San Romero and the Martyrs, art, and waterfalls

We spent the last 10 days in El Salvador. It seems this is a country many travelers skip, but we found it to be a remarkable place.

We started the week at a moving museum that displays the events of the revolution/civil war in El Salvador, the majority of which was fought in the 1980´s.
The museum was very well done and informative regarding the events of the war and it was heartwrenching to hear about the many massacres that occurred in El Salvador at the time. Nearby is the site of El Mozote, a site of one of the biggest massacres. The El Salvador National Guard was using a strategy referred to as scorched earth, fish out of water, etc. The strategy was based on the fact that the FMLN (revolutionary army) had a majority of its support in rural areas. Thus, by "depopulating", a.k.a. murdering, civilians in rural villages, the FMLN army would lose it base of support. El Mozote was the site of a small village of nearly 1,000. All but 1 of its members were murdered by the Atlacatl Battallion, a majority of whom were women and children. (It is no coincidence that similar tactics were used against civilian populations in Nicaragua and Guatemala, other countries who received training and funding from the USA). Our guide during this time was a veteran of the war (fought for FMLN) who had some speech problems due to having been shot in the head and showed us a bullet still lodged in his arm. Needless to say, this introduction to Salvadorian history made the ugliness of much of this history come alive for us.

Several days later, we found ourselves in San Salvador. There we visited the sites of Archbishop Oscar Romero, now referred to by many Salvadorians as San Romero de las Americas. Oscar Romero was named Archbishop in the 70´s by the Catholic church. He was a loved and respected leader by the Salvadorian people, however, his homilies and speeches as well as his basic theology denounced the exploitation and violence against the poor he was seeing in San Salvador. As the situation in El Salvador declined during the early years of the war, several priests were assassinated because their work with the poor and their theology that the exploitation of the poor was sinful and should be opposed was seen as subversive. Romero, having come from a poor community himself, held similar views and only became more outspoken as his friends were being killed. In 1980, while Romero was conducting mass, he held the bread representing the body of Christ in the air and at that moment received a bullet to his heart. He died nearly immediately in front of the church. Although there was a planned and well thought out cover up, it became clear that this was carried out by the Salvadoran National Guard, trained by and funded by the United States. The killing of civilians as in El Mozote as well as priests (6 Jesuit priests would be assassinated along with an employee of the Jesuit Univsersity and her young daughter several years later) continued throughout the war.

So the sites we visited had a incredible meaning for us. As US citizens, as people of faith and as humans who have trouble seeing human suffering, the things we saw and learned we challenging. We stood in Romero´s bedroom where he no doubt had many sleepless nights knowing how real the death threats he was receiving were, yet he continued to preach the good news to the poor. We stood at the altar where he was assassinated and looked on the chapel and could only imagine the horror of that day where people had come to worship and were instead witnesses to murder. We also ventured to the Central American University where the 6 Jesuit priests were murdered. We saw the bloody clothes with bullet holes and got to talk with people who were a part of this history. We also witnessed during the 10 days a people full of joy and hope. These travesties are not long in the history books, yet the hope and hospitality deomstrated to us in El Salvador was second to none and we left today having witnessed the ugliness of history as well as the beauty of a people who refuse to live joylessly, despite the ongoing presence of extreme poverty in the country. There is a link between the joy of the people and the sadness we felt at the sites of massacres and killings, but I am not sure if words can really describe the connection or if either of us are yet able to put into words the meaning of that connection.

A part of that hope and beauty can be witnessed in 3-D in La Palma, El Salvador. We visited this small artisan town for a few days and were struck by the art. The style is called "naife" and was made famous by Fernando Llort. Llort moved to La Palma and began cooperatives that continue today. 75% of the income in the town is based on its art. The biggest cooperative contracts with Ten Thousand Villages (the art often seen on crosses, depicting scenes from the countryside in a way that looks like maybe a 9 year old colored it).

We also visited a couple of locations in the western part of El Salvador. One of which had a weekend food festival where we partook of frog and rabbit among other things. Even aside from the food fair, Salvadorian food is outstanding. From pupusas (stuffed tortillas, usually stuffed with beans and cheese, maybe some meat, and then topped with pickled cabbage and hot sauce), baleadas (kind of a taco with beans, eggs, cheese, and this cream stuff that is truely amazing), and tortas (a grilled sandwich).

Finally we visited a small national park with a local guide who promised us some adventure. We hiked through tropical dry forest (20 years ago tropical dry forest accounted for over 70% of El Salvador, today, less than 2) to arrive at a series of about 7 waterfalls. Tracy admired the beauty and even rappelled down one. Adam jumped from 3 to 10 meters into the pools below in order to continue the journey.

Today we arrived in Antigua. We have already seen a few old friends from our time studying here. We look forward to seeing more in the coming days and feel we have reached a big milestone in arriving in such a familiar place.

OK, now for some photos with possibly some captions we think are witty, but in all likelyhood aren´t:

If anyone watched Voces Inocentes, this was the radio station that the child was tuning in to. Adam is standing with our guide.

This is the chapel, called El Hospitalito by locals, where Monseñor Oscar Romero was assassinated.


Cathedral in San Salvador. Romero stopped construction to this cathedral before it was completed, declaring that it would be completed once the needs of the poor in the country were met. The gaping holes served as a reminder of the poverty of so many in El Salvador for years. The art on the outside was later added after being designed by Fernando Llort (the La Palma guy)


The light poles for many kilometers in every direction from town were painted in the naife way. The buildings throughout town were covered in additional murals and figures.



Tracy prepares to eat Kermit.


Ayyy, ayyy aaamor. Ayyy, ay que dolor...


Tracy, unwilling to let her head go below water, shows off her skills with timing photography.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee










We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways. --Archbishop Oscar Romero, December 24, 1979