Frijoles and tortillas

We are back in San Salvador at Lluis and Irma's (from SABES, http://www.aguasabes.org/index.html, check them out!). Today we have had a great day, visiting the mountains near Perquin and swimming in a pool in a river on the Honduras border - we even got a stamp at the immigration office at the customs house! The water was cold but worth the effort. To get there we went in two cars, the six of us plus Valentin, a French youth the girls chatted to ( or up...) at the Posada, plus two "guards" with large machetes, ex combat people from the ERP, that fought the 1980-1992 war! It helped making all of us feel safe and it seems the normal thing to do here. Yesterday we attended several town's fair functions, including a japanese display (?*!) and a charity supper. We also visited El Mozote, a town where early Dec 1981 the government army massacred 1000 civilians including at least 460 young children... One of the few that escaped it -as she was away visiting relatives- guided us and told us the story... she lost 6 brothers and sisters and 17 nephews and nieces that day! A very educative and specially emotional visit. This was not the only atrocity the army commited during the war, and now, it seems the country is being cheated of real democracy...
The last four days have been very emotional -robbery included- and reminded me of all the things we thought we knew when demonstrating in spain in support to various "revolutions" and guerrillas in south america in the late 70s and early 80s... We could not even imagine how tough it really was for all the locals and the things they had to do - and still have to a great extend- to survive and feed their families.
Tomorow we return to Guatemala and head off to Flores, for a few days rest, a visit to Tikkal and lots of clothes washing.

Tornem a ser a San Salvador, a casa d'en Lluis i la Irma(de SABES, http://www.aguasabes.org/index.html, mireu-ho!). Avui hem passat un altre gran dia, visitant les muntanyes prop de Perquin i banyant-nos en un riuet prop de la frontera amb Honduras -fins ens han segellat els passaports a la duana! L'aigua era molt freda pero ha valgut la pena. Per arribar-hi hem fet un comboi amb dos cotxes per portar-nos a nosaltres sis i a en Valenti, un noi frances que han conegut les noies a la , i dos guardes armats amb "matxets", ex combatents del ERP, que varen participar en la guerra del 80 al 92! Sembla que aqui aixo es forca normal... Ahir vbarem anar a la fira al poble i varem disfrutar de les presentacions japoneses (?*!) i un sopar en suport dels nens i nenes. Tambe varem visitar EL Mozote, un poble on la'exercit del govern va massacrar mes de 1000 persones els primers dies de desembre del 81, entre les que hi havia almenys 460 infants. Una noia del poble, que va escapar la massacre ja que era visitant uns parents a prop, - a ella li varen matar 6 germans i germanes i 17 nebots i nebodes- ens ha guiat pel poble i explicat com va anar. Ha sigut un dia molt instructiu i emotiu! Aquesta no va ser la unica atrocitat que va cometre l'exercit durant la guerra, i ara, sembla que els han mig enganyat fent veure que tenen un estat democratic...
Els darres 4 dies han estat molt emotius - robatori inclos- i m'han fet pensar en tot el que pensavem que sabiem a finals dels 70 i durant els 80 quan ens manifestaven recolzant les diverses revoltes i guerrilles a sud america... No podiem ni imaginar el que estaven passant la gent d'alguns d'aquests paisos i el que havien de fer per sobreviure i mantenir les seves families.
Dema retornem a Guatemala per anar a Flores, on a mes de visitar Tikkal, esperem reposar un xic i fer molta bugada!