Festival and host Family

Walking up to the Pueblo of Perquin,
Please note new banner over the road to advertise the festival

Dad by one of the many murals in Perquin

Tasting some Pinol de Gallina India which is
the soup you see above with a piece of free range chicken ploped in

Some traditional Chanchona music

you can't tell, but this guy had green strings... I liked that.

Today was the contest for the Best Pinol de Gallina India
and this lady second from the right won the grand prize,
I think it was something like $50 bucks. 

Musica Andina 

Dad playing soccar with my lil host brother Christian

Lunch, Soup with chicken killed that day for my dad's visit 

Christian and Diana posing with dad too cute. look how sweaty Christian is! 

Daddio wakes in Perquin

After waking to the sound of roosters at 4am ... 
we started our day off with a quick 5mi hike around

Followed by a filling hotel lenca breakfast 
and later coffee in the hammock

If that wasn't enough, after breakfast we hiked over to the Chorreron waterfall

found this guy on the path. 
This contraption around his neck is so he doesn't get through fences, 
or that's what I think I understood the explanation to be. 

El Chorreron! 

woohoo! love this place

picture proof of joy

later we went to visit the site of the massacre that occured in 1981in the nearby community of El Mozote


Watch the video for more info:

Mozote Church

The new memorial monument of El Mozote, under construction

Dinner time drinks: 5 year flor de Caña Cuba Libres

saucy!

Dad Arrives in the Savior.

Host Family who wanted to come with me to pick up my dad at the airport.  For their support they made out with brand new Super Selecto sunglasses. (sunglasses are a very american thing, or at least not very salvadoran). So after my dad bought them a pair each, my host sister on the right stood next to him and said, "now I look like his daughter" ... too funny.

Later at dinner, Chanchona Band playing at the lenca. 

Dancing with a lenca waitress, please note how gigantic I am compared to her. Salvadorans are tiny and they think American are HUGE. this is perfectly shown here. Also note, the tiny dancers to the left. 

enjoying some fancy bottled wine, a fancy box of wine followed later in the night

 I blame the boxed wine for this decision. 

Gallina India Mas Hermosa

This past sunday I attended the first of 5 events that will be celebrated in the region. (I am supporting various groups in planning these events) All five being hosted in different municipalities and having various cultural competitions. This week was the competition for the Gallina India Mas Hermosa!
Gallina India is a,  free range/natural/NOT enhanced with hormones, Hen
AND the challenge was to find the most beautiful in all the Northern Morazan Land.
Below is the most hermosa/beautiful one. Jewelry and all. 

The shoes were so heavy the poor gallina couldn't walk

Proud owner of Gallina Mas Hermosa gives a speech

La mas Hermosa!

first, third, and second places L-R
second place was tired and put down for a nap and is not present in photo

con cariño: Canchonas
i.e. Canchonas are music groups that play ranchero music, all acoustic

I Am Ruta de Paz!

sweet breads, chicken sandwiches (watch out for the bones), chicken soup,
Tamales, pupusas, and other tipico

Chicken Transport

The dance of the vegetables

The Venue: Amun Shea School 

Selling homemade crafts to raise funds,
I walked away with a really sweet wine bottle converted into a fancy flower vase

My lil host brother Cristian
He is a guisquil a kind of light green squash-like vegetable
called 'chayote' in Mexico

Cristian explaining his vegetable in english ;)

The vegetables dance

The vegetable dance some more...

Please note my awesome host brother 4th from the right...
Who's having a good time??? Cristian's having a good time!
And how could you not with all those veggie friends. 

Cristian lets me try on his costume... 

Derrumbe = Mudslide

THIS was the Scene up the street from our house on Monday Afternoon... Want the full story? 
Hinkle has the full write up on his blog which you can find HERE
He likes writing more than I do and pretty similar to what my write up would be since we were side by side that whole day. Win Win!


We are safe, our house is not flooded, and we continue to be thankful for both those things. 

Paz Fuera
~K