Sergio and Jeannette paid for us to stay in a hotel in Santa Ana. The hotel required us to have two separate rooms since we had 3 adults & 5 people, so they generously paid for two rooms. We totally could have paid for the hotel, but they insisted. Over and over, I was impressed by the kindness and generosity of Alfredo's family.
We went to Tazumal in the morning. It was one of the things I was most excited about. I love history. And I love ruins. Tazumal was a Mayan city, built between 250 and 900 AD. Unfortunately, the museum was closed due to Covid. But it was neat to walk around the ruins and the grounds. There are so many pretty flowers and plants. Alfredo said that the Mayan city likely stretched over much of that area near Santa Ana, and the city was built on top of the ruins. Only a tiny portion is preserved, but some other ruins have been found nearby and likely much more exists underneath the current structures.
(I read a couple of years ago that only about 2% of the ruins stretching across North, Central, and South America have been excavated.)
After visiting Tazumal, we headed toward Juayua for lunch. We stopped at this farm/outdoor restaurant for lunch which was a few miles from Juayua. It was so pretty there. I know I keep repeating this, but El Salvador is so green and beautiful! The farm had several different types of sunflowers as well as cows, pigs, horses, a donkey, and dogs. There were swings. And near the restaurant, there was a mirador (viewpoint) that had an incredible view of the area.
Right as we were finishing eating our lunch, it began to rain. Not just a tiny bit of rain, but pouring rain. There was thunder and lightning and it rained for at least a half an hour. We got wet and a bit cold.
I got really emotional as we were driving toward Juayua. The views are incredible. It truly is SO beautiful. That is true. But also true is that there is so much poverty. I imagine that many of their lives are difficult. Everywhere we went, there would be dogs that live on the street and scavenge whatever scraps, garbage and food they can find. There are women carrying heavy loads on their heads and many of the homes are tiny and made of whatever materials they can find. Most homes have no hot water. (The hotel we stayed in in Santa Ana was the only place we stayed that had hot water.) Many homes have dirt or cement floors. There are roadside stands where (mostly) women sit all day selling fruits or pupusas or jewelry they have made. El Salvador is paradise--such sweeping views and gorgeous flora and fauna--and also hard, hard living, side by side. I found myself suddenly with tears in my eyes. I wondered: Does the beauty help make up for the hard? I know the beauty doesn't make their lives any easier, but I wondered if it's a compensatory blessing?
I am sure that (like everywhere) some of the people are lazy or dishonest. But in our two weeks in El Salvador, we only saw 5 beggars and three of them were in downtown San Salvador. I know that the crime rate is high, so I am not trying to portray the people or the problems inaccurately. But what I SAW while I was there were hundreds---probably thousands--of people working. Making very little money, but working. I saw countless examples of generosity despite them having very little. The people's circumstances seem to be primarily a result of where they were born (not a result of their work ethic or their intelligence or factors we like to credit for our success). It's not fair that I have so much! I don't fully understand why things are the way they are, but I know God loves His children. I know that when one blessing or circumstance is denied, God provides compensatory blessings. And I also recognize that I need to be better at being grateful for what I have. And doing more to help those without. I did a lot of thinking and pondering during this trip.
While we were in El Salvador, I was reading The Temple Experience by Wendy Ulrich. I'm taking my time to ponder and savor it, so I am not finished, but I was touched by so many things in the book and especially by this part as I read it around the time that I was especially pondering the things I expressed above. Ulrich writes about how we are affected by our own choices and the choices of others. We are impacted by the strengths and weaknesses of our family, our culture and our history. She writes:
"It is easy to assume we would be far better people if we had only been raised by far better parents in far better cultures, but this may only be partially true. We might have an easier time with obedience but a harder time with compassion, an easier time with work but a harder time with humility, or an easier time with relationships but a harder time with courage. And compassion, humility, and courage may be exactly what we personally came here to learn." (page 45)
Maybe part of the answer why I live where I live and have what I have is it is teaching me the lessons that I personally need to learn. (I'm not saying that is the full answer. I understand history well enough to recognize the impact that colonization had on Central and South American countries, to recognize that different forms of government have an impact, etc.)
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