Class today was a trip to the botanical gardens, an impressive collection of local biodiversity and gifts from around the world. Wilmer, my teacher, related the cultural and medicinal importance of the plants, including the various methods of using "florifundia," a highly halucenogenic flower. We parted ways as usual, saying "nos vemos mañana." And then, with a thud of sadness, I realized tomorrow will be our last class together.
On Saturday, I´m heading to Nicaragua (11hr busing, 2 border crossings) to spend a week traveling there before meeting up with my friends, Thomas and Alicia, in Managua the following weekend. I doubt I´ll encounter whatever exotic challenges the cast of "Survivor:Nicaragua" is currently facing...but you never know. Then directly to Honduras to visit another of my dearest Domer friends, who´s working in the eastern Olancho region. Return to San Salv around Nov 4.
My random birthplace (i.e. not in the Salvadoran campo) gave me "intellectual lens" with with to approach everything from cell biology to...the Salvadoran campo. I want badly to go beyond the books, to learn to live in some solidarity with peoples´ real experiences here. But starting from "level nada" in Spanish with limited time, much of what I´ve learned about this country has come through indirect accounts. A few highlights of my education, just from the past week:
-An open lecture on neoliberalism & the Salvadoran economy at the Nacional Univ, where the speaker urged a packed auditorium that "ya no seamos subjetos de historia." I hope, also, that this country´s youth can start standing up to the oligarchy-friendly policies of past generations.
-Reading Fidel Castro´s recent daily sections in a leftist newspaper. He dedicated the last week to publishing chapter synopses of Bob Woodward´s "Obama´s Wars" book, which he felt so important for the Latin American world to understand that he had it rush-translated.
-Listening to a few hours of taped war testimonies, offered by people in a small pueblo where Wilmer once assisted a couple anthropologists. He had to help me a good bit with the campesino Spanish, but from the memories I heard...I can´t even imagine...
-Actually...Every single day in class, since early August, I´ve learned something new from Wilmer about El Salvador´s past & present. I could only directly encounter the tiniest sliver, but am so grateful to have had the opportunity to listen.
A couple fun side notes:
-Went to an Aventura concert on Friday. The Dominican band fuses tradicional "bachata" music with pop-rap, and is hugely popular--as I now recognize their songs on about every third bus ride. The 20,000ish stadium was packed, with whole crowd belting with the band for the entire 3-hrs of the show. My friend and I were in the nosebleed section. Yet, during the song entitled "Take Your Clothes Off Slowly," I could still see the mosh-pit hurl a hot pink bra at the lead singer. Most well known hit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1h3iPtpY18
-Lovely evening yesterday hosted at a girls´ home in the neighborhood of Mexicanos (site of the gang-led bus burning this summer). My friend, Jenna, lived there one summer, and maintains the connection now that she´s back here on a Fulbright. Playing Jenga and Twister and Jacks--despite my still-very-shaky Spanish--brought much affection from the sweet (and smart!) girls...
-Returned home a couple days ago to see a big bus right outside our house. Was puzzled, because buses never pass direct through the neighborhood, and this wasn´t even one of the nearest route. Mystery solved a moment later when my dear house parents got off...the driver was giving the older couple doorside service. I hurried to take my madre´s grocery bag from her, and as I did so, she grasped my forearm to steady herself in a way that reminded me, emotionally & almost viscerally, of how my Grandma would use me as support 10 years ago. Mi madre had just been named "Reina" of their neighborhood social group at an annual lunch. As she showed me her crown, shedding glitter everywhere, she remarked, "78 years of such hard work...it´s about time!"
-My favorite internet cafe, just went from playing MLK´s "I Have a Dream" speech to a techno version "Bad Romance." Big improvement over last week´s "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
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