August 2-3

Aug. 2 - Today we arrived in El Salvador after a one hour flight from Atlanta and then a 3 1/2 hour flight to El Salvador. Arriving here was rather bitter sweet, but I believe that God's spirit is truly present in this country of 6 million people, and the journey will give me a renewed sense of spiritual energy to share with others. After arriving at the airport in Atlanta, I met my first Maryknoll lay missioner, Debbie Northern, who hails from Virginia. She serverd 8 years in El Salvador and is now training lay missioners in Ossining, NY. Very fun and playful, I can see how she is a perfect fit for the very friendly and always joyous Salvadorans. Then we arrived in San Salvador and met Rick and Janet, our other two lay missioner guides. After a quick snack at the airport Pizza Hut, we headed for the Maria Eugenia retreat center to rest until the others arrived. Along the way we became immediately familiar with the vegetation. There are lots of coconut trees that line the highways and just about anyone and everyone sets up a stand to sell them. It seems like anyone can just grab them from the trees and set up a shop for selling. We took a taxi to the retreat house, but many people take public transportation such as buses and trucks with cattle-rack looking things on the back for people to stand and hold onto. I asked if anyone who has a truck could do this, and the answer was yes. Any way the people can make money, they create a service. The underemployment/unemployment rate is around 40-45%. A beautiful and quiet place, the retreat center has incredible bird and plant life all around. Max and I were facinated by this rat looking thing that scrounged around the property. I don't know the Spanish word for the varmit, but it seems to me to look like a bald possum with very long legs. I think it is called a patusa, but I'm not sure. After a one hour rest period, we joined with the others in our gathering room, a small auditorium near our lodgings, and got to know one another. There are nine of us in the group. At our gathering we learned a few cultural norms to expect, such as how to dress in public (no shorts or summer-type tops), even though it is rather warm here. The retreat center is a little outside of San Salvador and in the hills a bit, so it does get a little cooler in the evenings. It rains daily, sometimes just for a short time and sometimes we can expect a deluge late afternoon or early evening. We learned not to drink the water because 90% of it is contaminated. As well, when using the toilets here, you can't flush toilet paper. It must be disposed of in a trash can. But AMEN, we have hot water and electricity, a luxury most all Salvadorans must do without. At evening supper we had a meal of potatoes in a butter sauce, zuchinni and green beans, ham and cheese and rolls. For desert, the sisters provided fresh oranges. All around the retreat house property are orange trees. They serve the oranges peeled, but whole. In the evening, we had prayer service, reflection time, and then we went to sleep to the tunes of a variety of birds and music from other groups staying at the retreat center. Aug. 3 - Today I attended prayer service in our auditorium at 6:45 a.m.and then went to breakfast at 7:30. We had fried eggs with ham, and pureed beans - kind of like refried beans, only really soupy. They served us cofee and tea, and oranges as well. Our first journey was to the site where the 4 churchwomen were murdered. This was in a very remote, rural area where the roads are very harsh and the living conditions very basic. Today at the site, there is a monument in the women's honor and a small chapel that the local community uses for their church. We were fortunate to have with us Fr. John and Sister Carol who are Maryknollers and who knew the women or had been a part of the process of recovering the bodies of the women to be properly honored and buried. There stories were quite incredible and moving. The women were murdered by the government controlled military during El Salvador's terrible civil war. They were considered subversives in the eyes of the government because they were trying to help the poor. We then went to lunch near our retreat center and had what Salvadorans might consider their national dish - pupusas. Similar to quesadillas, pupusas are sold just about everywhere...on the streets, along the highways, at festivals, in nice restaurants, etc. But, be sure to order them later in the day, because if you go in the afternoon, you'll likely have to wait about 1-2 hours for your meal because the cooks have to make the "masa" or dough fresh. One pupusa costs about $1.75. El Salvador uses American currency. Another thing that was a little strange was to see an armed guard standing outside of the restaurant. Not sure of the randomness of this, but from time to time it isn't uncommon to see a policeman or military personnel with a big honkin gun in their hands just standing around. A threatening reminder of days past for the Salvadorans? After lunch, we drove to La Puerta del Diablo, which is almost like a park I guess, where Salvadorans gather for hiking, ziplining, music, and to sell their crafts/foods. Kind of like a market, you find a variety of things to buy from jewlery to corn on the cob on a stickk. We decided to hike the trails up the cliffs for a little exercise. Later I will post some pictures of what we were able to see. Since El Salvador is a country about the size of Massachussettes (sp?), we could pretty much see the entire country from volcanos and mountains to Pacific coastline from the heights we were able to climb. Very impressive.