Day Two in San Salvador

Saturday was my first full day here. Stayed in the house the Padre has in San Salvador and slept in Alejandra's bedroom. She is the girl that the Padre "adopted" when she was a baby. She is now five. Seems happy and the Padre clearly loves her. In this house there are two other girls about 12 and there are at least 3 women who live and take care of the children while they are going to school to get a college degree I think. They do all of the cooking and cleaning. Seems to all work. All have come from a troubled past or very poor. So the Padre helps them by providing a nice home and they in turn take care of the place for him. I don't think this is the way an average priest in El Salvador lives, but it shows the humanitarian part of Fr. Fuentes. There is also a man named Pedro who is about 55. He is just here to help the Padre. His background is sad. He lost his wife at an early age and then his only son was taken from him by the rebels in the countryside when he was ten. This was during the war. Two years later he was dead from the war as the military shot him. He is poor but you wouldn't know it. Likes me to say words in English and then he tries. He thinks English words sound crazy.

So we ate breakfast or (desayuno). I think it was eggs, beans and always fried banana. Coffee is always good. Off we went to Aqua Caliente. It is about a 3 hour drive. Mostly because of the roads that lead in the town. These roads are partly paved, partly dirt. Most of the paved part is full of holes. It is only about 10 miles of roads but takes at least an hour. Road not fixed because it is the responsibility of the state to do it not the city of Aqua Caliente and so nothing happens. On the way there there is the customary poverty particularly as you drive out of San Salvador. Lots of small broken houses made of wood or mud. Junk all around some cows in pastures eating very little as this is the dry season here. Some cars but a lot of people walking to I do not know where, Lots of sugar cane fields. Some cut, some not. Some buses gong to and from San Salvador. But more pickups that usually have people riding in the back. We stop and have some of them jump on the back of the truck. Most wanting to go to Aqua Caliente or somewhere. They asked the Padre how much do they owe. He says to say a Hail Mary for the people. This is typical of him.

We make it to Aqua Caliente, and it is about 3:00 P M. We are hungry. Padre had called a family beforehand and asked for lunch. They are happy to do it. So the two of us, Pedro, and two other young men he helps too go to the house. We have chicken soup and chicken meat and of course, beans and tortillas. Always tortillas. They seems to never eat bread, too expensive. They are happy to have him there. It is an honor to have him there. The women always cooks everything, but never sits down and eats with us. This is a macho society. Just is not done. When we were at that house, the man across the street asked the Padre when he would like to eat at his house. So that will happen the next evening. And that is the way it goes.

Fr Rafael is 51 years old. He was the pastor in Aqua Caliente for six years. during that time he spent $250,000 to rebuild the church. At least half of it came from the people of that town. It is unbelievable. He started the school at that time as well with the help of the people and many more in the states. And so we went next to the School. It looked so much different than two years ago. A new building for 3 more grades. A new play area for the kids to play soccer. A new building to house the bakery that operates like a coop. also a building to start giving lessons to the kids in carpentry. There is also an existing building that is for meetings and it also has the computer room. Lots of computers all very nicely set out. More on the school later. In any case the school and grounds look great in contrast to the houses and roads of this town of 10,000. It is like an island amongst a slum. So we worked a little there and I met some of the teachers. They were preparing for the big day on Monday when school starts.

After that we started our trip to LaLaguna. A city in the mountains about 2 hours away. This is his new home. Lives in a house with the current priest of the town. This house has an addition on it that is very nice and big. Great for meetings. This town is smaller but seems to be cleaner and nicer buildings. The Padre does not say Mass there but did so in two other parishes that night, One at 4 and another at 7, We ate there and then he left for the 4 o clock Mass about 30 minutes aways. I stayed back and read my book about George Carlin.

I went to the 7:00 o'clock Mass in another town. It is very poor and small. By this time it is dark as it gets dark about 6. The road is dirt and we go up and up. On the way we pass a house with lots of people standing by and in and on the road next to the house. There is food and music coming from that house. Padre says a man of 32 killed himself. More on that latter. Then we get to the church and it is clean and looks good. It is full of people. The Mass starts and everything is okay. Then about half way through Mass the firecrackers start. Since all doors and windows are open they sound very loud. I wonder what the hell is going on!!! Could not ask anyone since my Spanish is lousy. Now I start to wonder if a revolution is starting. Will they start throwing the firecrackers in the church itself!!! Then I look around and no one seems to care. The Padre continues to say Mass and does not seem to hear anything. Ok am I the only one in a panic mode???? Long story short when the Mass is over I found out that this was a part of the celebration for the person who dies. It was nine days since he died and so now it is time to celebrate him going to heaven and it is time to sing, dance, eat and light firecrackers at the house and church. So that is what they did. A different culture and one I did not understand at the time. I still do not like it but that is my problem not theirs. After the Mass since all of the chairs in the church are those cheap plastic one, everyone took some of them and they carried them down the hill to the house for more people to sit on, since I am sure that the whole town was there. Now the church is empty of chairs and the Padre says they will bring them back the next day. And so it goes in the little country of El Salvador. And my first culture shock experience. Since it was dark I could not see the town. It could not be much. Many people walk to church Most have to walk for long distances up the hill. It is hard to understand. After Mass we stopped at the house of the dead person. Street, house, porch full of people. We parked the truck and sat on the back of the truck. Many people were happy to see the Padre. We were offered beer, drinks, and something wrapped in a leaf. I thought it was bland tasting and did not eat it. Talked to two people that had been to the US. They knew some English. Came back to El Salvador, the one man there said he missed his family. He has 4 children. He was about 30. Says is looking for work. He says no jobs here. He says he is thinking about going back to the US. I asked him if it was hard to get there. He said it was easy. He crossed in Texas. Another crossed in Arizona. Why was it easy? I thought we had handled this stuff. The whole immigration stuff is a joke. These people were in the US just last year!!! We say these people are bad, and all they want to do is take care of their family. Would we do less? We cannot let everyone in to our country but if we do not do that, maybe we should be the ones that help these people to have jobs here where they want to live but cannot find jobs.

And so we go back to the Parsonage and eat something and then it is to bed. I try to get connected to the internet there but cannot. So far was able to get connected in San Salvador Aqua Caliente will be the next problem regarding this. Went to bed about midnight and read my George Carlin book for a while. Then it was to sleep.

My First Day in El Salvador

Right now I'm sitting in the little open air area of the Padre's house in the city of San Salvador. It is sunny and 8:00 central time. My plane arrived yesterday at about 3:00 PM and then the Padre picked me up. We went to a hardware-like store and the Padre bought a pump he needs for the school, which took about 2 hours. Then to his house where Alejandra lives and several other people he is helping for varied reasons. Later that evening we went to a friend of the Padre's house. It turns out the Padre's friend lives in a richer area and has a nice house. Apparently, the owner lives here and in US and has many businesses in California. There was a lot of good food and then a singing/band group consisting of three guitars and an accordion player came in -- they sang and played for about 2 hours.

Interesting place where the Padre's friend lives. Because it is a wealthy area they actually have their own police to guard the area. Each house has a backyard with high cement block walls and sharp wire at the top. No one parks their cars on the street. The garages are in the front on all of the houses and all have garage doors on them. I didn't feel insecure here but it is different. Where the Padre lives is more like a middle class area. Again all the front doors are locked and made of steel and the kids play in the this open area I told you about.

Today we go to Aqua Caliente and to a town called La Laguna. I think we stay there tonight, but do not know for sure. So far so good but I feel way out of my comfort zone. I've been trying to speak a little Spanish but am no where near able to carry on a conversation.