Festival Cultural

the park fountain


returning from a tree planting at the local springs


Poetry is big in El Salvador. La Casa de la Cultura regularly holds poetry nights. With a local NGO, we helped plan a Festival Cultural during the fiestas. Community members came to declamar—-recite poetry, often memorized and always delivered in a sweeping, dramatic manner.


On the walls behind this performer are a few of the posters from the photography exhibit component of the festival. The themes for the pictures were traditional life of the pueblo and recent projects of the NGO.


another poetry enthusiast


posing with the queen of the fiestas patronales, who came to the Festival Cultural


The festival continued with music. At first, karaoke. Bruce sang Let It Be and, to woo the crowd, proudly announced all the town facts he has learned thus far: 1) it is the capital of the world, 2) it is a little branch of heaven, 3) it is the only place visible from the moon, 4) it is the only place where the Beatles gave a concert (in the gazebo). Our beloved amigo Gerardo has drilled this into our heads. Then, three bands played. The final group played folkloric music.


The talented group played Salvadoran songs (El Torito Pinto is the most famous), but also enough music from South America to earn the label andino (as in The Andes).


The Savior of the World, from our bedroom


So we have seen our first fiestas patronales. It is probable that the town spent too much money. The queens all paid a good deal in dresses, that much is certain. The town also played hosts to famous musical acts Platinum, Marito Rivera Band, Los Hermanos Flores, and Los Guaraguao (a Venezuelan band that penned the famous revolutionary anthem Casas de Cartón, Houses of Cardboard). And yet, these fiestas lift the spirit of the pueblo. People told us long in advance that se pone alegre during the fiestas. So basically, things get happy.