Sobrevivir

Yesterday was a day of adventure!

We started with our Spanish class. It was more of a play day, since we walked with our teachers to Los Tercios waterfall. Los Tercios was formed by volcanic activity of some kind.

We were told never to go to Los Tercios alone, as there is a lot of gang activity there. There are two main gangs in El Salvador - 13 and 18, both named after areas of Los Angeles. Unfortunately a lot of the boys get involved at a young age. I didn't realize that gangs are present in Suchitoto. It makes me a little more wary about walking around at night, or in areas I don't know. Tenemos que cuidar... we need to be careful.

We had a beautiful walk down the slippery walks with Karilyn and William. Back at the Spanish school, we talked about music. Chris and I shared our first song that we wrote in Spanish (with banjo). It is called Amanecio (the sun rose).

Later, we went to Najapa for their annual fireball festival. It was great fun, very strange, and a little scary. In Najapa they remember the eruption of a nearby volcano by taking cotton balls, dipping them in kerosene, and throwing them at each other. Even Ryan Seacrest is a fan!

Admittedly, the event was a little scary. The fire has a low burn temperature, and it's easy to pat the fire out with your hands. We did see one woman's hair catch on fire, but she was ok. This event has lawsuits written all over it - good thing we're in El Salvador! Check out some of the excitement below:

Of course no event would be complete without ska music, in Spanish. I learned the skank (ska dance) at age 13. It's nice to know that it's come back around, here in El Salvador. Deja vu all over again!