On Friday, we attended our final public health class. We discussed how El Salvador is constantly living in risk. We learned about the natural disasters that cause so much damage and the violence from gangs. Our teacher then related both of these topics back to public health and how such tragedies cause problems with health. We presented thank you gifts to both our teacher and our translator.


We walked back to the Casas after class to leave for our trip to El Mozote. We ate a quick lunch and hit the road because we had a 4-hour drive. We stopped on the way at this huge rest stop. They had a nice grocery store and all kinds of other shops and restaurants. When we finally got to our hostel, it was getting dark. We played a few card games while we waited for dinner. The dinner was okay; eggs, beans, plantains, and tortillas. I ended up getting sick from the food, for that night and the next day. It was not fun. At the hostel, we all shared 4 big rooms with beds, and lots of fun bugs! The 25 of us shared one toilet and sink area. They were both disgusting.


Saturday morning we started out with a tour of a civil war museum. I sat next to the bathroom so I did not get to see much. Next, we drove to Fidela’s house. Fidela is the daughter of the ONLY survivor of the massacre at El Mozote. We attended the Catholic mass dedicated to Rufina Amaya, the survivor. Rufina passed away in 2007 so we spent the day with her daughter learning the story.

The massacre at El Mozote killed over 1,000 men, women and children. It went on for days and the soldiers burned most of the town afterwards. These soldiers were all from the right-sided Salvadoran government (to whom the US donated over 1 million dollars PER DAY!) The government was fighting the leftist group, FMLN. The US supported the Salvadoran government to prevent the left “communist” group from taking power and to prevent having “another Cuba”. I have been learning about the civil war every day since I have been here so there is a lot to tell but too much to type. The Salvadoran government preformed hundreds of massacres like the one at El Mozote.

We ate lunch at Fidela’s house before we drove to the actual massacre site. Fidela walked us through every moment of her mother’s escape. First, we saw the memorial dedicated to the victims and Fidela told us her side of the story. Rufina was in the third to last group of women who were lined up to be shot. A few of the soldiers were not looking, so she ducked behind a row of pineapple bushes. Rufina said that about 20 seconds later the woman that was standing next to her in line was killed. Somehow the soldiers didn’t notice she was missing from the line and didn’t hear or see her in the bush. The soldiers brought out the next groups of women and murdered them all too. Rufina stayed in those bushes, and the apple tree behind them, for about 3 days. The soldiers started to burn down the city but they still did not find her. Eventually, she ran through the woods to her grandparent’s house. Fidela showed us the tree, roads and dirt paths that Rufina traveled. It was all very interesting and I really enjoyed walking the Rufina’s path of escape. There are so many more facts about the history; I wish I had more time to type them! Sorry!

After the tour we visited the mural and plaques dedicated to the children who were killed. Next, we made our way back onto the bus and headed for a nearby river to go swimming. We got off the bus and had to walk about 25 minutes to get to the actual area where we could get in. The river and surrounding area was beautiful. I only put my legs in because it was not very hot outside and I did not want to be wet for the bus ride back to our hostel. Plus, we didn’t really have a shower at the hostel. The “shower” was just a bucket of water that you could use to rinse with after using soap.

We took Fidela and her family home and returned to our hostel for dinner. They served us pupusas but I did not eat any because I had no interest in getting sick again. Some of us played a few card games and then I did some reading before bed. We woke up at 6 am the next morning so that we could leave on the bus by 7 am.

Kevin and Trena, the directors of the program, invited us to their house to watch the World Cup final. We ordered pizzas and had lots of chips and soda. We all had a great time but I am still upset about Holland losing! Poor Holland!

Later that evening, two women from a local organization came to Casa Silvia to give a jewelry-making class. They brought a huge variety of local beans, seeds and beads for us to work with. I made this really great necklace with these triangle shaped seeds and some colored beads. We even had to drill the holes in the seeds! I also purchased two necklaces and two pairs of earrings that the women already made.