Monday, 18 March 2019
Suchitoto, El Salvador
Afternoon drive to Cinquera for a mile’s hike up a mountain to a viewing platform. In 35C heat.
Mad dogs and Englishmen.
The mountains around Cinquera were full of left wing guerrillas during the civil war. Dense forest ideal to hide in and soon come across a 19th century indigo processing bath. Before the forest, the whole area was given to indigo plants which were processed on the mountainside. The whole indigo industry being decimated when the German chemist, Bayer, discovered how to make indigo blue dye from chemicals. Which is when coffee became the main crop in El Salvador.
You see. You learn stuff with this blog.
Further up the mountain, find an old guerrilla trench used to protect the top of the mountain from below. Further up is what’s known as the Vietnamese Kitchen. The Viet Cong provided the guerrillas with advice during the civil war and showed them how to set up kitchens with a system for eradicating smoke from the wood fires. Basically a 50m small diameter tunnel that runs up the hillside with small holes in it to percolate the smoke away from the source to prevent detection by government forces. The kitchen is located adjacent to a natural spring but to further protect the guerrillas, a few hundred metres away from the camp. Here, in the camp that we see, were about 40 people. Women, children, civilians and fighting guerrillas. Plenty more dotted around the mountainside. A table has been built using bamboo slats. This was apparently the hospital operating table for injured guerrillas. A rusting metal wire hangs from a bamboo pole running above the table on one side. The wire was used to hang IV drips. We’re told that they used coconut water as the liquid in the drips. Any medical people reading this, is this possible?
Continue climbing in the mid afternoon heat up the trail. Huffing and puffing. The view from the top of the viewing platform is well worth it though. Spectacular scenery.
Back in Cinquera, meet with a former guerrilla. Rafael is 57 years old, has a wicked smile and cheeky glint in his eye. Fantastic set of teeth, which we later find out are false. He now runs a small kiosk in the main square, notable for the remnants of the fuselage of a Huey helicopter that was shot down by the guerrillas. The fence surrounding it has pairs of rifles bolted to it. Each rifle has been chopped in half and rendered useless by the UN, as part of the Peace Accord. The guerrillas were given special training to shoot down helicopters and were under orders to shoot at every helicopter that flew by. Just in case they got lucky. This helicopter was shot down in the mountain behind us and now on display.
Guerrilla Rafael was born into a middle class right wing family who ran a farm. As a young boy, he became aware of the social inequality around him and by the time he was sixteen, moved to the capital San Salvador, against his father’s wishes. Whilst in San Salvador he became more involved with the left wing FMLN party and engaged in protests. When the civil war kicked off, he returned to Cinquera and his father asked him if he’d been involved with FMLN. Having avoided the subject for years with his father, he finally admitted to his Dad that he had joined FMLN and left the family home to go and fight in the mountains nearby. He became a guerrilla commander and has killed a number of the armed forces. His family don’t allow him to speak or see his father, even now. At the end of the civil war, he returned to live in the town again and says that he’s never had any repercussions for being a guerrilla, apart from one man in the town, a former military person, who shouts abuse at him if they pass in the street. He’s now something of a local celebrity as he acts as a storyteller to tourists and locals about being a guerrilla.
As a result of the civil war, there’s now a minimum wage of US$350 per month. A call centre worker will earn US$600 per month on dayshift and US$950 per month on nightshift. Our local guide used to be a call centre worker, where they acted for Visa, so he regularly spoke with people in the UK. Next time you ring a call centre, ask where they are. You might get a surprise.
Local guide is from a right wing relatively wealthy family as he was privately educated at the same school as the current young El Salvadoran President. President used to date a female friend of his and we’re told that President is from a very wealthy family and has never had to do a day’s work in his life.
Well, dear reader, someone has been missing my blogs at least. Younger sister of an old friend has been concerned by the lack of blog posts for the past 6 days. At least someone was worried about me. Elder sister hadn’t noticed. Think I need to trade her in for the younger model.
Thank you Bloss. Nice to know you’re thinking of me. Unlike big sis.
