SOA Protest Replacement Time!

So, usually at this time of year I would be at the School of the America's protest, which I am really sad to be missing (but also living vicariously through Sofia and am very excited she is there). Instead, this year I was at the UCA 20th anniversary vigil for the UCA martyrs, which is the same date that the SOA protest is based on. It was an absolutely crazy week, since it was also the 10th anniversary of the Casa and about 90 casa alums were also down here AND the Seattle U delegation came down, which means I got to see some lovely familiar faces and share my experience here with some SU family. So, needless to say, we were busy.

The day of the vigil, people come from all over El Salvador, Central America, and the world to the UCA campus, where I take classes here and where the 2 women and 6 jesuits were killed in 89. It is amazing to see the campus SO full of people from hip university students to campesino old men to confused looking American delegations. In the morning, we drew out our 20-foot long alfombra design and started coloring the salt. Alfombras are essentially huge paintings made of colored salt that different groups from the UCA and other organizations design and make. The Salvadoran students who live with us were definately heading this up, since american students dont know the first thing about drawing huge designs on asphalt, coloring salt to the PERFECT color, or laying salt down in a way that looks neat and organized. At the same time, some people from our program played in the soccer tournament. Hmm....crafts or sports, guess which activity I was a part of?















That night, we went back to the UCA for the vigil procession around the UCA campus. In what can only be described as organized chaos, we were handed candles and song sheets, assembled into a psuedo-line, and began to walk and sing along to the songs projected by the pick up truck with speakers that drove along side the thousands of people in the procession. The procession itself was as beautiful as it was realisitic: we walked along the highway, past honking cars and burger king and mcdonalds and the Chevy dealership in a semi-organized fashion, attempting to sing songs we didn't really know and couldn't really hear. Then we all somehow ended up back on the UCA campus, walking through the salt alfombras that had been made that morning and ending up at a mass in the parking lot. The mass was packed and had some wonderful speakers and music...but it was absolutely, for lack of a better word, when some random scottish bishop or someone high up in the church got up and gave a speech that made it sound like he had never even been to el salvador. He called Elba and Celina, the 2 women who died, the 'lady helpers.' Thankfully for him, his translator translated it as 'companeras.' It was just interesting to see that they opted for someone with an imortant name and face when they could have put any Salvadoran up there to give a speech 100 times better and more telling about what the Martyrs mean to this country. Thankfully it was redeemed by a woman who sang the most beautiful and haunting song about the 2 women, which for a country full of machismo and sexism in the church, was amazing to see in the middle of mass.

After mass, there is a celebration at the UCA all night long...I made it until 11 pm. I have truly converted to salvadoran bed time. Overall, the UCA celebration was great to be at to see how this counry officially celebrates the martyrs, but most of me couldnt wait until monday to get back to regular life and watch how people live outside of these big celebrations with important speakers and big screen tv's and translators for people who cant speak spanish.

Then back to regular life....one more week with the kids at centro hogar, because school here ends in december. Starting on final papers and projects and all of that...we had Casa Prom on friday, which consisted of a lovely dinner and an equally good dance party. I went back to chalatenango this weekend to visit my campo family again, who were so welcoming it made me want to live there forever....etc etc. Now off to philosophy movie of the week (blue), then starting the week again with all the parents arriving for thanksgiving.

Peace & love
:sabine

Just a Quick Post to say that I'm Alive...

So I had no idea how much El Salvador was making headlines until I was informed by a few people that they thought I was dead....so, just an update on my life status: I am alive.
The rains here last week were definately strong--nothing too much stronger than we got in August, but definately a few nights in a row of REALLY strong rains. I couldn't walk from house to house without being SOAKING wet. But beyond a few leaks in the house and the inability to walk outside, the rains were really not too big of a deal for us.
The news that is all over the US makes it seem like the rains absolutely ravaged the country, which is true. But what isn't really reported there is that the rains were only a small part of the problem. Our house, which is made of cement and very well constructed, was fine. As were the very nicely paved roads in Antiguo Cuscatlan, where I live. The houses and roads that were NOT fine were the houses made of lamina (sheet metal), mud, or sticks. The roads that were not fine, for the most part, were the dirt roads or the roads already in bad repair.
What I am trying to say is that being down here, I have seen the reality that the effect that natural disasters have on a country or on people is completely contingent upon factors outside the amount of rain or the magnitude of the earthquake. The people who were hurt down here the most were the people already living on the fringes. It was not so much the heavy rains that devastated El Salvador last week, but the poor infrastrucure and the poverty that already existed. It just took a flood to get this on the front page of BBC news.

As far as our connection to the floods, a few of the communities where we spend our time were badly hurt by the floods: a few houses fell, roads were washed away, and people are now left without food or potable water. In our houses, we got together all that we could, such as shirts, towels, blankets, shoes, medicine, etc etc. It was amazing how much stuff we all got together when 3 months ago we were all talking about how little we packed and how few clothes we had. It really is amazing to see what simple living can become when you realize what you actually need and what you can give away when someone is in dire need.
The amazing group coming down from SU tomorrow really quickly responded and is trying to bring down as much as they can to help out these communities. We are in contact with a lot of alums who are helping out with some of the relief efforts, and they are working really hard to get some of the basic things that these communities need. I know that one thing that is really lacking is money--which can buy potable water, help to build more permanent water systems, buy food, etc etc. If anyone wants to help out, the alums down here are setting up a donation site if anyone in the states wants to help out from afar. Once i find the website i will put it on here if anyone wants.

It is a crazy week here with the 85 casa alums here and the anniversary of the UCA coming up, and i have to go eat dinner and do some homework. I appreciate all the concern sent my way, and hope that now that you all know I am fine you will send your positive thoughts down to the people here who are not, who have lost houses or family members.

Hope you are all enjoying the NW rain, which is much less crazy. Good luck to everyone getting ready for the SOA protest, which I am very sad to be missing this year.
Peace & Love from El Salvador

:Sabine


PS
Here is the website for anyone who wants to help out with the disaster relief
http://friendsofsantamaria.blogspot.com/

I also have new pictures on my flikr as of late
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabinetb/

Vacation!

I'm back! Alive and well, save for the weird bites all over my neck and arms (more on that after i figure out what in the WORLD they are). I got back yesterday night from 7 days in Guatemala, which involved visiting 5 different places, about 24 hours total of travel, and lots of random adventures that I don't even really know WHERE to start with...
so to explain a little first, here is a basic layout of the week:

Friday night, in El Salvador: celebrated halloween 8-year old style with a costume and games party. Dressed up as Pippi Longstocking and got 2nd place in apple bobbing. The best college haloween yet.

Saturday Morning at 5:30: Arrive at Tica Bus Station, 6 hour ride to Guatemala. Bought some sketchy looking pupusas at the border, arrived in a random part of Guatemala and took at taxi to the Rebuli bus station, where we got on a 1960's US school bus and rode for 3 hours (and$25 quetzales, about 3 bucks) to Panajachel, a city on Lake Atitlan. The bus ride may have been the most frightening few hours of my life, since they go about 70 miles an hour on curves that are just a few feet away from HUGE cliffs, but we got there in one piece and for only $3, so i guess i can't really complain.
We were a group of 10, but split off into a group of 6 that went across the lake and a group of 4 of us, who stayed in Panajachel for 2 nights. Pana is kind of crazy and mildly touristy, but really beautiful and right on the lake. Met some interesting international travellers, had a bagel for the first time in 2 months, bought some linen pants, paid $5/night for a decent hotel on the water.

Monday night, me and my friend Katie went from Panajachel by boat to San Marcos, another town on the lake that is a lot smaller and full of hippies. We stayed in Hotel Unicorn for $5 in the "Uranus Room" and enjoyed the company of the very excentric Jessie from Brooklyn while using the communal kitchen to make some dinner. Very randomly, we saw our friends who were staying in San Pedro, a 15 minute boat ride away, and decided to meet up with them the next day to go to Fuentes Georginas, some natural hot springs in the western highlands of guatemala.

Tuesday morning, after enjoying our free self-made breakfast of pancakes at the unicorn hotel, we headed to San Pedro, met up with our 6 friends, and hopped on another crazy 3 hour bus ride to Xela, where we got a 30 minute taxi up the mountain into the clouds to Fuentes Georginas. It was SO bizzarre to actually be COLD for once in 2 months, and the hot springs were like one huge swimming pool sized hot tub...it was amazing. The ony downside was that though our cabins had fire places and cooking fires, they didnt have a store there so we were forced to eat at the fuentes restaurant, which was a little more than we wanted to pay for 3 meals. Since we were staying there, we got to use the hotsprings all night, so i was in the water for a solid 8 hours and when i got out my feet were so pruny that it hurt to walk. defiantely worth it though.

Wednesday morning, we decided that fuentes was fun but a little too expensive for another night, so we headed down the mountian again and got on yet another 3 hour ride (this time in a van) to Chichicastenango, also in the highlands but a little closer to guatemala city. Here we mostly just went to dinner, saw what there was to see of the tiny town, hung out in our $3/night hostel, being very confused by the unprecedented amount of fire works going off for seemingly no reason. we still dont have an answer for that.

Thursday we went to the HUGE HUGE HUGE market the next day, where I attempted to avoid my consumerism but caved and bought a guatemalan shirt. Unlike el salvador, guatemala has a very strong and beautiful indigenous culture, so almost all the women wear the traditional skirt and dress, and it made me want to wear every color all at once. After we were all marketed out, we hopped a 3-hour van ride to Antigua, a little colonial town that is the tourist center of guatemala. That night we found Kafka hostel for $5/night and ordered some pizza and played cards and enjoyed the only dark beer that central america has to offer (unlike the half water that they sell in el salvador)...8 college students staying in a cheap hostel eating pizza drinking beer and playing cards. sometimes it just is fun to be a stereotype i guess : )

Friday morning we got up at 530 am and climbed into a van (after realizing we were locked INTO our hostel and had to wake up the night guard to let us out..) and drove an hour or so up to Pacaya, an active volcano. After one hour in a NW-like hike, we got above the tree line and climbed up and down volcanic rocks for about 30 minutes before we got the the top, which even after a really rough hike, was the MOST AMAZING THING i have EVER seen. I was standing INCHES away from FLOWING LAVA!!! FLOWING LAVA!!! Nothing can even describe what it is like to see lava and roast marshmallows on it and be standing on a rock with LAVA under it. On a volcano in guatemala. It was AMAZING. See pictures for my attempt to show how awesome it was. I think my shoes got a little melted...but it was so worth it. The rest of the day we hung out in Antigua which was all to expensive and American-Europeanized for our taste, but still fun times because traveling with 8 really fun and crazy people is always great. We found a kooky little noodle restaurant run by an english guy and enjoyed some tofu for the first time in a while.

Friday morning we headed out of antigua on our last, and maybe most terrifying, bus ride. I paid $1 to fear for my life to get to guatemala city....i love being cheap (thanks, dad). We got to the tica bus station to buy return tickets then went to pollo campero, the fast food mecca of central america, for an artery-clogging breakfast before a solid 7 hour bus ride home.

SO many more stories, obviously....but all in all, an amazing week. I wish i had a week of REST now, since it was still a pretty busy week. After my first traveling without my parents or a school group, I am madly in love with adventurous, spontaneous, cheap travel--and may have to do it for a while before i figure out what to do with my life. I mean, I may have feared for my life while on a bus, or wondered whether many things i was eating would give me some sort of stomach parasite, or wondered where i was even going to end up in the end of the day, but for a preson who loves to be in control and is a pretty big hypo-chodriac worrier, there is no better therapy than forced care-free adventurous travel.

And now i am back in El Salvador, ready for the second half of this wonderful program, tired from doing a huge load of laundry and hoping that I can eat the rest of the weekends this quarter after my vacation spending...and even if i can't, it was SO WORTH IT. (remember the LAVA?!)

hope all is well up north with the day light savings changes and all. If you are reading this, it's probably safe to assume I miss and love you a lot.

Peace & Love.
::sabine