Cinco de Mayo!

May 5,

CINCO DE MAYO! I was invited by a half Mexican volunteer to hang out in the capital celebrating it today, but we had the first monthly audit of our medical dispensary by the ADESCO today, so I had to attend. After all was said and done, the health promoter lady, Isabel, got $86 to live on for the month of May. I mean, I made that at Wal-mart of all places, every two days, and I didn’t have a kid (although here in the canton they don’t really have taxes, there is some tacked on to their light bills, but the government subsidy pretty much covers it). Most people in the US make that every few hours, haha. It was sad, because we had to cut her salary to half of what it was from the time when she worked for the NGO that was here. The nutritionist lady that works with the kids of the canton was dropped in half to $30 a month, but her role in running the dispensary is minimal. But they both do house visits every morning etc etc, so who knows. They do a lot of good work. I just hope people continue to support it in the town so that it can continue to grow. I am looking for NGOs to help out with the medicines that we have to buy at the end of every month, because they won’t give straight up cash to help pay our ladies while the dispensary is getting off its feet. As usual, anyone interested in helping out with something in my town, feel free to drop me a line.

Let’s see, on lighter notes…. Hmmm…. Ah yes, they have had vacation here from May 1 to May 4. It sounds like some version of Labor Day, mixed in with celebrations initiating the month dedicated to Mary….May. May 1, there was a parish wide parade and Mass, that I was actually drug to actually, because I had no idea what was going on and wanted a day of vacation :) It was cool though, every sector of the parish (its broken up to make it more efficient) made these big flower decorations and brought them to El Calvario, the other big parish church in town. There they had songs and prayers, and testimonies. The testimonies this time were more geared to miracles worked in their lives by answered prayers. My favorite was the second to last lady who said that her son had eaten some spines of some fish and had operations etc, but even after they said that he would have to live with some of them for the rest of his life (weird right?....maybe its in the translator :) Anyways, this son lived in San Salvador, and when he called his mom one day, she suggested them praying the rosary together, and she said that at the very end of the rosary, he began coughing and then coughed up the spines that had been “afflicting” him. Then she started crying yadda yadda, but I thought it was a cool story. Although, doesn’t say much for Salvadoran medicine, haha.

Everyone just leaving the Calvario.

Ole Padre Tino in the middle leading the people in prayer.

The people with some cool flowers

A shot a little further out.

People filling in the church for the Mass.

Eventually, they processed to the main parish church, where the celebration was concluded with a santa misa. Wahoo.

Saturday, was jam packed too. First off, we were going to leave at 5:30am for our ADESCO excursion to the beach. I was first reminded at 5 in the morning though that I hadn’t made my cross. ??? Come to find out it was Dia de la Cruz, Cross Day! Ha, its amazing to me how some things through the history of humanity manage to find their way into cultures. Apparently, on dia de la cruz, every makes their crosses with fruit on it in front of their houses, praying for a good “winter,” their season when the rains comes and harvest etc. An external expression of an internal prayer, no harm in it. But I did hear some questions by the kids saying that if you didn’t put the cross out on this day, the devils would enter your house for the winter…. (later I heard the same thing from one of the grandkids of Don Raul, but he quickly shot that down, and rightly so of course.) It’s just cool to see the syncretic nature of Catholicism working in this culture. I mean, there has been some kind of sacrifice to the God or gods of people for thousands of years in every culture across the globe before the planting and harvest, but now in every one of those cultures all has been pointed towards its true source, in one sacrifice. (but then again, that’s what the other cultures all said too :)

Mauricio, the neighbor's, cross

My poor cross. Didn't have any fruit to hang in the 2 mins I made it before heading out.

The trip to the beach was pretty good. We made almost twice what we did in the previous excursion, which was good. The beach was a lot more grumpy this time around though. The waves were much bigger and the current much stronger. We didn’t lose anyone though, haha. From what I have heard though from other volunteers, it’s not rare to see a few dead people at the beach during your few years here. Interesting.



Although…it still amazes me that people who go around so much without shirts one insists on “bathing” in the ocean fully clothed.



OH, almost forgot, Aaron, you might find this note intriguing. I played in my first soccer game this Sunday. We traveled out close to Zacatecoluca with the two La Comunidad teams. I was kind of anxious to see if I still could play at all after ohhhh……9 years or so. I couldn’t help but laugh, they were taking shots at the goal, and when I finally went out to mess around, the ball eventually came to me, and everyone was watching to see how the gringo was. They were shooting from outside the box here and there. I mean, I couldn’t have had better luck than that first shot. I somehow kicked it really hard with spin curving it toward the upper left corner of the goal. The short goalie never had a chance. I completely fooled them, it was hilarious. There were going to be two games. One for the no. 2 team and then the good team. I played the first half on defense for the no. 2 team with Francisco, and then their coach guy told me to sit out the second half to rest for the second game. I warned him that I had gotten fat here and wouldn’t last. We won the first game 4-2, and then I got put up as a forward in the second game. So not the place for a worn out gringo. I barely made it through the first half, and we were losing 3-1. I took myself out for the second half, and we ended up tying 4-4. It was fun though, if I manage to keep playing, I will get back in cardio shape, that’s for sure. I have quite a few battle scars too, we don’t realize how lucky we are in the states to play on grass fields. It’s straight up dirt and rocks here.



Everyone will be glued to radios and little portable tvs this Wednesday at 1:30pm here for the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game, “El Classico” they call it here. I am making chocolate chip cookies in the neighbor’s gas oven to celebrate, very excited. Hopefully I don’t screw it up.
The new Peace Corps group is swearing in this Thursday in the capital, but….. the party is expensive to get into, and it’s a lot of money always staying in the capital, so, I don’t know, most of the volunteers will be there though. We’ll see.



I’ve been slack on my studies and reading as of late, and I’m short on things to eat around the house, but other than that, things are chivo. Soon enough.



“The Church is called Catholic then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind, governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins, which are committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue which is named, both in deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual gifts.”



Catecheses, No. 18:23



St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop of Jerusalem (315-386 AD)