Off the Beaten Path: Finding Sanctuary in San Vicente

Cathedral in San Vicente
During this Holy Week, I have been thinking a lot about peaceful, sanctuary moments.  After I posted some photos from this past year,  I was reminded by a friend of a day visit the two of us made to San Vicente.  It was one of the first times we ventured out on our own without a Salvadoran friend to keep us out of trouble, and we had a fabulous time exploring the town and the churches. I pulled up my photos from our time in the sanctuaries of San Vicente, and my friend was right to remind me of the beautiful images.
Cathedral of San Vicente Abad







Nuestra Señora del Pilar

One of the oldest churches in Central America 
Señora del Pilar - built in 1762

This new sanctuary is built next to the old one, which has sustained damage
over the last 250 years from several strong earthquakes


Original sanctua

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Plant that Came from Nowhere and Grows Everywhere

Image
I am a plant person - a plant person without a garden or a yard or a farm. We have porches.  Porch Pot (©Linda Muth, 2023) It's pretty amazing to see what will grow on a porch.  I like to experiment with what might be considered garbage from things I get at the grocery store. Most Salvadoran produce is not hybrid, so saved seeds will germinate. Herbs are sold with the roots, so it sometimes works to cut off most of the herbs and stick the roots into a pot. I am currently experimenting with some little chunks of ginger that were no longer edible.  After a couple of weeks in the soil, the roots are sprouting nice little stalks and leaves. Ginger sprouting (©Linda Muth, 2023) Frequent travel makes porch gardening extra challenging. One option is to grow for a while and then give plants away.  One time, I left a bucket of basil, rosemary and other herbs with Pastor Santiago's mom, and it produced abundantly until Santiago cut off too much. (He told me he was grateful for...
Read more

Attempts at Salvadoran Cooking: Refresco de Marañon

Image
When I am in El Salvador, I try to cook with local ingredients and try my hand at whipping up a bit of local fare.  During the Easter holidays, we received a gift of small marañones  - cashew apples.  Of course the prized part of the marañon is the seed that hangs down below the fruit.  Some people have told me that the fruit is good for much more than animal feed, but I have seen plenty of marañones  stuck on popsicle sticks and put into the freezer as a treat for children, and I also have heard that some people make a refresco  or fresh fruit drink from the fruit.  With the gift of a small plastic bag full of small marañones  sitting in my kitchen, I decided to do a bit of research and make something with them.  I settled on a refresco. The first step was to remove the seeds from the apples.  I naively thought I could dry the seeds and maybe roast them.  After all, cashews are delicious.  However, with a little researc...
Read more

The Morro Tree

Image
Cihuatán is an archeological site which lies just north of Aguilares. Amidst the Mayan ruins, which are definitely worth seeing, you will also find some of the local flora and fauna of the area. This area north of Guazapa has become cattle country, and, according to the locals, some of the wealthy cattle producers have their eye on this property. The security guards and barbed wire fences do a pretty good job of keeping cows off of the site, but nothing can keep the goats from enjoying a good run in the field. The wide variety of bird calls, the tinkling of the goat bells, and the low moos in the distance create a peaceful atmosphere in which to enjoy the ruins and have a relaxing, yet very hot, walk with friends. Surrounding the large hill which was constructed to support the main temple, there is a broad, grassy field, dotted with trees. Pablo, our driver and friend, said that during the war, there was a lot of looting of this site. People drove big trucks in to take the rocks ...
Read more