about El Salvador. El Salvador is the second most deforested country after Haiti. Because of this, clean drinking water is scarce and diarrhea is the biggest killer of children. El Salvador is the second most violent country next to Iraq, and the police force is responsible for many human rights violations. 1.5-2 million Salvadorians have migrated to the U.S. in order to find jobs. A country cannot develop without food security and El Salvador imports 75% of its produce meaning the people cannot sustain themselves without relying on other countries. 48% of the country’s wealth is owned by 6-8 families and 98% of money coming into the country goes back out to pay off loans.
Paz,
Stephanie
Most of our house visits so far in Mariona have been to homes where the families live simply, but are not incredible poor. Most people we have visited make enough money to meet their basic needs. On Wednesday, though, that changed. We went to San Francisco (a zone in Mariona) to the home of three of our English students- Samuel, Gabby, and Eduardo. Rosa, who worked with us in the cooperative and recently immigrated to Spain also lived in this home. When we entered the home we were greeted by a cloud of black smoke from the huge vat of tortillas hanging over a fire. The house was small, only three tiny bedrooms for about 16 people. Flies were everywhere and the whole house felt like an oven. We sat down to talk with the grandparents. They explained that they are originally from the campo and made a living by farming. Once the war broke out, they became refugees and were forced into the city where they had no land and no money. As farmers, it was hard to find work in a city setting. They couple had 8 children (one died when he was a baby). Rosa and her brother are both in Spain because they couldn’t find any work in El Salvador. Immigrating to Europe is much easier than immigrating to the U.S. It costs between $6,000-$8,000 to just get to the U.S. border from El Salvador. So Rosa didn’t have a husband and she left her two small children with her 21 year old sister when she went to Spain. According to her parents she is still looking for a job in Spain. The father of the three children in our English class was a taxi driver and was killed two years ago. Their mother works two jobs and is a little irresponsible so they kids live with their grandparents. They also have an older sister who has some mental problems and can’t go to school or work. A few other children and grandchildren live in the house who we didn’t meet. The only source of income for the family is the tortilla business. The situation was so sad. We’re trying to convince our casa to buy tortillas from this family to help them out a little.
Thursday in Praxis class, Rick Jones, the director of CRS spoke to our class. He gave us some interesting statistics about El Salvador. El Salvador is the second most deforested country after Haiti. Because of this, clean drinking water is scarce and diarrhea is the biggest killer of children. El Salvador is the second most violent country next to Iraq, and the police force is responsible for many human rights violations. 1.5-2 million Salvadorians have migrated to the U.S. in order to find jobs. A country cannot develop without food security and El Salvador imports 75% of its produce meaning the people cannot sustain themselves without relying on other countries. 48% of the country’s wealth is owned by 6-8 families and 98% of money coming into the country goes back out to pay off loans.
Paz,
Stephanie
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Belize
¡Hola Amigos!
This past weekend all the Casa students went to Belize in order to renew our Visas. After 90 days we have to leave El Salvador and go to Mexico, Costa Rica, or Belize in order to get 90 more days in El Salvador. So we decided to make a vacation out of the trip. On Thursday morning we rode 8 hours on a microbus from San Salvador to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. Then we hopped on a small speed boat to Belize. Technically we were on an hour long Caribbean cruise. We docked in Punta Gorda, Belize and took an hour bus ride to the rainforest where we stayed (See pictures). The scenery was beautiful, but we were roughing it in the jungle. I had to sleep next to scorpions and tarantellas (which means I didn’t sleep too well). Bathrooms were pretty much non-existent. We bathed in the river and washed our clothes in the river.
On Friday we went on a jungle hike in the morning trying to find jaguars. No interesting animals, but we got to eat termites (by that I mean the other students ate termites and I watched). In the afternoon we hiked to these awesome caves with waterfalls. I swam through on of the caves and there were waterfalls in the back of the cave (See pictures). So cool!
On Saturday we visited the nearby Mayan village. I learned how to make tortillas, chocolate, and palm fans (See pictures). Then I spent the afternoon swimming in the lake. I had a great time in Belize, but I was so ready to get back to civilization. I can only rough it for so long.
Paz,
Stephanie
This past weekend all the Casa students went to Belize in order to renew our Visas. After 90 days we have to leave El Salvador and go to Mexico, Costa Rica, or Belize in order to get 90 more days in El Salvador. So we decided to make a vacation out of the trip. On Thursday morning we rode 8 hours on a microbus from San Salvador to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. Then we hopped on a small speed boat to Belize. Technically we were on an hour long Caribbean cruise. We docked in Punta Gorda, Belize and took an hour bus ride to the rainforest where we stayed (See pictures). The scenery was beautiful, but we were roughing it in the jungle. I had to sleep next to scorpions and tarantellas (which means I didn’t sleep too well). Bathrooms were pretty much non-existent. We bathed in the river and washed our clothes in the river.
On Friday we went on a jungle hike in the morning trying to find jaguars. No interesting animals, but we got to eat termites (by that I mean the other students ate termites and I watched). In the afternoon we hiked to these awesome caves with waterfalls. I swam through on of the caves and there were waterfalls in the back of the cave (See pictures). So cool!
On Saturday we visited the nearby Mayan village. I learned how to make tortillas, chocolate, and palm fans (See pictures). Then I spent the afternoon swimming in the lake. I had a great time in Belize, but I was so ready to get back to civilization. I can only rough it for so long.
Paz,
Stephanie
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