Walking With El Salvador

 Part 2: Off the Beaten Path at Ecoparque El Espino View looking down from Mirador Aleman  Before dawn on a recent morning, my husband and I headed up the San Salvador Volcano to do some hiking and bird-watching. Our destination was Ecoparque El Espino - a place we have heard about for years but a place we had not yet explored. We will definitely make this a recurrent destination to enjoy on our own and with delegations of visitors. Situated on the southeast side of the San Salvador volcano, Ecoparque El Espino consists of 102 acres of protected land, at an elevation of just under 4000 ft above sea level. Unlike Parque El Boquerón (featured in Part 1 of this story),  El Espino is not managed by the national park system, nor has it been developed as a tourist site with "fancy" amenities. It is owned and managed by the El Espino Cooperative, which garners income from coffee production and, since 2003, eco-tourism.  Can't pass up a swinging bridge! We wandered, carrying mug

Part 1:  On the Beaten Path at Parque El Boquerón The San Salvador volcano is called the sleeping giant for good reason. It is a geographically broad, primarily stratovolcano made up of layers of built-up lava and tephra (ash, cinders and rock that blasts out as pyroclasts during an eruption and then settles). Stratovolcanoes are usually cone-shaped. More than 40,000 years ago, the immense, conic San Salvador volcano dominated the landscape of El Salvador. A mammoth eruption truncated the volcano, leaving behind an ancient crater in which the Boquerón volcano grew. About 800 years ago, Boquerón erupted and the central cone collapsed, leaving behind a crater lagoon and the profile which we recognize as the San Salvador volcano today. Photo taken on the day of writing this story: the San Salvador volcano as seen from southeast of the volcano, with an approximation of volcanologists believe was the ancient profile of the San Salvador volcano about 40,000 years ago. In the photo, El Boquer

This is a story about women telling hard truths, women coming together to support each other, women working to improve the lives of women and girls in their communities.  Recently, an invitation from the leaders of Gender and Family Ministry of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church was sent out through a communication group of which I am a member. It caught my attention: The Salvadoran Lutheran Church, working with the Office of the Woman of the Lutheran World Federation, has initiated a consultation process about the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women CEDAW  ...  The purpose of the gathering is to bring together women leaders from their communities for a consultation on community contexts regarding gender policies and all forms of discrimination against women. Pastor Cecilia giving out vacunas contra la violencia during the Missions of Healing (2011 & 2012) I thought about Pastor Cecilia giving out "vaccinations against violence" to chil

El Salvador held elections on February 4, 2024, and, in breaking with a tradition of many years, this time I was not a credentialed international election observer.   During previous elections, I served on a team of national and international observers organized by the Salvadoran Lutheran Church. Although the church did not make an observation plan for 2024, the role of observers from the Salvadoran citizenry, political parties, government agencies and international organizations continues to promote trust and transparency in electoral proceedings. Observers have noted that the election day process in El Salvador has been, for the most part, free and fair over the last many years.  In the days surrounding the February 4th election, Salvadoran and international media have widely reported on and analyzed the presumed election of Nayib Bukele to a second presidential term, the constitutionality of his election, and the consolidation of power for his political party, Nuevas Ideas. (I use