El Salvador Group Letter #3

Hola a todos!

This is the final update from the Romero House Pilgrimage to El Salvador. Our past few days have been full of new faces and new experiences, lots of fun and lots of spiders, scorpions and bats! Since our last update, we left the capital city of San Salvador and headed north to a small village, Pappaturo, in the Department of Cuscatlan. This was our first experience of the campo--the rural area that makes up most of El Salvador.

For four days and three nights, we were able to see first hand how most of the world lives. Forty-five minutes down a winding, broken and rocky ´road´, Pappturo is a small village of about 400 people. The people there make their living mostly off the land, harvesting corn, beans, sugar cane and other fruits and vegetables. The village, only 16 years old, was founded by a group of refugees returning from many years of refuge in Mesa Grande, across the Honduran village. Few were from the area originally, and all had been drastically affected by the war. There was not a family in the group who had not lost one, if not several, members of their family.

For our stay there, nine families openned their modest homes to us, often humbling us by the immensity of their generosity. Some offered their own beds, and all provided large amounts of food for us. Despite a sometimes frustrating language barrier, we were still able to connect with and get to know the stories of the people that lived there.

For one day, we traveled to nearby Suchitoto, a beautiful old colonial town in the area. From there, we traveled by boat to Copapayo, the site of a two-day massacre. We heard testimonies by surviving members of the village of El Citio. Their stories of the terrible massacre, in which many women, children, and other non-combatants were mercilessly slaughtered was one of the most moving experiences of the trip.

The rest of our days in Pappaturo were spent among a variety of activities to help us get to know our new amigos. We painted another mural under Tony Ortega´s direction, we helped our families with their chores and farming, checked out the local swimming hole, and played soccer on what Brett called the most beautiful field he´s ever seen.

After our return to San Salvador, we spent today visiting the San Andres ruins--remnants of the ancient Mayan civilizations of El Salvador. In the afternoon, we went to the University of Central America, where we saw the museum and site of the Jesuit martyrs, and heard a talk from Fr. Dean Brackley.

Now we are off to a farewell celebration from our amigos we met earlier in the trip at San Francisco de Assis.

We can´t wait to tell you all more of the important details and continue to live on in solidarity with the people we have encountered.

La Paz!
Romero House El Salvador Delegation