El Viernes Santo

Everybody knows...TURTLES LOVE MANGOS!

our roof

On Good Friday (el viernes santo), our pueblo decorated the streets with alfombras (carpets, but in this case sawdust paintings of Jesus). The final and most elaborate Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) then took place. See pictures below. The Catholic traditions here are impressive. Unfortunately, we had gripe (colds)--or possibly just dust in our throats and lungs--all of Semana Santa (Holy Week) and weren't able to take in too many of the processions.

spraying down the alfombras with water

one of the stations for La Via Crucis

Monsignor Romero. Last month marked the 29th anniversary of his assassination. There was an enormous banner in our church that read (translation) "Saint Romero of the Americas." However, he's actually not yet been awarded sainthood.

Our pueblo has Catholic churches on both the east and west ends. Here, Jesus is ironically leaving from a church called Calvario (you will remember that was crucified on Calvary hill) on his way to the larger church.

the altar servers

the statue of Jesus, carried by many men

Huevos Chimbos. Folks save their delicately cracked eggs, fill them with confetti, cover them, dye them, and give them to children to smash on each other's heads. There is no Easter Bunny in El Salvador and no special candies. But we had special candies. Shout out to N and M for the package that included Reese's peanut butter eggs! Also shout out to Marlboro Middle School in New Jersey for their great questions through WorldWise Schools!

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MORE NOTES

Funerals: We´ve greatly enjoyed attending a number of celebrations in our site: religious processions, a first communion, a fiesta rosa. A few weeks back, someone asked us if we had been to a funeral in El Salvador. We had not. Sadly, that is no longer true. A teacher in our pueblo´s bachillerato (high school) died in March. He was a member of the almost-NGO that we work with. He came with us to the San Miguel Carnaval and on one of our hikes. He would always take pictures on his phone. There were hundreds and hundreds of folks at his wake. He will be missed. The next week, the sister-in-law/next-door neighbor of the woman we live with passed away. She was the only close relative left in our pueblo. Relatives came from the capital and the States. Both Don Loncho and Doña Alba are in our thoughts and prayers.

Scholarship Win: With our almost-NGO counterpart, we applied to and won a scholarship from an awesome organization in the US named Kids to Kids. The $495 will pay for a Festival de la Juventud (Youth Festival) that we will carry out in September. Foot races, skateboarding, rollerblading, soccer, ajedrez increible (a chess tournament of sorts), live music, art, etc.

Goodbye to Steph: Bruce´s boss, a Peace Corps El Salvador legend, is returning to the States after six years in country (first as a Volunteer, later as administrator). Our training group had an almost-surprise party for her in La Palma, a beautiful pueblo up north famous for the Fernando Llort-inspired art (very colorful animals, people, houses/ the art is so busy and vibrant that it is somehow becomes tasteful again). We danced the night away in the school. Thanks to M&C for putting the event together.

Earth Day: April 22 is Earth Day and we are currently putting much of our energy into the parade/ dramas/ speeches that we will have. Our first true large-scale community-wide event.