Weekend Update +

Friday, June 17 continued: After I finished updating last, I read all the names of the deceased at El Mozote and surrounding pueblos. It was extremely intense. There were 584 names and next to each name was family information, age and occupation, if the information was available. I am glad I read it. The day was sunny and warm which seems to be happening more and more this week as well. Rebecca, the Peace Corps volunteer in town brought a group of people to the house to talk to Bob. They were volunteers being oriented to El Salvador. It was just a little strange to emerge from my bedroom to a string of Americans, good-looking ones too. I suggested Lynn go take a peek but the lack of running water in the house has kept her from washing her hair and she opted to stay put under the tree. I was mostly self-conscious about my underwear that was hanging on the line outside. Fortunately, I think it was at too severe an angle, all the way across the yard, for them to see. But I had to walked through the house a few times to get things…and snuck a peek a few times. I guess that even after just a week as a stranger here, it is interesting to see people who look like me. Around 12:15 we took our bags to the bus which was waiting by the town square. We left our bags to secure our seats and then returned for lunch. After lunch we climbed back up the hilly street to the bus and crammed ourselves in for the 2 hour ride. There was a DVD player on board so Shaolin Soccer was playing for the first half of the ride and then some Michael Jackson video compilation. I read my book through the first movie but was strangely drawn to Michael Jackson—most of the videos were when he looked human so it was ok. The ride was crowded and hot but certainly that is to be expected. We arrived in San Salvador after about 2 and a half hours and took a taxi to Daniela’s. I continued to read Life of Pi for a few hours on my bed in the dark, with just a little sunlight shining through the window while Lynn took a nap. Paul, Lynn and I went to La Ventana, the great café a few blocks away for dinner and stayed until almost 11. The three of us chatted for a long time and then two guys invited us to play pool with them. One was Edgar, he was very happy and excitable. He kinda danced around all over the place and really wanted us to play (and to join him and some friends at his parents’ beach house the next day… we passed on that). But eventually we decided to stick around and play for awhile with him and his friend David. David had lived in California for a few years and knew English so we could even talk. Also, he looks like my friend Hassan so that made me happy. Good old Hassan. We played two games, each team winning once, and then we headed home.
Saturday, June 18: Happy Birthday Paul McCartney! And Paul Dyer! (I’ll always remember that). We left Daniela’s around 9 on our way to Juayua. We dropped Daniela and her children—Diana and Daniel—off at the school for a day of Bingo. We stopped by a grocery store for breakfast items. I got a little bottle of orange juice for 17 cents, and a box of granola bars. Juayua (why-you-uh) is about an hour from San Salvador and a lovely drive. The town was quaint. It hosts a food festival every Saturday with lots of vendors. There is a beautiful town square with a park and a fountain in front of a lovely church. There are also many vendors selling all sorts of stuff. I was still pretty full from breakfast and the food was pretty much all carne—meat. So I didn’t get anything. Lynn and Bob got big plates full of food and we offered their leftovers to the dogs in the streets. There were a few who came to our table to beg. They were certainly not as skinny as they are in Berlin. I suppose a town that features a weekly food festival is a pretty good place for dogs to hang out. Paul had a lot of fun feeding the dogs. Lynn was heartbroken by the young girls and boys who walked around peddling their wares and produce. One girl looked to be about 4 or 5 years old and a bit teary-eyed, So Lynn bought her bag of some sort of pods for one dollar. We weren’t sure what they were and just “forgot” to take them along when we left the table. On the way back to San Salvador we noticed a big crowd and some police officers and a young woman crying off to the side of the road. Bob said “someone must have been killed.” And sure enough, I looked out the window and in a little ditch there was a body, covered in a floral sheet, just the white tennis shoes sticking out. It was quite an experience. When we returned to San Salvador I read Life of Pi for about 2 hours and decided to save the last 53 pages for the bus ride back the next day. Finally, Paul relinquished the internet and I caught up on my emails a little. Shortly after Paul and I headed to La Ventana to meet Lynn who had left about an hour earlier. We met her waiter friend Eduardo and he joined us for dinner and drinks. He works as a computer support operator in San Salvador so he knows English very well. We had a great time talking to him for several hours. Edgar and David, our pool friends, were at the bar and spotted us. We told Eduardo all about and he explained the “guy things” they were doing because now we were with another guy and they wouldn’t usually approach us if there was another guy with us. But they did come over individually to say their greetings to show they remembered. And invited us to the beach the next weekend…sigh. Then Paul decided it would be a good idea for he and I to leave Lynn so she could have some quality time with Eduardo. So I played along and we headed home.
Sunday, June 19: I Slept In! until 10:53. It was nice to take that morning to rest. After my shower I packed to return to Berlin via the 1 o’clock bus. The bus ride was fine. We transferred buses at a small town and arrived to Casa Pastoral right around 3:30. I had saved the end of Life of Pi to read on the bus but as it turned out, I got a window seat and preferred to watch the scenery out my window. Also, I looked up to see the various vendors walking the aisles trying to sell their produce etc. Many of them were young women with drinks or fruit or sandwiches or cheese. There were a few young men, and one was selling some sort of balm that was supposed to help headaches or something. He gave a long sales pitch from the front of the bus. These vendors have an interesting job. They jump on at one bus stop then ride for a stop or two (usually 5-10 miles) and jump off again, probably to cross the street and ride back on another bus. At one point a young man, probably about my age, got on with his guitar, sang some songs for 15-20 minutes, and then walked the aisle for donations. When we got back to Berlin I finished Life of Pi. (by Yann Martel) Wow, what a great book. It would even be a good book to read to your kids, its about 300 pages but the story is thrilling and captivating. I highly recommend it. Then I started reading Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. It is really interesting reading it after Life of Pi because they discuss some of the same issues, sort of. Then I got tired of reading so I decided to color a bookmark and start making a list of all the books I finish here this summer. So far I am at 3 in 8 days. (If only I could make a living reading great books and writing about my life… do you know anyone hiring for a position like that?)
Monday, June 20: Back to normal in Berlin; only this time with running water! Lynn was extremely excited to discover that fact upon our return. This morning I read a chapter on Nicaragua’s political struggles and the U.S. foreign policy involved because it is somewhat similar to El Salvador’s. However, in Nicaragua the socialist/communist type group (the Sandinistas) won their battle and ruled the country. The U.S. supported the Contras…as I’m sure most of you who are older than my peers know… you are probably saying… Duh! Reagan administration. Because that is what I’ll be saying from now on, I guess. Anyway, the next book I read, called From Grandmother to Granddaughter, featured the stories of 9 Salvadoran women, 3 generations from 3 three social classes. Some of the women in this book mentioned that if the FMLN had won here that it is likely that El Salvador would have turned out like Nicaragua and led to more conflict. But that is only the opinion of some. The book is extremely interesting; I will tell more about it in my update on tomorrow, which is when I finished it. This afternoon was very sunny. But around 2 it started to rain very hard. Bob and I helped Milagro, Cecilia and Maria Elena clear the drying laundry off the lines and move them inside. We were laughing and rushing around; it was fun. I stood in the doorway watching the rain in the bright sun. It was absolutely beautiful. After 10 minutes it was done and I returned to my post under the orange tree to learn some more. In the late afternoon, I was finishing a chapter in my book and suddenly it got darker very quickly. The clouds were rolling in. It looked like the clouds were on parade in the street. From the patio I can see over the house to the cables in front and the trees behind the building just across the street. There is a flag way up in one of the trees that I like to watch blowing in the wind. There were so many clouds moving through this afternoon that the flag was invisible and the trees were even hidden. It was amazing. At one point there was cloud fog spilling off the roof to where I was on the patio—way cool. The electricity was flashing a little while I checked email and I even felt a little surge. Then just as we were finishing dinner the storm knocked out the electricity. So, I did my usual post-dinner activity (I won’t mention what that was so my mother doesn’t tease me) by light of a flash light sitting in a basket. There were a few candlesticks on the table so I did some reading and writing by candle light. It was so amazing how peaceful and pure it felt to be working by candle light; especially with the brilliant lightning flashing in the window occasionally, and the sound of the rain and thunder. I think it would be really cleansing to take a day or so once a month to do that. Just unplug the lights and flashing electric appliances (maybe not the refrigerator) and do peaceful things like talking, or writing, or just thinking. I have had a lot of time to do those things here and I am so happy. I really wish more people had the opportunity to it. I think people should take time to reflect much more than they do. It doesn’t count if you do it in the car while driving. Sit outside at a park or in the garden and just think about something pleasant. I dare you.
Tuesday, June 21: feeling a little ill today. I think it’s probably dehydration. So I am drinking a lot of water and popping Pepto Bismol just in case. Around 11 this morning we felt a rumbling in the earth as one of El Salvador’s 1500 per year earthquake shocks shook us. I was in the rocking chair on the patio and after the first little jiggle Bob jumped out of his office and joined me outside. He says it was a strong one. We are waiting to see details such as the location and strength in the paper tomorrow. Bob and I talked a little about questions and topics I might include in my project and we are still very excited about it. The translation will be the tough part, I will have to have someone to help me. But even that shouldn’t be too difficult. Bob left after lunch to go to San Salvador where he will meet the delegation. I am excited for them to arrive in Berlin on Friday. They will be going to the cantons on Saturday and to El Mozote on Sunday and we are invited to join them. I am excited about that. I just finished the book about the 3 generations of Salvadoran women in 3 different social classes. The book was extremely interesting and helpful because it showed the attitudes women had about gender roles and equality in the country as well as their attitudes about the war and its outcomes. The 3 generations of women in the campesina family (peasants basically) had all been guerrillas. The other families were of middle and upper class status and differing views about the war based on their generations. It was all just extremely interesting. The stories told by the women were amazing and amusing. Another great book.