It is Sunday morning, 6:15 am in La Palma, El Salvador. This is a beautiful town in the mountains. We are surrounded by pine trees and bamboo and the guest house we are staying at is serene and beautiful.
We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a long drive from the Mayan ruins at San Andreas. Before that we visited the Joya de Cerén Mayan ruins (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The ruins are incredible. Joya de Cerén was a small Mayan village that was covered with volcanic ash and debris, eventually covering the entire site in 10 metres of sediment. The site is perfectly preserved, right down to the fingerprints in the food the inhabitants were eating before the eruption.
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| San Andreas - it is thought that there is a path that links the two sites |
Both sites show the power and complexity of Mayan society in this part of Mesoamerica. Just like our Romero tour, our Mayan tour was an essential part of setting the historical context for our tour.
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| One of the excavations at Joya de Cerén |
Later this afternoon, we will set out for San Jose las Flores, a community that is very close to my heart. Holy Trinity High School and St. Gregory School in Ottawa are both linked up to this community. We will have two days here and this will be a great experience for the group.
Here they will learn about the struggles of the people during the war and the incredible community spirit that is now working to counter the threat from Canadian mining companies, certainly the pirates of the 21st century.
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| a painting in San Jose las Flores that became the logo for Compadres y Comadres |
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