Learning El Salvador

Pictures and map are up to date!

Since the last post, we have visited a few other areas in El Salvador and have been having a great time getting to know this county and its people better. We left Juayua and their delicious food, and headed up to the northwest corner of the country for a 3 day, 2 night, stay in Parque El Imposible, one of El Salvador´s national parks. The park is one of the last intact rainforests on the pacific coast. It is considered a dry-wet rainforest which produces three levels of ecosystems depending on altitude. The hikes in the park were challenging, but slow enough for both of us to enjoy the lush vegetation, waterfalls, and about 500 species of butterflies (we are sure you can all guess which one of us now has a ridiculous amount of butterfly pictures).

After two days of hikes, we decided to head out of the humid forest and back into civilization. We stayed the following few days in Santa Ana, the second largest city in El Salvador and in close proximity to the National Volcano Park. The first day we both hiked Volcano Izalco. A new volcano only 300 years old that last erupted in the 70s. The whole volcano was rocky, with a few small plants starting to take root and had a classic crater at the top. Rich returned a few days later to tackle the larger Volcano Santa Ana that has a lake in the crater. Kendra opted for a day in the hostel hammock with a book.

Swearing off hiking for at least a week, we have spent the last two days in Suchitoto. This town is known as an artistic hot spot for the country and a good weekend getaway from the craziness of San Salvador. We have found that the town has a sleepy colonial feel that we have also experienced in a few other past stopovers. Our main purpose for the visit, however, is to learn more about the recent civil war and how it affected the area. As many of you are aware, the El Salvadorian war was very brutal, with many civilian casualties at the hands of the government or government supported paramilitary forces. The conflict ended in the early 90s. Many of the young soldiers on both sides of the conflict are now only in their 30s.

The mountains around this area were home to many of the guerrilla forces hiding out and some of the heaviest hit areas by arial bombers. To get a better understanding of the area, we took a 6 hour tour up into a nearby volcano that had some of the heaviest action. We chose to go up to the sites on horses, which proved both nerve racking and rewarding. The jungle terrain provided steep rocky paths which the horses handled as best as they could (we use term horses in a loose manner. Although both animals were healthy and sizable, Kendra´s turned out to be a horse-donkey combination which accounted for the animal´s stubborn attempts to eat everything in reach at every available moment).

At the same time, it turned out to be a beautiful ride, and one well worth the effort as the tour consisted solely of us and two guides. One of the guides assisted in navigating the mountain paths, while the other guide was an ex-guerilla combatant who told us about what it was like to live on the mountain fighting for 10 years against an armed force 3 times as big below. Many of the fighters took arms after the government forcefully cleared the area. Our guide, Jerry, however, joined the fighting from San Salvador after witnessing many of the inequalities that were taking place. While on our ride, he showed us where they set up their hospital to care for the wounded. They had only one doctor and protected him with a special bomb shelter and nearby trenches for artillery. During our ride we continuously saw zigzag trenches dug into the ground and piles of moss covered stones which they hid behind. Old boots, water collection containers, and grain bins still lie there rusting and falling apart. We were able to see the small caves where they hid supplies during attacks. It was interesting to hear that the guerrilla fighters were both men and women. Even children were present (and attended school in the encampment) as whole families had fled up into the mountains.

It was very humbling to listen to Jerry as he talked about the reasons they fought and what life was like living in the camp. We asked him if it was difficult to tell the story of what he experienced. He said that it was very hard to talk about the sad things that had happened before and during the war, but that he had good memories too. During the ten years, he had developed friendships among the other fighters. They would have parties and celebrations on the top of the mountain over looking the valley and lake below. Jerry was a remarkable man. Currently he is still a part of the FMLN, now a legitimate government party, and is in the process of growing fruit trees on the 1.5 acres of land he received as reperations after the conflict ended.

Before we left for our trip we had heard a little bit about the violence that occurred during the war and then the street violence that occurred after. With all of the tragedies that the people of this country have endured, they have opened their arms to international visitors and have gone out of their way to let us know that we are welcome. Almost every person we have talked with has asked us how we like their county. It was intimidating at first when a young, rather rough looking male walked up to the front of the bus and started up a conversation with us. He had heard us speaking English and wanted to speak with us and see if we were enjoying our time here. He didn´t want anything from us, he didn´t have anything to sell. We´ve experienced this several times as people genuinely care. Taxis drivers give us directions for using the bus, when in previous countries they would have followed us all the way down the street telling us to get in their taxis. It seems that all of the suffering the people here have endured has not hardened their hearts towards others, but has given many of them hope for peace and prosperity. We also hope for the same for them.