Today, Saturday, we spent the day at the beach. So we did technically get one day of vacation! I had an awesome snooze in my hamaca after playing soccer (!) on black volcanic sand. Followed Javier's example and bought some ceviche de camarones for lunch. It's a tasty cold raw shrimp gumbo of sorts. Very spot-hitting on a hot day. They soak shrimp in lime/lemon juice, which cooks the meat via acidity, then mix it all up with some veggies.
Those are all the main movements. Here are some more specific thoughts, in lieu of leaving tomorrow morning:
Talking with Javier, the local college student who has joined us this whole week, has been so moving. I sat next to him in the van to the beach, and we talked about a lot of stuff: favorite music, favorite books, growing up in El Salvador, high school, and the Salvadoran social scene of young people here. Turns out that his first favorite book, La Sombra del Viento, I am currently reading! Funny coincidence. It's set in Barcelona though, so not too big of a surprise. I tend to find all things Barcelona and surround myself with them.
On a less frivolous level, some of the things we talked about on the van, and later at lunch along with a few other BC students, were extremely powerful. Growing up, Javier and his friends usually would have to choose between buying a bus ticket home, or buying lunch. This almost always meant a two hour walk home, but he remembered those times so fondly! He told me about how he and his friends would do somersaults across streets and push-ups in the middle of them when no cars were coming... All sorts of silly, crazy things friends do together. It was comforting to know that despite how often people think "far away" means "far different," people truly have more in common than they can ever imagine.
However, it was discomforting to hear what my new friend, and his family, had gone through. Two-hour walks are trivial compared to some of the things Javier's parents and grandparents suffered. His mother was one of nine children, living out of a collection of cardboard boxes in the backyard of someone else's property. She was bright, did well on a standardized test, and miraculously got a scholarship to go to private school all the way through high school, eventually going on to college. After working full-time and studying part-time for 10 years, she got her law degree. Around that same time, their family moved from one neighborhood to another within San Salvador. The reason? A young bread delivery guy was shot and killed in a drive-by right in front of Javier and his brother while they waited for their mom to get home from work and open the front door. Mom immediately made plans to move after that.
It is impossible to fathom, but we were fortunate enough to be given a tiny glimpse, thanks to Javier's openness and willingness to share his story with us. Not only was it in many ways awful to hear, but it was also awful to know that his childhood experience was not uncommon. College students grew up (and future ones are growing up) this way here.
There are many more things to say, but I will end with the following thoughts.
The world should not only be talking about the problems people in this world face, because as important as that discussion is, by itself it only draws a contrast. When we contrast, we separate our humanity from the humanity of others. The world needs to find a way to talk about how similar the people "far away" can be. Perhaps if we were also able to talk about the parts of our humanity that overlap, we would more easily find the courage to fight for the parts that don't.
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