| February 6, 2005 |
A great day.
Last night we had a long discussion about options for today, our free day. It finally boiled down to three; the church option (attending mass at the cathedral in San Salvador, with a visit to the crypt to view the grave of Archbishop Romero, followed by a trip to the beach), the relaxing day option (small local trips around San Salvador and lots of downtime at the hotel), and what jokingly became known as the ‘heathen option’ (hiking and beach). I chose the latter.
Lauren B, Kathy L., Jonathan, Barry, Rod, Laine and Dan, Patty, Diane, Dale and myself took the bus to the top of the San Salvador Volcano. After a stop at not one but two Mister Donuts (the first one had no donuts) we were off for our day of adventure.
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The drive was beautiful, up the side of the volcano with spectacular views of San Salvador and the countryside, and coffee growing in what looked to be very fertile soil. Since Roberto, our bus driver, was kind enough to take us all the way to the top, that meant we had enough time to take the trail that circled the crater rim, a three hour hike. |
Local children greeted us at the top. They offered wild berries for sale and then themselves as trail guides. We ended up with the two oldest; Samuel, age 20, with his machete, and a little girl of 11 who hiked in flip-flops.
The walls of the crater were thick with vegetation, and a perfect cinder cone sat in the center. In the center of the cinder cone someone had taken white rocks and spelled out “Jesus vie” (Jesus lives).
The start of the hike was fascinating. A number of families live at the top of the volcano and grow flowers and vegetables, which were beautiful if a little odd in a national park. There were also numerous large radio and television antennas at the start of our hike, which became the way we identified our finish point as we hiked along the trail.
The first half of the hike was absolutely spectacular; on our right was the crater, on our left was an incredible vista. We
could see for miles. The city stretched out below us and in the distance loomed numerous volcanoes, identified for us by
Jonathan and our local guides. Along the way we made room on the trail for men carrying huge bundles of tree branches on
their backs, and at one point we met two men who said they grow spinach and cilantro in the gullies along the crater and sell
at the market.
Our guides were great; the little girl always seemed to be behind or next to anyone who stumbled and Samuel led the way, wielding the machete to clear roots and branches from the path.
When we reached the halfway point, Samuel talked to Jonathan for a few minutes. Jonathan translated that we needed to stay closer together for the rest of the hike because the trail was not in good shape. That was true; from a wide, easily followed trail, we were now on a trail overgrown with brush, very narrow and often steep. Sometimes we were climbing up tree branches and roots, and sometimes we were climbing down sections of loose rock and sand that gave way as we walked. In narrow sections we didn’t have much space between us and the steep drop down to the cinder cone. We also lost the view, since we were now deep in vegetation. It was a little challenging for some of the hikers, but everyone seemed to enjoy the sense that this really was an adventure.
We took lots of breaks to allow everyone to catch up (counting off to make sure we were all still together). While we waited, Samuel took his machete and loped off the limb of a small tree, and started carving. I was up front so I had an occasion to watch him. Salvadoran men use the machete with the same ease as we use a pocketknife. Samuel carved easily.
The hike continued. Jonathan and Patty decided to hike barefoot. Barry slipped on some loose volcanic rocks and slid into Lauren. Samuel found a walking stick for Kathy. When we started getting back to clear spots and could see down into the crater again, Rod noticed that there were people down there, climbing into the cinder cone.
Each time we stopped, Samuel kept carving and I realized he was making a duck. I laughed and (of course) not knowing how to say duck in Spanish, I said ‘quack quack,’ and he laughed and said “Si! Quack quack!” He carved out eyes, and even made a slit between the top and bottom beak. And then he handed it to me. I’m editing this in my office in Bellevue, Washington, and the duck is looking over my shoulder.
The path started getting a little easier as we entered more of a clearing. Wild roses were growing all around us; Samuel cut a few and stripped the thorns with his machete and gave them to all the women. They were multi colored and richly scented.
And then another of those amazing moments happened; Rod pointed down into the cinder cone. The hikers had made it to the center, and had changed the white rocks. It now read, in Spanish, Peace to all the world. There isn’t anything I can say to add to that.
We spent the afternoon hanging out at a beautiful beach, body surfing, sleeping in hammocks in the shade, and talking. Rod and Jonathan went surfing, Lauren learned to body surf and even saw a shark. We debriefed that night when we returned to the hotel but it didn’t last long; everyone was tired and we had to leave early to catch our flight the next day.
Feb. 7: Those tubs that had been filled with medical supplies came back filled with souvenirs. And our hearts came back filled with memories and affection for the people of El Salvador, and for each other.
Gracias to PazSalud, PeaceHealth and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace for allowing us this extraordinary opportunity to serve as part of a medical brigade.
Peace.