El Salvador! Perquin, a further walk along the Revolutionary path

16Jul.
Perquin is a small village, Pretty but basic. On the way there however are rather large mansions that do not meld with the local houses. Apparently these belong to El Salvadoreans who left for the US and now buy homes here to return to when they visit their families or have returned to El Salvador for good. But these homes are to attest that they have made it, so are inappropriately ostentatious.
It is colder here. In the day a tshirt is ok but in the evenings more is required. At least a jumper and long trousers. It is a novelty for me. I am now feeling the cold like a native. My blood has thinned due to the heat. God I am going to suffer when I return to Europe.

The true perquin is simple, a little church, rustic houses, a few little shops, some selling souvenirs of the revolution etc. and the central square, with some shday trees and kids playing. I came to Perquin, to visit the Museo De La Revolucion Salvadorena and the village of El Mazote. Perquin was the headquarters of the FMLN and some of the museum guides fought in the war as guerillas. They will talk of their time in the war and apparently are surprisingly matter of fact in their descriptons of the war and gave very non-biased viewpoints on the details represented in their showrooms. However, they are busy today and many El Salvadoreans have come by the bus load to learn. I hope. And anyway I struggle to understand what they say so I better off by myself.

In the museum, there are many fotos as well as mortars, weapons, and many artifacts that help give a picture of what soldiers from either side may have gone through. Fotos were not allowed which was s shame.

Walking through the rooms lined with recovered guns is eye opening. So was the fact that most of the weapons used in the war were supplied either directly or indirectly by the U.S. The two most amazing parts are the large crater left untouched that was created by a 500 lb bomb, and the remains of a downed helicopter. The crater represents many that still scar the countryside.

The helicopter is from a story that will certainly stick in peòples minds for a while. The man behind the massacre at El Mazote was Lieutenant Coronel Domingo Monterossa Barrios. He was known as a brutal war machine, and many attempts on his life had failed throughout most of the war. His desire to collect war "trophies" was well known and the FMLN set a trap for him that ended with him carrying a sabatoged war prize on his helicopter that exploded seconds after takeoff. The story of his death and the memory of his brutal legacy live on in the minds of the those effected by this war and in the remnants of his helicopter at the museum here in Perquin.

The FMLN also had an amazing radio station called Radio Venceremos (We will win Radio). this was started by a Venezuelan journalist. This man has no since created the museum of images and words in San Salvador. There is a mock up of the station as it would have appeared in the 80s. It was moved around a lot to protect it. Large holes being built to hide the generator from view. The museum is a little outside of town and again is primitive and poor. It is simple and doesnt look like it gets much govt funding. No surprise there. Again I wonder what will happen, when all those that were involved in the problems are dead. Who will be the caretakers of the future?

Coming out of the musuem, I saw another war site, This was privately owned and was a camp for the FMLN. So I paid my dollar and looked at the fotos and artifacts. This was even more basic then the museum, with just some plastic over some wood protecting it.

I went to the internet cafe for a while and ended up talking to this gentleman beside me. He was El Salvadorean. He had moved back to El Salvador from New Orleans, in the US. I thought he had moved back just before the hurricane 3 yrs ago but no. He had his house and business completely destroyed in the hurricane. What do you say to that?

I then went for a bit of a trek to a local water fall which took a few hours. However, there were some local youths swimming there and a little too interested in attracting my attention, so I felt unable to go for a swim. An American I had met from my hostel had also come down. We had spoken for a few hours the previous night. It looked like it was going to rain, so I sauntered off. By the time I returned to the hostel I was drenched and cold. I had to put on my coat and a jumper to warm up and a hot coffee finished the procedure.
I had a few papusas, an El Salvadorean speciality. This is like a flat tortilla but with beans etc inside it. I choose to have only beans. It was tasty. Another early night.