gabriel*salvador: Generosity

A month ago, dad and Vicki joined me in the crazy chaotic beauty that is El Salvador. As always, I couldn't attempt to put the experience into words. Although if I had to choose, the first that comes to mind would be generosity. Man, we lived a good life that week. I could never thank you guys enough!

One of our luxuries was renting a car, which made life easy. Like night and day easy. Without the restrictions of bus schedules, we flew around the country like it was our job. Definitely saw a lot more than we could have without it, crammed onto buses or, more likely, hitching rides left and right. We were able to pull off, explore, and appreciate the journey, instead of just focusing on the destination. Grab coffee and a view at Lago Coetepeque? No problem.

Need to run into the pueblo's health clinic to grab more chlorine for the community? Done.

As with earlier trips, I wanted them to experience life in my community as I live it, maybe with the goal of them understanding why I've chosen to extend. Or maybe with the goal of stretching their comfort zones a bit, so that the hot showers waiting for them back in the states will feel that much hotter.

We did the usual circuit, meeting my friends and introducing my family to, well, my family.

Here's me and Cowboy Carlos, one of my good friends. Buena onda as we say down here. One of us looks a little more at ease in a cowboy hat than the other. Can you guess which?

We also spent a decent amount of time visiting with my neighbors, Melida and Orlando. Orlando got to tell his now famous stories of 105 hour work weeks when he lived in Boston, and Vicki got to meet my favorite person in my community, Melida, as well as trying her hand at making pupusas. Not bad!

And she even got in a little campo gardening. Vicki-ana Jones...

Taking a break at the soccer field

They also lugged with them a ton of stateside booty in dad's infamous LLbean duffel bags. It was like xmas, channukah, kwanza, and festivus all mixed into one. Seeds for my community garden project, beef jerky, bags of great donated clothes from Vicki, pots and pans from Ellie, a surprisingly readable Guns N Roses biography from Ben and Jamie, and sour patch kids, lots of sour patch kids.

Later we grabbed Lauren and Jimbo and headed to the mountains of Alegria. A night at altitude and then we took to the beach, where we spent a few days relaxing, eating seafood, and enjoying the pacific sunsets. After all, everyone knows all work and no play make Jack a dull boy...