Villa Florencia...

Events from January 26th and 27th. (I am trying to catch up, I promise)
So I don't know how I woke up in Florence, but...
No just kidding. I did wake up in a Hotel called Villa Florencia just a few blocks from downtown San Salvador. I slept like a log, and probably looked like one until I took a shower.
Breakfast was only about 3 dollars for some "Casamiento" also know as rice and beans, eggs and flied plantains! Oh yeah, that is 3 dollars for 2 people. Cheap and good eats. I am really looking forward to this kind of diet.
Then it was off to the local bus stop to catch a ride to the Jesuit University in town. This was an interesting bus ride because it was the end of rush hour traffic, so there was limited space on the bus. I stood for a while, hanging on for dear life, and then found a seat so that John could point out all the sites that he knows from living there for a while in the early 90's.
Oh maybe I should let you know how John Donaghy is. John once worked for St. Thomas Aquinas, and maybe still does, I am not sure. But in any case, he now lives in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras working for the Latin American version of "Catholic Relief Services." He is 62, on the shorter side, but in Honduras he fits right in... minus the rest of his white/gringo appearances and actions trickster actions that you may hear about in future blogs entries. John met me in San Salvador to show me the sites and help me get to Honduras to spend a couple of weeks with him before I have to start studying in Costa Rica.
John took me to the University to see location where the Jesuit Martyrs were killed in 1989. This museum is very powerful, and saddening. I would rather not go into the details, but I will say it is a visit that I will not be forgetting very soon, if ever.
Afterward we went to the bookstore, and there I looked through their Architecture section. Yes, my fellow LA's, they do have to worry about grading in Central America as well! I found a couple of books devoted solely to that! I also found a 2010 Daily Gospel Readings book in Spanish that I had been looking for, for a while. More practice, yay!
Then for a snack. "Licuados" are pretty much a kind of creamy milk with fruit and sugar. I think I found my new favorite drink, a cheap price.
Back to the bus stop to get another bus out of town to a small Catholic Hospital run by a group of Sisters than I can't remember the name of. The chapel in this complex was also the location where Monsenor Oscar Romero was martyred in 1980. If you haven't heard about him I advise you to look him up. I guess everyone in Central America, Catholic or not knows him. He was martyred just while he was celebrating Mass. Shot from outside the church. This was another moving visit because his home is now a museum that includes is vestments that he wore when he was martyred and outside there is a grotto that has his heart, which was still in tact even after being shot in the chest, placed within. I guess when they moved the heart to build the grotto, they found the heart, buried underground in its old location, still very well preserved, and with liquid blood still present after many years. Ok, I don't think I am doing him any bit of justice. This is just what I remember, so look it up yourself because it is really amazing.
Then we walked to for quite some ways, I am not sure how far, and ended up after a couple of stops at one of two malls in San Salvador to get a bite to eat. The mall is just like any mall in the US, so don't plan to visit there if you come down. It isn't anything special.
Then we caught a bus to my favorite part of the day! Downtown, the Cathedral and Iglesia (Church) El Rosario. This meant walking part of the way through a crazy market place for a few blocks, where I had to duck many times so as not to hit my head on a beam or low hanging chicken for sale. I guess I am tall for Central American standards. The Cathedral was architecturally very similar to a Cathedral in Europe, but there were a few added touches, such as the style of paintings and mosaic tiling on the front entrance that we very local to El Salvador. In all I though it was nice.

But then as we were about to leave the central square, I mentioned to John that I really liked the use of concrete in the Cathedral and it made him think of another church, located only a couple of blocks away. So we headed there to check it out.

I must say that when we entered the park in front of this church from about a block away, I had no idea that it was a church at all. I was guessing that it was some kind of museum. See John Donaghy's blog entry called "seeing with other eyes" (http://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com/2010/01/seeing-with-other-eyes.html) for pictures (until I get mine up), and such. This church is amazing. It was built in the 60's and is completely made of concrete, re-bar and glass, some of the most common building materials found throughout the world. What makes it so amazing though is how the architect designed this church to complement the qualities of the materials. First let me tell you about the use of light and glass. Warm color fills the entire space, but with different intensities and shades, especially in the late afternoon and early morning, as the main window face East and West. This wonderful palate streams onto what would be thought of as drab gray concrete walls, but the texture catches the light just right that it works. I have no idea how you could even plan this. The Tabernacle is also a good example of how the designer too a common material, glass, and gave it a personal identity, by smashing it (as if it were being pierced by a bullet or shattered by a bat.
Then the use of concrete and re-bar are best seen in the Stations of the Cross. I could almost see each one of these pieces of artwork (see Johns blog/pictures) as if it were springing up from the actual streets of San Salvador, calling out the Passion of Jesus Christ as it does so. It is vernacular, it is local, and if I were to bet, it is re-use material from those very streets. I'll just have to let pictures do the talking though (so I promise to get get them up next Tuesday when I have my own computer and internet).
All these elements give such a tremendous physical and personal feeling to the space, that you may become overwhelmed with emotion. I was, and then to top it off, I even got to celebrate Daily Mass! What a blessing!
Then it was back to the hotel to sleep before another day of traveling. I wrote in my journal that evening, "This day gives me a bright hope and assurance that God is with me on this trip."

Wednesday John and I were to the bus stop by 8 to catch a ride to the border of Honduras. This WAS an actual "chicken bus" as many of you may wonder, I was sitting right next to a box of little chicks. Not to mention all the other produce that was heading, with its owner, to markets elsewhere in the countryside.

We walked across the border, a pretty neat experience, and then took a quick taxi to the next town to catch another bus to Santa Rosa de Copan. Finally I made it to my destination at around 3pm. Finally, now I could relax, or so I thought. Not quite. We stopped by John's house to drop stuff off, but then walked through the cobblestone and dirt streets to Caritas (Catholic Charities) to do a little bit of work before the day was over. I got to see Padre Efrain, a priest who visited St. Thomas last fall which as great to catch up a little bit, but also a harsh reality because I realized that I really need to increase my vocabulary in Spanish. I was really struggling.

Then we walked around town a bit more, including seeing the Cathedral for the Diocese of Santa Rosa, and changing Dollars out for Lempiras. Then we went to a local pizza place for some really great pizza (John claims the best in Central America, all local ingredients), and back to his house to actually rest this time. After letting the parents know I was safe, I sat back and enjoyed the beautiful evening, 60 or so degrees Fahrenheit and clear. What a glorious first evening in Honduras! Praise be to God for safe travels!