HOSTAGE

Last Tuesday I hopped on the bus out of my community at 5:20am to head to San Salvador for IST (in service training). We got about one hour down the road before the driver received a call instructing him to turn back around, and that no buses would be allowed to enter San Miguel that day, and for the following 72 hours. Bus strike. Nationwide. And not initiated by the bus drivers, but by the gangs.

Bus drivers were instructed by a statement made by several gang members on the news that they were not permitted to drive their routes, and if they ignored the strike, their bus would be burned. And in this country, the gangs don’t make empty threats…

The bus strike (which isn’t even the right word for what it actually was) of course happened on the same day that 40 RHS Peace Corps volunteers had to make their way to the capital for IST. The RHS-ers all live in the campo and it takes about ½ a day to get to the capital from most of our sites, so the majority of us had left our sites before our security office had even caught wind of the strike. I called my boss at 5:55am as he was getting off his shift at the hospital and he hadn’t heard a thing about it. So the majority of us had to hitch hike out of site to get to the capital.

I hopped a truck out of my community that was going to the highway about 30 minutes outside of San Miguel. From there, I stood on the side of the road and flagged a pick-up truck that had a bunch of people in the back and rode the rest of the way to San Miguel. Driving through San Miguel was eerie to say the least. The usual hustle and bustle of the third largest city in El Salvador was absent. No traffic. Hardly any pedestrians. As we drove through centro (the main market area) I noticed that there were gang members standing at the corners, patrolling for disobedient buses. Scary. At the terminal there was only one bus with about three brave souls aboard waiting to head to San Salvador. No thanks. As I sat in Pollo Campero waiting for a few more PCVs to meet me, I noticed that on my side of the road a group of armed soldiers stood facing a group of scary looking tattooed men patrolling the terminal from across the street. NO GRAC!!!! So I got the hell out of there by way of the nearest cab and an armed escort (the pollo camper security guard). Three other volunteers and I ended up taking a cab to the capital, which was totally worth it and definitely more safe than hoping in a pick-up truck with strangers for a two hour trip…

Now here’s my question: WHY am I living in a country that can essentially be taken hostage for 72 hours by the gangs (read: terrorists) at any given moment?!

MS13 and 18 were UNITED on this bus strike (which is a huge deal because in the prisons in this country, 13s and 18s have to be separated because they kill eachother), and worked together to release a statement initiating the strike and listing their demands from the government. They had a few demands that were all a little silly and totally unrealistic, my favorite being that they wanted to the government to give jobs to every gang member in the country. Chyea.

But the strike is over now, and despite the various rumors going around we’re all hoping it’s the end of things for a while. We’ll see.

In other news: IST was fun and productive. We stayed in a nice hotel in Ahuachapán and it was COLD there at night! SUCH a nice change of pace. It was on La Ruta de Flores and the terrain was beautiful. It was the first time us newbies spent any meaningful time with the older class of volunteers and they offered us lots of guidance in terms of projects we can get going in our communities. I’m looking at starting a vivero (nursery) project with my school while I write grants to solicit for funds to finish our potable water project and start a chicken coop nutrition project with some women.

It’s still hard to get myself back to site. Every time I leave I dread coming back. Everyone keeps telling me it gets better after the first year….so that’s how many months away? So wish me luck!

Here comes the rain so I’m out! Miss you all!

xoxo