Breathing it all in: The first few days in San Salvador

Where do I begin?

I can’t even describe the feelings I’m having right now.

Wednesday October 16^th I arrived in San Salvador Airport to a big warm greeting from two of the three Casa Community Coordinators, Quentin and Sara.

Quentin is this really cool, laid back, really loving kind of guy whose first reaction to seeing us was to give us all a hug.

Sara is lovely. She’s a sweet and caring person, it just radiates off her face. Her excitement when we got it was so welcoming and I couldn’t help but smile from all the immediate love we received.

Sullivan is my CC. She's amazing. She's sweet, funny, and caring, and she's spunk about her. We shared a cup of coffee in Trena and Kevin's (the directors) office today.

The air was warm… Uncomfortably warm, and was my first taste of being “uncomfortable” in El Salvador. It wouldn’t be the last.

We took a bus from the airport to the Casa houses in Antiguo Cuscatlan, and I finally realized I was not in Secaucus anymore. And I definitely wasn’t in Baltimore anymore either. But on that bus ride back I was “okay” with that reality.

So much has happened in the three and a half days I’ve been here. I’m still trying to process it all. But I’ll just give you all an idea of our living conditions.

There are three houses in which all the “Casa” students live. I should explain that all the students from the states are in the “Casa de la Solidaridad” program through Santa Clara University, including myself. The three houses are named Casa Romero (after El Salvadoran martyr Monsenor Oscar Romero), Casa Silvia (named after Salvadoran martyr Hermana Silvia Arriola) and my house Casa Ita (named after martyred churchwoman Ita Ford).

Casa Ita, my new home for the next four months, is the smallest of the three but has its charm. The first thing I did with my free time was to decorate my room a bit. With no tape, this was difficult but I managed to work with what I had.

                                   

This first week is basically an orientation of sorts so I’m with the 17 or so other Casa students a lot of the time. We travel together, eat lunch together and attend reflections together. I’m getting to know them now, and while it’s still very early I already know I’ll make a few great friendships here.

We all eat in Casa Romero as it has a nice courtyard and hammocks, which we’ve all been enjoying. Among the Students from the United States we also live and will be studying with El Salvadoran students from the Romero program. They are known as los bocarios or scholarship students. I’ve been trying to brush up on my Spanish with them, but it’s been difficult and frustrating realizing my limitations.

Even with these limitations I refuse to be slighted in the least, and will march onward on my quest to become fluent in the Spanish language.

Sully is the third and final community coordinator and she is equally as friendly and lovely as both Quentin and Sara. She has spunk haha, and its cool to see how their personalities play off each other. They’re a source of comfort for me as they’ve been through the program and are so warm and helpful.

On Friday night we went to get pupusa which is like this flour tortilla pocket filled with anything from pork (chicharron) to beans (frijoles) to ayote (a type of squash). There are many combinations and are a staple of El Salvadoran cuisine. We went as a big group to a place called “Pupuseria Abbey” in los planes de renderos and ordered pupusa for the first time.

The taste is hard to explain, but it was good. A little strong for my taste but definitely something I’d eat again. I’ll try anything once, but pupusa is worth another try for sure. After the pupuseria outing we went to this “mirador” or lookout. The view was breathtaking and the pictures don’t do it justice, but it was truly beautiful. Up until this point I was feeling very homesick. But going out with the whole group and figuring out how to contact home made me relax a lot, and now I’m enjoying myself.

El Mirador                                    

Yesterday we visited the praxis sights of Las Delicias and Tepecuyo.

Las Delicias is a small rural village that was severely affected by the floods this past October. We did a few house visits and encountered people who has literally lost everything they had to flood waters. Most of the houses still had marks on their walls where the water line had been and the mud line had been as well.

It broke my heart a bit to see such destruction. Trena, one of the directors of the program made a good point. A lot of people would think that the flooding and following destruction is simply a result of natural disasters. However Trena pointed out that there is a lot of deforestation around the communities which make the small towns and houses more susceptible to mud slides and devastating flooding. Not quite sure how to respond to this yet but it definitely made me think.

The community is mainly run by women, which was a nice surprise as I expected a male dominated society. A woman named Dinora and another woman named Christina who basically run and operate a library for the local students and provide meals (however small) to the community. It was nice to see the esperanza, or hope that the people have there and the ability to pick up and move on after such devastation.

Next we traveled by bus to Tepecuyo, which is located about an hour from where we live and is historically a coffee growing community. We arrived at the house of a woman, and community leader named Angelica (pronounced Anne-Hel-Eek-Uh). Before I could enter the house a little girl whose name escapes me, ran up to us and hugged me, among others. In that moment I saw God. The love that this little girl had and the welcome she gave us were beautiful moments and a reminder of the love that surrounds me here.

Angelica made us this soup, sopa frijole y ayote. I was hesitant at first to eat it but then threw my inhibitions to the wind and dug in. It was honestly delicious and probably my favorite meal so far. It had beans and rice and squash in it and was just such a great way to enter a home.

Angelica described what she did, which was to help provide food for her neighbors, as well as computer classes and English classes as well. To meet such a strong woman was again a very cool experience. After lunch we got in the back of a pick up truck… THAT’S RIGHT I SAID PICK UP TRUCK haha. We took a ride up the mountain to the house of Angelica’s nephew Giovanni, who has been in an accident while working in “las milpas” or the coffee bean fields. He is now confined to a wheelchair for the foreseeable future.

The ride up had some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. We got to Giovanni’s house and were greeted with coffee and deserts. Giovanni told us his story and we listened intently as he told us how happy he was that we were there. One of his hobbies was that he sang. Before the accident, we discovered, he loved modern dance and expressed himself in that way. However, now that he could not use his legs, music and singing provided him an outlet to express himself.

He sang for us a bit and it almost brought me to tear to hear not only the pain in his voice but also the faith and hope he had. It was a moving moment and I appreciated being in his presence.

Today is now Sunday and I am in an Internet Café called “Biscuit” haha. I am just now getting the opportunity and time to write a bit.

To my family and friends:  I miss and love you all and feel your prayers and love and support from here. I can’t wait until we are all reunited, but am enjoying every minute of my time here.

I am taking this experience one day at a time. I find myself getting sad about home (both Secaucus and Baltimore) but find solace in the fact that there is a home for me here as well.

Norelby, a bocario in the Romero program told me (in reference to my Spanish speaking ability) “Poco a poco” or little by little. I have come to apply this to my whole experience. It applies in so many ways and I’m not 100% comfortable yet (maybe I won’t ever be), but I’ll keep on keeping on, poco a poco. This saying is just how I want to take in the next four months. And I’m excited to do so.

Until next time,

Hasta pronto mi amigos,

Yo te amo mucho.

Anthony