3 February 2008

3 February 2008
Hello all from Santa Ana, El Salvador,
Our “red-eye” flight from San Francisco to San Salvador International, in the wee hours of Friday morning was uneventful for some of us and quite exciting for others. I woke several times to see Dottie hanging on for dear life as our plane did the bump and grind through a series of storms over California and Mexico. I can’t recall a rougher flight in a full size airliner in all the years I have flown. Other than a few sore posteriors and welts across the middle from tightened seat belts, all survived. If anything, it was fun watching the flight attendants trying to remain upright as they worked their way up and down the aisle exuding their trained air of nonchalance to assure us that nothing unusual was happening.
We were met at San Salvadore by Santa Ana Rotarians with a van that carried us through the capital city of San Salvador (1.6 million population) and east to Santa Ana, the second largest city in El Salvador with a population of about 170,000. The winding and bumpy roads left most of our group well spent after our bumpy plane ride and two hours on the increasingly hard van seats. The trip took us through rolling hills covered with semi tropical trees and bushes with an occasional Coffee Finca (farm) breaking up the scene. We arrived at our hotel on the west side of town at about 10:00 AM and were quickly dispersed to our assigned rooms. The hotel seemed to be relatively new with the rooms we were given in an obviously recent addition. As most are quick to do, we threw back the drapes on our window to see what kind of view would be our treat. We found a construction site in full bloom creating another addition to the hotel suggesting that the hotel business in Santa Ana is booming.
Our hosts picked us up at noon and wisked us off to a restaurant for our first El Salvadorian meal and a tour of downtown Santa Ana. I think each member of our group that was visiting Santa Ana for the first time was surprised what this little town displayed. We visited the Teatro des Artes, a full scale opera house that was built in 1910. Its grand opening featured an imported opera company from Italy that performed Rigaletto to the acclaim of the locals. Some earthquake damage and general disrepair closed the theater thirty years ago. Today, a group has completed 80% of the planned restoration of the theater with a reopening scheduled for 2010 featuring, you may have guessed, Rigaletto. Every effort has been made to restore the building to its 1910 condition
Santa Ana also is home to a marvelous Cathedral, La Catedral de Santa Ana. The presence of the opera house and the grand cathedral spoke of great wealth in the area in the past. Coffee was and has been the cash crop that has created Santa Ana and afforded it the amenities we visited. The old city hall, now a museum, also spoke of a rich past and provided a wonderful view of architecture from the early nineteenth century.
Our new Rotary friends took us to tour a national archeological site that featured Mayan ruins that had been or were in the process of excavation. The ruins reminded us that El Salvadore was a part of the Mayan civilization that existed throughout much of Mexico and Central America when the Spanish explorers arrived on the scene to claim the area in the name of the Spanish monarchy.
El Salvador, we learned, is the smallest of the Central American countries and the only country that does not meet both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The country is surrounded on three sides by Guatemala and by Honduras on the south. It is about the size of Massachusetts and has a population of about seven million people. 90% of El Salvadorians refer to themselves as Mestizos, 9% Caucasian and 1% Amerindian. 83% are Catholic and many identify with a growing evangelical Christian movement.
Like most of the Central American countries, El Salvador gained its independence from Spain in 1821. The country has had a border dispute with its neighbor Honduras for many decades. The dispute erupted into a four day war in 1969 in what both countries refer to as the “football war” because it broke out during a soccer game between the two countries. Since its beginning, El Salvador has been ruled by a series of dictators. A military dictatorship controlled the country from 1931 to 1979. Poor living conditions and a weak economy led to the development of a movement against the military dictators. Between 1979 and 1981 more than 30,000 people were killed in the struggle between the military forces and an organized guerilla movement. A moderate civilian President between 1984 and 1989 finally stabilized the country. In 1982 the government signed a peace treaty with the guerilla forces ending a twelve year civil war that killed more than 75,000. Today the government of El Salvador is stable and supported by its neighbors and the United States. In 2004, El Salvador was the first Central American country to sign the CAFTA free trade agreement with the United States.
On Saturday we made our first presentation of wheelchairs to about sixty recipients. The presentation was made inside the city’s modern Mall amid shops with names that match many of those at Stoneridge Mall. The presentation was scheduled for 3:00 PM meaning that recipients should probably show up at 2:00 PM or earlier. All was in order when the Rotarians from Pleasanton and Santa Ana showed up at 4:00 PM (probably earlier than expected by Central American time) only to find that the truck delivering the wheelchairs broke down somewhere along the way. By 5:00 alternative trucking was secured and wheelchairs began drifting in. Dottie and I set to the task of unboxing and final-assembling the chairs and the presentations began. By 6:00 PM all recipients with approved certificates had received their wheelchairs and had left. We loaded the few remaining chairs that hadn’t been claimed onto trucks and we headed for our hotel and quick change for dinner
One really needs to be there to fully appreciate the emotion that enlivened the presentation. Recipients with smiles awash with tears of joy were everywhere. Rotarians were seen backing away from the scene to wipe their eyes after being touched by a hug or a “muchas gracias” mumbled by a tragically deformed child. Dottie wore herself out being “chief hugger” as the dozens of chairs found new owners. Family members of recipients were overwhelming at times with their thank you comments delivered from grateful hearts. Those of us on the giving end left the scene grateful for the opportunity to be a part of something greater than ourselves. We each knew that someone else had actually paid for the chairs but the privilege was ours to receive thanks in their behalf. None of us will be the same after the afternoon’s work. And we have a similar presentation scheduled for Monday morning.
Our Santa Ana Rotary friends have been wonderful hosts. Each meal that they have provided was chosen carefully to represent the best of their culture and their town. Our first dinner was at the restaurant Los Comalitos and was specifically chosen to represent the most important elements of El Salvadorian food. Papusa was experienced for the first time by most of our group. Papusa is a tortilla like pancake filled with cheese making it about one quarter of in inch thick. Papusa is so famous that it is not unusual for a restaurant to be called a Papusaria like Pizzeria. Many restaurants have Papusaria in their names. The Papusa was marvelous and something that both Dottie I will look for on future menus. The meal also included baked platinos, banana like plantains. Refried beans, tasting nothing like but looking just alike the Mexican dish we all know, accompanied a slaw like salad that contained some unusual things like jalapeno peppers. The restaurants name translates to “small clay fry pan” in English and the food we were served suggests that everyone ought to have one.
A second dinner was served our group at La Pampa Argentina where the menu specialized in Argentinean food with lots of steak on the menu. The baked potato and steamed veggies that accompanied our meals were the usual but the steaks were out of this world. Bill had a steak served really rare, for a change, which he devoured embarrassingly fast. Dottie’s sirloin was done perfectly but the size of her serving left plenty to share with neighbors and Bill.
Today we were taken to Coatepeque Lake for a day at the lakeside house of a friend of a Rotary friend. Coatepeque Lake is a Crater Lake like body of water in an old volcano surrounded by private lakeside homes. The home that entertained us had its private covered dock where we spent our first hour chatting and getting acquainted with our Rotary hosts. The home cooked meal we were served included oven baked pork, a hearty slaw like salad and a wonderful rice casserole followed by a bread pudding one would kill for. Our afternoon was accompanied by marguerites without end, beer and interesting nibbles which included thinly sliced not ripe yet and very green mango dipped in lime juice and salt.
Our new Rotary friends of Santa Ana have found a place in our hearts even though most of them speak very little English. The hugs and embrazos have made up for the loss of words most of us have found not as much of a hindrance as we imagined.
One of our group found an interesting response to the often heard Habla Usted Espanol. This Texas born Californian was quick to respond that she spoke three languages fluently: English, Texas and Profanity.
We love you all,
Dottie and Bill