Already 90 Days?

I arrived in El Salvador on November 2nd.  I need to renew my 90 day visa by leaving the CA-4 (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua).  Mom and Kell are going to meet me in Belize!  My journey begins in a few hours!  More to come...

Hiking Guazapa

Saturday, a few friends and I hiked Guazapa Volcano, the guerillas’ stronghold from 1980 until 1992.  Our starting point was about fifteen minutes by bus from Suchitoto’s town center.   

The first fifteen minutes, we wandered by houses in Communidad El Sitio Zapotal.  We passed their gathering area which included a stage.  The following picture capture the stages' backdrop.  I pictured the pannels in order.  The descriptions are the guide's interpretation.

The left side represents Salvadoran people feeling something in the air before the war began.  The right, the massacres throughout the country before the people were armed.

Representing the people taking up arms to fight against the army.  Notice the woman's face.  Their strong involvement in the war gave birth to the current women's movement in El Salvador.

Guazapa and two martyrs

Guazapa and two martyrs

Guerrillas often talked about feeling as if they were a part of nature while living in the woods.

Archbishop Oscar Romero leading the the people and shedding blood for peace within their country.

Peace has come but people are still struggling to eat and live so they are pushing north and many migrating to the United States.

Now the war is over but young people are joining gangs.  I found it interesting that the artist chose a unicorn to represent the gangs.  Many children are left here while their parents are in the US.   Parents send money but children are growing up on the streets without parents. 

The next half hour we trudged through fields of fruit, sugar cane, corn, and coffee.  The site was breathtaking.

Papaya field

Managua fruit

Baby pineapple from one of the fields.

Hemika plant: tastes bitter and is vibrant in color.  Salvadorans toss it in a cup with tons o' sugar and a bit of water for a common afternoon drink.

 The last hour and half was through dense forest.  Our quick-stepping guide Lupe pointed to the guerrillas' important meeting spots.  Guazapa is full of tunnels, which created welcome hiding places.

One of the many trenches.  They are in the shape of an L.  When the bombs landed on one side, they would run to the other side to shield themselves from shrapnel.

Entrance to one of the many tatus (air raid shelters).  The shelters are small and stuffy but they'd cram people in when planes flew over and dropped bombs on Guazapa.  This was a daily occurrence.

Guerrilla's hospital site.  Nurses surrounded patients with large rocks to keep the rain water from washing over the wounded.  There are many of these "beds" left.

Copapayo Massacre

Last weekend, I went to Copapayo Viejo, a place that was home to a community in Suchitoto’s Municipality until 1983.  We took a forty-five minute boat ride across Lake Suchitlan and cut the engine between two small, corn-covered hills.  Soon after, Rogelio and Mercedes shared their Copapayo Viejo memories.

Mercedes began described life before the power-generating dam.  Rio Lempa was a life-giving source that ran between the two hills.  The river was a clean water source for the people, their crops, and their animals.  The fish nourished the community too. 

Mercedes recounted the moment the water began to rise in 1972.  The community saw the dam’s construction but didn’t understand what would happen to the water until the moment they ran to grab small children and escape to higher ground.  The water rose.  Their homes, crops, and animals were washed away in minutes. She continued to talk about how this pushed the people from Copapayo (Viejo) to organize and to send representatives to San Salvador for negotiations.

Rogelio spoke next, jumping forward to November 3-4, 1983.  He is the only survivor of both Copapayo massacres. 

Most men from Copapayo had left the community to fight with the guerrillas by this time.  The women, children, and elderly were left on the two, corn-covered hills.  On November 3, 1983 helicopters and troops from the US trained Atlacatl Battalion chased civilians down the hills and into the water, where most were shot and killed. 

The survivors of this first massacre were lead on a two-day death march.  They were all killed, except the sole survivor, eleven year-old Rogelio.  One hundred and forty-two civilians were murdered.

The part of Rogelio’s story that I continuously replay is when a soldier, enforcing the death march, snuck Rogelio a bottle of water and a plastic bag and told him he may need it later.  Rogelio did, in fact, use the bag to help a dying boy, to sleep in, to hide under, etc.  Rogelio said he realized that there were “good” and “bad” soldiers on each side of the war.  From that moment forward, I’m sure he has fostered a heightened awareness of humanity’s complications.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this story and many others people have shared since I arrived.  The horrific scenes are baffling.  The dreadful, long-lasting effects are devastating.  The deep-rooted faith, determination, and resilience are inspiring.  The community organizing is unmatched.   When I reflect on the situation in El Salvador twenty years ago and now, I’m stunned and in awe.  My mind is constantly racing with questions about psychology and faith.

Article on Destruction of Llort's Piece

The author, Rachel Heidenry is a fellow volunteer at Centro Arte para la Paz.  She also travels throughout El Salvador documenting murals and studying them through a historical, memorial, and philosophical lens.  Check out her article published by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting!

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/el-salvador-mural-destruction-archbishop-metropolitan-cathedral-oscar-romero-farabundo-marti-fmln-civil-war-reconciliation

Disgrace at the Metropolitan Cathedral

Salvadorans are surprised, angry, disappointed.  

Fernando Llort is the most famous Salvadoran artist in the world.  In 1992 the Peace Accords were signed here, ending the twelve year civil war.  At that point, the Catholic Church asked Fernando Llort to create a tile mural for the entrance of the Metropolitan Cathedral where Archbishop Oscar Romero is buried.   Fernando Llort and his team completed the piece in 1997.

After Archbishop Romero was assassinated, the Catholic Church replaced him with a more conservative Archbishop.  Romero and many church officials during his time were liberal, working in rural areas with people suffering.  Catholic parishes in El Salvador are very conservative these days.

San Salvador's current Archbishop José Escobar Alas ordered workers to chip away at Fernando Llort's tile mural from the entrance of the Metropolitan Cathedral during the night.  They destroyed the whole piece.  Archbishop José Escobar Alas did not tell Fernando Llort that he was going to take down his work.

Salvadorans throughout the country are outraged as Fernando Llort's artwork focuses on aspects of Salvadoran everyday life, struggles, and nature.  Llort's work is a voice for the common people here.

With that background information, I point to Tim's El Salvador Blog (http://luterano.blogspot.com/).  His posts from December 31st, January 2nd, and January 4th describe the event.  Tim has been documenting current events here since 2004.

Feliz Ano Comunidad Copapayo!

I headed to Rosa's community in Copapayo.  It is an hour and a half bus ride outside of Suchitoto's city center but still considered part of Suchitoto.  We followed the gnarly dirt road in the hills, through corn fields, and lush tropical foliage.  Beautiful!


 

View from the bus, heading to Comunidad Copapayo

I went for both a morning and afternoon walk with Rosa's nephew's Samuel and Louis.  We walked through the fields, into the mountains, down by the lake.  Exploring the whole way.  They were telling me about the plants, animals, and even trying to scare me with horror stories.  Hilarious!  At one point they asked how far I planned walking.  I responded, "A la frontera de Guatemala" (To the Guatemalan boarder).  They looked at each other with scared faces and were silenced for a few minutes before I told them the truth.  They were spunky guides!

View of the corn field, on our afternoon walk

View across the field to the lake

Samuel and Louis setting off fireworks IN THE HOUSE!  See the chicken next to the tree?  They TIED it to the tree because when it wondered outside the house, it wouldn't come back like the others.  So they tied the poor thing to the tree!  And THEY WERE SETTING OFF FIREWORKS RIGHT NEXT TO HER!

Cooking in Comunidad Copapayo

Rosa's family oven.  Her mom bakes killer sweet bread each meal.  It's made from their corn or rice, sugar, and water.  Simple ingredient list but complex flavor!  Love it!  Interestingly, they serve it with sugar-saturated coffee or orange soda.

This is where we cooked our dinner.  Sanitary enough for your restaurant?

Our beating the dry kernels off the cob, we were left with this.

And threw them behind the oven, here, for the free range chickens and pig who wonder their way around the house/yard.

First we dried the kernels more on the cement patio and in the sun.  Then we boiled the kernels in water and let them soak for hours to do away with the rough part of the kernel.  Then we washed the kernels and strained their tough shells out.  We let the kernels cool.

Then Rosa's sisters Morena and Marisol ground the kernals on this rock slab and with the rock to the left.  They used the orange wacal to transport water from the pila to the grounds and made masa.

We used bits of masa to make Salvadoran tortillas, which are much thicker than the ones we are used to.  Their diameter is similar to that of a corn tortilla though.  Rosa's sisters crafted them in perfect circles and quickly, without focusing.  Mine were feo (ugly) and I was diligent.  Oh well, I guess I need to practice.  Oh!  This is their grill on which we cooked the tortillas!