Diary Tuesday August 21, 2001

Diary

Friday, August 17 Guatemala and travel to Quetzaltenango
Saturday, August 18 Quetzaltenango
Sunday, August 19 Guatemala
Monday, August 20 El Salvador
Tuesday/Wednesday August 21/22 El Salvador/Guatemala
Central America 2001 Home
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Pictures

Set 1 Guatemala and travel to Quetzaltenango
Set 2 Quetzaltenango on Saturday, August 18
Set 3 Guatemala City August 18-19
Set 4 Guatemala City August 19
Set 5 Guatemala City August 19
Set 6 Guatemala City -- at Senor/Senora Perez's
Set 7 We enter El Salvador August 20
Set 8 El Salvador Dental Office
Set 9 Social get-together at Cisneros in San Salvador
Set 10 Earthquake damage at Las Colinas August 21
Set 11 Goodbye to El Salvador and back to Guatemala

This morning at breakfast at the Cisneros we discussed some of the needs of the El Salvadorans. It appears that a pressing need is to help students age 16 through about age 23 with tuition for higher education. The tuition amounts average about $40 per student per month. The school year begins in January and runs to October. Students are needing to know now, because for many it is the difference between getting an education beyond the high school level or not. With unemployment running 40% in El Salvador, life for a young person can be bleak without a little help. Perhaps we can make a difference in someone's life? We hope we did. We left Herbert Cisneros tuition money for half a year's tuition for 22 young people.

Photos of events described on this page

Set 10 Earthquake damage at Las Colinas August 21
Set 11 Goodbye to El Salvador and back to Guatemala

Off we went to Las Colinas. This is near San Salvador where a hillside tore away and wet mud 20 feet high rumbled down through a populated settlement and buried 800 people in minutes and seconds when the January 13 earthquake hit on a Saturday morning at 10:30 am. The horror of this event is still evident as the Cisneros, Langarica's and we walked reverently over the spot where all the deaths occurred.

As we walked we found baby shoes and other personal items from the dead. Herbert Cisneros found the upper arm bone of a child four to five years old. I could not bear to touch it. There were many stories about the event. The saddest one was of a man buried in the mud but still able to breathe and get to his cell phone. He called his wife asking to be rescued. He kept calling until his cell phone battery went dead. He was never found.

From there we went to Teresa Santamaria's home that had damage and was now fully repaired.

Then a lunch and we began our journey from El Salvador back to Guatemala. The climate is quite different in these two countries. El Salvador is considerably warmer. The temperature was in the 90's and humid. Guatemala is 20 degrees cooler and drier at the higher elevation.

After crossing back into Guatemala we stopped in the town of Cuilapa which has the reputation of being the halfway point between Northern Alaska and Tierra del Fuego in Pantagonia, Argentina….the southernmost point of our hemisphere. A member, Donaldo Flores and his wife Adi and one year old child Valeria Marie live here. LifeNets had financed a concrete floor for them as well. He poured it himself in their cozy home that they have built. Adi has beautified the yard with flowers and shrubs.

Then our final hours back to Guatemala City. Saul could not resist stopping at a friend vendor's along the way for tomales. Another dietary experience! They were good.

The next day, Wednesday, the 22nd we packed and got ready for our trip back to the United States. I helped little Susy Langarica get on hotmail email. A young man Alejandro Velasquez who owns a computer business and speaks excellent English came over and we talked about how we will interface with the new pastor, Luis Mundo.

I have traveled to many places in the world, but for both Bev and me this has been one of the most interesting places we have visited. It is so close to the United States, yet so far in being a land of opportunity, freedom and wealth as ours. This trip has made me more determined than ever to do what I can to help provide hope and opportunity for these very fine people.