Letter, June 14, 1975

Dear Mom, Dad & all,

Thanks much for the pictures. That one looking out over the back 40 from the machine shed is really something, and the one of the farm in winter will certainly freak out some of my Salvadoran friends. I hope you’ve finally gotten some rain up there, Jan said in her last letter you were awful dry. That’s all you need on top of the alfalfa winterkill & the atrazine carryover!

Dad, I showed that test sheet you sent me to the extensionist {meaning an agriculture expert hired by the government to work with local farmers} I live with. He was real impressed with the production of the cows & the ages of some of them. Cows don’t live as long here because of the terrific stress they undergo each year during the dry season with no green feed & often insufficient water as well. The only thing I dislike about telling people about your farming operation is that by the standards of the peasant farmers here, our farm is really big & they start thinking of me as the son of a big rich “ganadero” (cattle farmer). One guy has already hinted that he’d like to come to the States & work on my big “hacienda” {large ranch or farm}. It’s hard to convince them that one family can work that much land all alone. They are used to working with oxen & wooden plows, short-handled hoes and machetes rather than modern machinery. I never know how much of what I tell them they really believe. Let me know how the classification came out, especially Lisa, Margie & Belle. { Classification is a program of the national Holstein Association which gives a score, on a 100 point scale, to cows according to their appearance relative to an ideal established for the Holstein breed. Dad was participating in this program as part of a sire (bull) proving program through his artificial insemination cooperative. } Belle should have been in good shape for the classifier having just about time to milk the fat off her back. Hope you get a chance to buy a couple heifers at the Willard Nehls sale, maybe with the economic situation like it is they’ll go pretty reasonable. It would be good to get a couple to help fill the gap when you were getting all bulls.

Mom, in case you’ve forgotten the name, the official name for my plant is a streptocarpus, if that means anything to anyone. I wanted to ask you what ever happened to those other little plants I left at home (in the dining room window). I got a letter from Gert, the cook at DTS {Delta Theta Sigma agricultural fraternity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison}, and she said the plant of that same kind (Christmas candle) which I gave her had grown well, produced flowers & some “miniature oranges” and was blossoming again. Did you have any luck with the ones I left with you? That streptocarpus really thrived when I kept it on my sereo speaker too, so it must really be a music lover!

I realized a childhood dream last weekend. I got my first pair of genuine cowboy boots & walking around in them I felt like Roy Rogers & Gene Autry all rolled into one! I also discovered why cowboys ride horses all the time; it’s darn near impossible to walk at a good pace in cowboy boots! I had the boots hand-made by a shoemaker here and they cost me the equivalent of $24 American. A Salvadoran friend told me you can get them cheaper yet, but for me it was a steal.

I’ve been feeling awful run down lately, don’t know if it’s just the heat (& humidity, whew!) or something more. I’m not alone though most of the volunteers who live at lower altitudes & eat “campo {rural} food” are complaining too. This is a rough climate to keep up ambition & initiative in, always hot, humid in the rainy season & dusty in the dry season. My survey is progressing though, I’ve done 105 interviews with small landowners in the area of the irrigation project & have about 60 more to go. At least I have an immediate goal to work for!

June 23-26 we’re having a big get-together & series of meetings for all volunteers in the country. It is going to be held at Lago Coatepeque, a crater lake up in the mountains, so should be a nice vacation & a relief from the heat of the lower altitudes! It will be like a summer camp having about 100 Gringos {nickname for people from the U.S.} all together in cabins. That’s what we call “roughing it” in the Peace Corps.

Have you heard that the Miss Universe Pageant is going to be held right here in El Salvador this year? Yes sir, they’re going to bring all those skinny, long-legged women from all over the world right down here, with all the attendant publicity & press people. The Salvadoran tourist bureau, which is sponsoring the contest, will be trying to show only the very best side of the country of course since their big goal is to increase tourism & rake in foreign cash! Even so you may get a chance to see some of the same sights I’ve seen through the T.V. coverage in the States. The Miss Universe candidates are scheduled to visit the town where one of my friends is stationed so maybe he’ll get a chance to meet some of them. I’ll have to go to the tourist agency & see what tickets cost for the night of the coronation (July 19). Afraid it’ll be out of my price range & they’ll expect black tie & tails, but it’d be fun to know what they sell for anyway.

Speaking of Marcia (since you did in your letter), I’ve been meaning to ask you for her address for at least 3 months. Just goes to show you how well acculturated I’m becoming down here. If you send her address in your next letter maybe I’ll at least be able to send her a birthday card!

Wishing you health,

Dean

Letter, June 11, 1975

Dear Jan,

Thanks for sending me the loan deferment forms with the bill. I sent them notice of my change in address when I entered Peace Corps, and again a few weeks before the bill was due to make sure, but sometimes the message just doesn’t penetrate to the proper level of the bureaucracy. I changed the address on the bill too so maybe they’ll get the next bill addressed right. I have to get a form signed by the Peace Corps director every time they send a bill, to certify I’m still here.

Sorry to hear about all the problems Dad’s having with the crops. All he needs is a poor crop year on top of this recession! The crops here are growing like mad. The rains started coming about the middle of May, and the corn that was planted early is already knee high! Most of the corn is shorter of course, but it really is amazing how fast things get started once the rains come. They will be harvesting the corn by early August when your corn back home is just setting ears. They have tremendous insect problems though. All the farmers are either cultivating or applying insecticides to their corn and rice right now.

My study is coming along, slow but sure. I have interviewed 97 of the small land owners in the area here, and have about 70 more to go. My motorcycle is in for repairs again, & it is very hot when it isn’t raining so I’m not working at a very fast pace. I would like to get most of the leg work of the study done this month so I can get it analyzed & write up my ideas on the relocation plan next month. Depending on how my ideas are received, & what more they have lined up for me to do, I may terminate in late July or early August. It would be different if I could see what I was of benefit to the peasant farmers, but what my bosses really want is for me to help them “manage” the small farmers so the project comes off more or less smoothly, & they can keep their well-paying jobs.

Have you heard yet that the 1975 Miss Universe Pageant is going to be right here in El Salvador? The big show with the crowning of Miss U. is to be held July 19 with other public-attended affairs leading up to it. I wonder how much of El Salvador will actually be seen by the outside world through their T.V. sets. I imagine they will confine it to a tour of some of the tourist attractions with June Lockhart or someone! Even those will need a facelift if some of the “other” El Salvador is not to peek through the curtains. They ought to show the tin, straw, mud & cardboard shacks where the servants live, often within a block of middle class U.S. looking neighborhoods. It will be hard to miss showing some of the shanty town which surrounds San Salvador since you pass part of it on the road in from the airport (Maybe they’ll use a helicopter!). The candidates are scheduled to visit Gotera (which is getting a new road for the occasion) where a friend of mine is stationed, so maybe he’ll get a chance to see how they manage the situation. The Miss U.S.A. is from California, as is my friend, so maybe they’re old childhood buddies, & it’ll make good human interest stuff (just kidding). Anyway, watch the contest July 19th, & maybe you’ll see a little of the country I been hanging out in for 8 months.

Take care,

Dean Jefferson

Letter, May 31, 1975

Hello Jan,

Since you asked me about “adventures” I will have to tell you about the Fiestas Patronales {Patron Saint Festivities} which took place in my town, San Isidro, on the 15th through 18th of May. The Fiestas Patronales or Festival of the Patron Saint are THE BIG TIME in every little campo {rural} town in El Salvador (and much of Latin America). It is sort of like the county fair, Fourth of July, the junior prom and Easter Sunday all thrown in together! About a week before the Fiesta was supposed to start a big truck came into town & they set up a portable whore house right across the road from where I live. The next morning at breakfast the lady with whom I eat & the social worker told me what kind of establishment it was, and asked me if I was going to patronize it! That took me aback just a little.

They also brought in some carnival rides. Most were hand operated, but they had one whirling job which was motor powered. They had games of chance and lots of thatched-roofed, quickly put up food stands with sweets & pastels {pastries} & pupusas {a kind of filled tortilla, where the filling is cheese, meat or refried beans}. The center of the thing was the corner of 4 streets nearest my room so the loud “alegre” {happy} music made it hard to sleep at night.

After the whore house got established, people started celebrating even though the Fiesta wasn’t due to start for a week. The drunks would be shooting off their pistols in the middle of the night & that with the music made sleeping a challenge.

I steered clear of the festivities as much as possible until the weekend (17th & 18th), then I went to the big soccer game. The home team won of course; I don’t think any away team would have the guts to win knowing that in the crowd were several drunk local campesinos {peasants} carrying pistols (which they sometimes discharged when the home team scored)!

The granddaughter of the lady with whom I eat came out from San Salvador to go to the big dance Saturday night the 17th. She was an AFS {American Field Service exchange} student in Ohio and speaks pretty fair English. She is also 19 years old & very good looking. I had met her once before, but this time we had a good chat about the political situation in El Salvador. Her perspective is so much broader than that of any Salvadoran girl I’ve met that it was really good to talk to her. She told me more about the last presidential election here in which the most popular candidate was robbed of the presidency by the all powerful army. She is somewhat of a feminist for a Salvadoran (Most women here never seem to question male authority or superiority.). She is going to the national university & is going to be an Agricultural Engineer. As you would expect, that field is even more male dominated here than in the U.S. She hopes to do graduate work in the U.S. & I hope she makes it because she impresses me as very intelligent, but her concept of the world outside El Salvador is still pretty simplistic & conservative. For example she was taken aback to learn I had smoked marijuana, & the first time I met her the second thing she said to me was, “I know you’re rich.” I went to the Fiesta & danced a lot with her, & so now the local folks think I have a “novia” {girlfriend}. I do have kind of a crush on her (as you may have guessed), just because she has so much potential, & I would really hate to see her get put down by the neo-fascist political norm here or the male chauvinist social norm.

Well I kind of got stuck on one track this letter. Was glad to hear about the trees you planted; didn’t know olives grew so far north. Got a real good letter from Bruce about what he’s been doing & his plans. I told him to get a technical specialty for job security to fall back on. Agriculture firms like the technical training & agriculture background, and look on the economics & business courses as useful, but secondary. Never can stop giving advice.

Take care,

Dean

Images, May, 1975

Some of the hilly land near San Isidro, El Salvador where I work. The photo was taken from the highlands near El Transito.

{ Another photo taken out the bus window near El Transito. The valley between the hill in the foreground and the one in the background is the site of the Atiocoyo Irrigation Project. }

Looking out over the flat land of Hacienda San Juan – San Isidro where irrigation works will be constructed & operating within 5 years.

{ Cover of the flyer for the San Isidro Patron Saint Festival in 1975. }

Fiesta Patronal {Patron Saint Festival} in San Isidro, with rides, games of chance, goodies to eat & even a whore house.

The whore house in the Fiestas Patronales of San Isidro as seen from my room.

A horseman tries to spear a piece of cloth fastened on a rope using a pencil. it is a traditional contest to impress the ladies at patron saint festivals.

Letter, May 10, 1975

Dear Jan,

Well I am still in the same old job & still feeling frustrated & restless. However, I am beginning an attitude survey of the plus-or-minus 180 families who could potentially be involved in the relocation part of the project. It is very necessary work & so I will try and stick it out in this job at least until I get that done. I wish I felt more dedicated to my work, but it’s hard to when I am idle so much of the time & when the Salvadorans I work with are mostly concerned with their salaries, living conditions & getting ahead in the world, rather than with helping the poor farmers. I guess that’s the usual case with government employees in the States though too. It really points up the folly of government trying to replace private initiative & do everything itself. I think the government here is afraid of private initiative because it might turn into antigovernment action, so they stifle it & then wonder why development doesn’t progress!

So much for my frustrations! Glad to hear you’ve got a job lined up at the day care center & all; I hope you’re enjoying your work there. I hope I’m still here in January so I can show you around a little if you come (though I won’t stay just for that!), it will all depend on my level of frustration.

I’m happy to hear about your planting the sycamore trees. The farm needs someone to take an interest in its natural beauty, etc. I feel a strong attachment to the farm, also. Sometimes, I think that once I have satisfied my intellectual appetite, or so frustrated myself trying to, that I’d just like to settle down on a farm & just try to raise good cows & crops. It would be a very emotionally satisfying life for me. I couldn’t do it yet though, my intellectual curiosity keeps me restless – searching for the “real answers” about our existence, etc. I either have to find out enough of them (however I may subjectively define them) or else convince myself it’s beyond my intellectual capacity to do so, before I can sort of mellow out & take life as it comes.

I guess Belle will have to hang on another year so she can have her heifer & die in peace (I’m sure she gives a damn!). Whew! I think I’ve about burned my brain out for now (the old one cell as Dad used to say).

As always,

Dean

Letter, April 16, 1975

Dear Dad, Mom & all,

Dad’s writing is definitely improving, there wasn’t a single word I had to guess at this time (only kidding)! I was happy to hear about your four heifers {female new-born calves} finally breaking the rotten string of luck you’ve been having with calves ever since I left. That calf of Lisa’s out of 239 {Lisa was one of Dad’s best cows at the time, and 239 refers to a bull’s identification number at the artificial insemination co-op Dad was using.} should tell you if he’s any good or not! I guess all your luck isn’t good though, it has to hurt losing Eva after she finally had a good year milking last year.

Thanks for the test sheet {meaning a Dairy Herd Improvement or DHI document showing the milk production of Dad’s cows}! I am pretty impressed with the performances of some of the cows. I’m afraid all those two-year-olds just starting out will start pulling it down soon though. Belle {my former 4-H project calf, now a mature cow} had quite a year for herself with 14,861 lbs. milk and 632 lbs. {butter} fat in less than 300 days. That might be the best year of her life! The sheet says she’s due April 1 so be sure to let me know what kind of a calf she has. Hope it’s a heifer, since the old girl might not last long enough to have another one!

You all complain about the late spring, but I think it may be a blessing in disguise since it’s giving Dad time to rest up from his operation. Nothing could make him take it easy if the land was ready to work. We are having a “late spring” of sorts too since it is still dry as a bone & farmers can’t plant until the rains start coming with some regularity.

I may be changing jobs. The head of Peace Corps agriculture programs in El Salvador & I are meeting with my bosses tomorrow to decide whether it’s worthwhile keeping me in my present job or not. I want to change. I have been here 6 months and not done much of anything on this job. I’m afraid though that if I switch jobs I’ll have 1-2 months of idleness before I get going on a new job. The government people love to have big meetings & discuss things thoroughly, but when it comes to defining a job & getting down to work they don’t follow through. I think I’d be better off in a job less dependent on government support, since then I could work on my own initiative & if I was idle it would be my own fault.

I had forgotten all about that plant until Mom mentioned it, I’ve even forgotten its name (streptocarpus?). I’m glad to hear it’s still around & healthy.

Jan says Donna bought a guitar. That makes two of us. I can already more or less play Skip to my Lou & The Old Chisolm Trail, though I only can switch between 2 chords with any vague resemblance of speed. My guitar has wire strings & they’re murder on the fingers at first. Hope you were smart enough to get nylon ones Donna!

Well, in closing, I hope the legislature doesn’t cut the U.W.’s budget too much, because if it does Bruce might have to go to Stevens Point & I hear the beer is terrible up there (Point Special)! Anyway, I’m happy you are all so busy up there. My idleness is bound to make either a philosopher or a bum out of me & I haven’t done anything worthy of a philosopher yet!

Dean

Images, April, 1975

Don Toribio Varela and {his wife} Doña Julia. I ate my meals in their home while I lived in San Isidro.

Cortes Amarillo tree in bloom in the yard of the I.C.R. { Instituto de Colonizacion Rural } center in San Isidro, El Salvador.

The local head of the Institute for Rural Colonization {Instituto de Colonizacion Rural (sort of a land reform agency)} is singing accompanied by Chacón on guitar. José Gonzalo López, an extension agent & my roommate, is seated at right.

Letter, April 15, 1975

Dear Jan,

I was glad to hear you enjoyed the Smokies trip so much. I am envious. It all sounds so beautiful, especially the clear fresh streams, as it is still dry as a bone here. I can just see Tom exploring all the new sights & sounds. He is so spontaneous & curious, I think he’s got an excellent mind & hope he develops it well. It’s really good for him to get out of the local atmosphere & experience new environments (both natural & human) at his age.

I have been in the city (San Salvador) for several days now. I’m hoping to change my job as I’m very dissatisfied with my present one. They haven’t given me anything, really, to do until recently & I feel the work they have in mind for me now is “flunky work”, trying to find the best way to get around the people & get them to accept the way they (the heads) have decided to carry out the project (in Atiocoyo), rather than adapting their plans to the needs of the people. There is no input from the “grass roots” level here. All the orders come down from above, & everyone just bustles around trying to make poorly conceived plans work. It is a form of neo-fascism, I have to say, if I want to be honest about it, & if I don’t want to be an instrument , I have to find work on a level closer to the rural people, the campesinos (peasants), who are the system’s economic base, & it’s worst victims. Wow! They’d call me a communist for saying that here, but it’s true!

So much for my troubles. I talked with Harry Brokish, a friend from my U.W. {University of Wisconsin} days yesterday. He and his wife took a trip through South America overland, spent 3-4 weeks. They really saw a lot! He says the food in Argentina is great & cheap, and that despite all you hear about the unrest there, that the people are friendly, & the agriculture is surprisingly modern, almost like the midwestern U.S. He says Peru is in really bad shape though. There are tanks in the streets, the people are poor, discouraged & unfriendly, & that the government keeps Americans under almost continual surveillance. They hit about every country but Brazil, taking local transportation mostly, & saw some things you just wouldn’t see on a Pan-Am tour!

About coming down here in January or February, that’s a good time to come since it is the dry season (almost 0 chance of a rain storm), and there are no Salvadoran holidays in those months so the beaches won’t be mobbed.

It is of course the American tourist season, but they don’t exactly come in droves! If you decide to come, maybe I’ll take some vacation & we can take a bus down to Costa Rica (it is beautiful there), or go up into Guatemala where there are some fantastic Mayan ruins. If you can stand the unbelievably crowded buses, we can see quite a bit of stuff, or if you just want to take it easy, we can go to the beach.

The question of people’s reaction to North Americans is really too complicated to answer in a few sentences. It ranges from servile admiration (as if we were a superior race and their patrons) to a willingness to blame us for all their nation’s own problems as well as the world’s. One guy demanded of me: “Why didn’t you help us in the war with Honduras?” It seems that Guatemala & Nicaragua sided with Honduras in this 1972 conflict, & he thought we should have sided with El Salvador (Since they were obviously in the right!). Generally people are friendly though, even if they don’t especially like the U.S. government or big U.S. companies. They have, many of them, learned a little English in school, & they never tire of trying it out on you. It is sometimes irritating, since what they say is hard to understand, & you can bet they won’t understand you if you reply in English, but it is prestigious to speak English here, so I guess you have to live with it.

Take care,

Dean

Letter, April 2, 1975

Dear Mom, Dad & all,

How is Dad feeling of late? I imagine he’s starting to worry about getting the land worked & the oats planted. If you get desperate maybe I can plead family emergency & get them to give me a couple weeks off to come home & help! I’m only half kidding as I still am not doing much here. They promised me we would start my social study this week, so maybe they’ll come through this time!

Over Easter I climbed the San Vicente Volcano with 3 other PCVs {Peace Corps Volunteers} and some Salvadorans. It was a long climb, but it is beautiful (& cool!) up in the mountains. We found lots of fruit trees on the way up, & I found some raspberries on the way down. We spent one night up near the top, had a fire, & roasted hot dogs. It was great. Afterward we went to one of the popular beaches. What a mistake! It was mobbed with people & we ended up (3 of us) sleeping on the ground in a palm leaf shack! You live & learn I guess.

I am sending a roll of film with some pictures of my site & the volcano. The first picture, of a tree they call “cortez amarillo” {yellow oak}, I took in front of where I live. I have a friend who wants a copy of it, so I would appreciate it if you would make two copies of the first picture on the roll, & send me one to give him. The next three pictures are of the river Rio Lempa near my town, & the rest are of my climb of the volcano. Sorry, but I didn’t keep track of what I took exactly. There is one of the group I went up with. Hope that turns out at least. I don’t know if those from the top of the volcano looking out will turn out or not, it wasn’t real clear that day.

It seems like I’ve asked Jan or else you folks before, but I never did hear what Bruce is planning on doing next year. Time is moving along & I’m just curious. (Why don’t you write me a letter Bruce?) After all, if a brother can’t pry into your personal affairs, who can?

As ever,

Dean

Letter, Marchl 31, 1975

Dear Jan,

Muchisimas gracious {many, many thanks} for the folk guitar books. I have been plucking away blindly & learning chords from one of my neighbors who plays pretty well up to this point. Now I should be able to go at it more systematically!

Over Easter I climbed the San Vicente volcano with 3 other PCVs {Peace Corps Volunteers} and about a dozen Salvadorans. The Salvadorans really wore us out on the way up as they were younger, in much better shape, & not carrying heavy backpacks. We started at 3:30 AM and got to the top at noon. It was a great time though. The night before we started up we slept in a little colony (on boards laid across benches in the schoolhouse) & a little local combo played some music. They had two guitars, two violins, a bass fiddle & a “bomba” drum. The one guitar player was excellent. He seemed to pick up new melodies just by hearing them once. One of the PCVs {Peace Corps Volunteers} played a harmonica to his guitar accompaniment also. On the way up the volcano we found lots of fruit trees & I found some raspberries (almost unheard of here) on the way down. It was great to spend a night in a temperate-like climate up at the volcano’s top & roast hot dogs over a fire!

Afterwards we went to a beach called El Espino, what a mistake! During Easter vacation the beaches are utterly swarmed with people, everything is expensive, etc. We slept in a shack made of palm leaves just big enough for three of us to lay down in (on the ground) & it cost us ¢10. Then it rained a little bit near morning. I got back to San Salvador today & came down with a case of diarrhea, what a bummer!

As for coming down here some time in the summer goes, you have to remember that that is the rainy season here, so that you would more likely get soaked to the skin camping in a small tent! Also, there are people everywhere so it isn’t the easiest to just throw up a tent somewhere secluded. I can find boarding house type rooms for $1 to $5 a night in the capital, & about the same other places like the beach at La Libertad or Santa Ana (which is near the Indian ruins, & has an Italian style church). The best time to come is in a period from mid-July to mid-August called the “Canicula” when the rains let up for about a month in the middle of the rainy season.

However, the first week of August is a national holiday here so it is a bad time to travel around. If you do decide to come, maybe I’ll take a week or two of vacation & we can go up to Guatemala, or down to Costa Rica, as well as see some of El Salvador. Let me know what you might want to see (in general) so I can find out about bus schedules & all that. Buses are crowded & cramped, but renting a car is expensive & you can get around pretty good on the buses if you plan well & don’t let the pushing & shoving get you down!

Hope your work at the day care center continues to go well. I guess I’ve officially missed a whole Wisconsin winter now, a historic event! Hope you had a good trip to the Smokies.

Dean

Letter, March 17, 1975

Dear Dad, Mom & all,

I neglected to tell you about two letters ago, that the other volunteer from Wisconsin, Jim Olson, had his parents down here in about mid-February and I told them if they ever got down around Friendship (they are from Neenah) they should stop in. So if some Olsons you don’t know ever drop in & say they met your son in El Salvador, it’s true! They are very nice people & have a small farm with Holstein cattle just like us. They had quite a time down here, visiting the beach and volcanos, and going to Jim’s work site, but I think the crowding on the buses & the heat wore them out pretty fast. If any of you get the urge to come down let me know! The poverty here might really depress you though, as you wouldn’t have time to get used to it (I don’t expect I’ll ever fully get used to it.)

I’m glad to hear you (Dad) are getting along well in spite of your operation. I’m sorry to hear about your continued bad luck with calves, but it seems like it’s got to change pretty soon. You should be getting a lot of milk though with all those heifers fresh. Cattle sure seem to be selling cheap, considering the inflation rate and all. I don’t see how beef men can stay in business with high {priced} corn & cheap cattle. It’s lucky that milk {price} is more stable. Looks like you might just as well hang onto your marginal milk producers (those you have room for) since you can’t get much for them across the scales {meaning by selling them for beef}.

I guess there is no good reason to file a tax return if U.W. didn’t withhold anything. The only advantage might be the chance to average incomes across low years like this in the future (I understand Wis. lets you do that). I’ve sent you my information, so do whatever seems best.

Easter vacation is coming up & I may be going to climb San Vicente, a large volcano in central El Salvador, where they say you can see almost the whole country on a clear day. I wish I had a sleeping bag, as we’ll have to stay overnight, but I guess a blanket will do (the chance of rain is pretty slim). Maybe I’ll manage to get some pictures. By the way, I got that film you sent me, thanks. I have 4 rolls to use up now!

I’m going to start my survey Monday if no more delays manage to happen before then. It’s going to be mighty hot walking all over the countryside, but it’ll be good for me as I’ve been getting awful lazy lately!

As always,

Dean

Images, March, 1975

The party that climbed San Vicente volcano. Included are PCVs {Peace Corps Volunteers} Russel Soules, Dave Quarles and Stan Krenz, along with Dave's friends from Hacienda Teguaquin.

{ This photo was taken by Dave Quarles, so I'm included. }

Farmland, from top of volcano. The Pan Am highway winds through the ridge in the middle of the photo.

Sunset from on top of the volcano.

Dave Quarles on top of a T.V. aerial on top of the volcano. He was stationed in the San Vicente area as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The other peak of twin topped "Chinchintepec". Chinchintepec means "two breasted hill" in the indian {native Central American} Najuatl language.

Entrance to Balneario Amapulapa near San Vicente. Easter week, 1975.

Big pool in El Balneario Amapulapa, San Vicente, El Salvador.

Letter, March 5, 1975

Dear Jan,

Got your letter 2 days after I sent my last one. I hadn’t gotten a letter from you or the family since early January & so was feeling kind of uptight. You hit me with so much information & questions in your letter that I’m going to go through and sort of react to them all in order (if possible).

Was glad to hear from Mom the 18th that Dad was feeling better after his operation. They must have it pretty rough at home with Dad laid up, and Mom, Donna & Bruce “wounded”. Hopefully it allsounds worse than it is though. Glad to hear you’re looking out for the calves; sometimes I’m sure it seems that no one else is!! Thanks for the Christmas pictures, seeing Dad sitting contentedly in his chair, I can almost hear him saying, “God has been awful good to us this Christmas”, like he always does. I had to look at that picture of Tom three times to make up my mind that it had to be him. His hair is turning darker, and he looks taller, & his face seems to be changing unless it’s just the look on his face!

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip to Florida; it sounds like it was fascinating. If you go to the Smokies I’ll be downright envious! I did get the birthday card & thought I said so somewhere, but must not have. I never quite know when & if my letters get through, & that with the time lag sometimes makes me doubt a little whether I’m actually communicating with anyone, or if our letters just pass in the dark!

Don’t need books as they have pretty good book stores here, & the Peace Corps has a lot of paperbacks. Have finished “East of Eden” & Solzhenitsyn’s “August 1914”, and am going to get his newer work from a friend to read.

I don’t do any cooking (in fact I’ve never used the fry-pan I bought), since there isn’t good electric current here. In my first town there was none except at night. I think you’d be disappointed in the cooking here. I get a lot of purple-colored beans they grow here, white cheese, rice, thickened cream and of course tortillas made from the white corn they grow here. They make some good soups using yucca, potatoes, avocados & other native vegetables (soups are always for lunch). The woman in my “comedor” (eating place) makes a fantastic warm pineapple sauce once in a while, and there are good sweet breads, though regular bread is seldom used out in the country. None of these things are hard to prepare (though time consuming); getting ingredients would be your big problem!

I wish I could have gotten some of that Johnny cake! I really love corn bread. I don’t know why they don’t make something like that here to break the monotony of the tortillas. Maybe making it over a wood fire would be too tough.

I’m really pleased to hear Donna is doing well in school, and developing a life outside the family. It’s what she’s always needed to do, get away from the rest of us & just deal with the world as an autonomous person, instead of worrying about being as good as her sisters, or trying to satisfy Mom & Dad (God knows they never tell you if you do satisfy them).

Well, I didn’t leave much space for my exciting adventures. But I really haven’t done anything exciting lately, except perhaps for the fact that daily life has more of a flavor of adventure to it here. For example, one of my roommates (an extension agent) goes hunting at night with a 22 and a light that he can wear on his forehead. And he has a pistol which he carries in his belt at times (that is extremely common in this country). Riding a motorcycle here is a little like motor-cross. Where the road isn’t sandy or thick with dust, there are rocks all over it (& ox carts). I have crossed a little creek a couple times with the motorcycle, but am cautious about trying the Rio Suquiapa. A young lady here in San Isidro seems to be taking an interest in me already, so I’ll have to be careful (nice girls have only marriage on their minds)!

Love,

Dean

P.S. – Have bought a guitar for $16, and would still like a learner’s book if you can find one. Hope that letter with the $4 got through!

Letter, March 2, 1975

Dear Mom, Dad & all,

Got your letter two days after sending mine asking you to send my W-2 forms. Since you have the records of what dad paid me & that will be the only difficult part of the return to fill out, I am going to send you the information I have and let your tax man do the return. Since I have copies of the Wis. Form & the federal 1040 and 1040-A forms, I will send you a signed copy of each which may save time if the tax man doesn’t object to the idea of my having signed an uncompleted form. The “Federal Income Tax Guide for Peace Corps Volunteers” (which I am enclosing), explains what part of my Peace Corps income is taxable. I am enclosing the W-2 form for my “Readjustment allowance” and the statements given me for other income. The statement from the training administrator confuses the issue somewhat because he states my total income instead of the taxable part. I have computed the taxable part as the “Guide” says one should. I recommend that you send the PC tax guide with my federal form, but not the training administrator’s statement, but the tax man will know best I expect.

I figure I made no more than $400 from UW last spring and bank interest, and with $400 from dad that makes $800 plus the $576 from P.C. means my total income is less than $1,376 so if I take the $1300 low income allowance and the standard deduction there is no way I will have to pay tax.

For Wis. Taxes my P.C. income doesn’t count so I only have a maximum of $800 and I can take 800/1376 = 2/3 to 3/4 of the low income allowance there so my taxable income will be next to nothing, & I still get to subtract $20 of tax for the personal deduction. Hope this isn’t all confusing you, but what it all amounts to is that I only have to file to get a refund from my U.W. withholdings and to get my low income on record if I want to average it some other year.

Just struck me that I can’t sign the return beforehand because I’d have to put the date and when the tax man signed it his date would be much later & we’d be all screwed up. In that case it makes no sense to send you the forms since you also have copies. So I’ll just send along the PCV guide, W-2, & statements of other income & have you send me the forms back to sign.

Am keeping pretty busy these days with trying to set up a survey of the small land owners in one section of the irrigation project. I also have purchased a guitar & am trying to make some semblance of music on it! Haven’t taken any pictures just lately, but plan to go to a beach on the far side of the country over Easter (we get from 4 days to a week, not sure which yet) & so should get some worthwhile pictures then. I was real sorry to hear of dad’s trouble, but am happy he finally got the operation & hope he is coming along well. It must be rough with Dad laid up & Donna, Bruce & Mom all listed as walking wounded!

Sure hope you can figure out the tax O.K., guess it’s the biggest worry on my mind right now (except Dad’s health).

Dean

Letter(2), February 22, 1975

Dear Jan,

How goes the work in the day care center? I’m sure you’ll enjoy the work with the kids, at least you always seemed to. I have finally gotten around to reading “East of Eden” and I have trouble tearing myself away from it. Steinbeck really hits you hard with his philosophy of life in that book. When I’m not reading I seem to be constantly trying to sort out his values concerning what constitutes a good life, etc. For the most part I agree with his view (or maybe I’m just caught up in it beyond the point of thinking independently of it).

I have been moved to a different town named San Isidro, and am going to do a study of the small landowners there who will be relocated as part of the irrigation project. I don’t like the idea that they will be forced to move, but the objective (giving everybody enough land to make a decent living on) is good. At least I now feel I am doing something along the lines they had in mind when they requested a sociologist.

I haven’t told anyone back home as yet, but I had brought two physics books & my calculus book down here with me & am studying physics in my spare time. I have about 5 chapters to go in the first physics book now. I plan to go back to school in physics after I leave Peace Corps. As I had kept it a deep dark secret from when I bought the books before I left, it seems almost like a confession now. Reading Steinbeck seems to have prompted me to dispense with this silly little secret. I guess the protection the secret offered was that if I changed my mind again, I wouldn’t have to tell anyone about the interim period! I have (at least for now) settled on physics as my means to seek my answers to the basic questions about the what & why of life.

I am also planning to take up guitar to give me something expressive I can do myself. I can buy a guitar pretty cheap here to learn on. However, it is nearly impossible to get learner’s books or song books here. I was wondering if you could try to get me a learner’s book and a song book marked for guitar (only if it isn’t expensive). I am going to try to send you 4 bucks to help defray expenses! It’s all the American money I have in small bills.

I hate to cut it off right here but I want to get it mailed before the Post Office closes at noon.

Crazy and confused as ever,

Dean

Letter, February 22, 1975

Dear Mom, Dad & all,

Please write! I got your last letter early in Jan. and am wondering what became of my driver’s license and my request for info. On taxes. Since it takes so long to communicate with you and my Peace Corps is the only complicated part I think it would be best if you just send me the Federal & Wis. Forms and my W2s and I’ll send it in.

I figure I should have a W-2 from work at U.W. last spring and the end of the year statement from my savings account in the bank for you to send. In addition to that I believe dad paid me $400 last summer for wages (be sure & let me know if that’s correct). I really only need to file federal to get back what they withheld at U.W. since I’m sure I didn’t make over $2,050. Wis. Tax is different so I don’t know about that. Please send the forms & info. Right away, as I don’t get into town often & the mails are slow & unreliable as you know.

Now that I’ve taken care of business, how are you making it through the winter? Sometimes if I work in the hot sun of the early afternoon, I start wishing for cold & snow! The hottest months – March & April – are yet to come, too, so you can imagine how I’m suffering (ha, ha).

I have been moved to a different town, at least temporarily. Now I live in San Isidro in a room with two “Agronomos” (Salvadorian extension agents). We have electricity all day and water generally part of every day, with indoor toilet & shower, so it is better in general than Atiocoyo. I kind of enjoyed the privacy there though. I am going to do a study of the people who are being relocated onto different lands as a result of the irrigation project. It looks like I’ll be interviewing each family separately, so it should keep me busy for 2-3 months. The food in my new town is both more varied and cheaper, so all in all it’s been a good switch.

They had another volunteer here about 10 years ago, and he went swimming in the ocean & drowned. { Actually he was a religious missionary named Floyd Miller. } His grave is in the local graveyard. A little boy who showed me the grave told me that one of the guy’s pupils (he taught carpentry) killed himself when he learned of the drowning. I guess the whole thing has become quite a legend here. { He was known as Don Pedrito, and local folks continually asked me whether he was my brother. } Makes me a little shivery about the ocean. It has a terrific undertow at some of the beaches here.

How has your luck with heifers been doing lately? You must have gotten a few by now! I showed the picture of Le Roy’s champion cow that Jan sent me to some guys in my town & they wanted to know how many bottles a day she gives. I told them she must average about 50 pounds of milk a day for the year, which really impressed them! I hope she’s about a 17,000 lb. cow so that she doesn’t make a liar out of me!

Well that’s all I can come up with.

Sincerely,

Dean

Flyer, February, 1975

{ Translation of this flyer, given to me shortly after I first arrived in San Isidro }

{
FLOYD "Pedro" MILLER

Age 20 years 11 months

He was born December 25, 1944 near
Hutchinson (sic), Kansas, United
States. He drowned in the Pacific ocean
near Acajutla in the hacienda "Metalio"
on November 25, 1965.

Surviving are his parents Enos and Mary
Miller, a sister and four brothers.
In his youth he accepted Christ as
his personal Savior and was baptized
at the "Center Amish Mennonite Church"
in Hutchinson, Kansas.

He came to El Salvador on May 4, 1965.
He studied Spanish for six weeks in Sitio
Del Niño. In June of 1965 he began his
work of teaching carpentry as
a voluntary service in the hacienda
"San Juan - San Isidro."
}

Images, February, 1975

Footbridge over the Rio Lempa, ferry, clothes drying on the bushes, woman going to the river to wash clothes.

People washing clothes & bathing in the Rio Lempa. Taken from the footbridge.

Rio Lempa & surrounding hills, taken from the footbridge.

The grave of Floyd "Pedro" Miller. He was a Mennonite missionary in town { San Isidro } 10 years before I went there. He drowned in the Pacific at Metalio, a town where I {later} lived for 10 months. Local people still remembered "Don Pedrito" with affection.

{ The tombstone reads: } Floyd "Pedro" Miller, Born: December 25, 1944, Died: November 25, 1965

Letter, January 10, 1975

Dear Mom & all,

The pictures, in the order in which I took them are:

1st -	The San Salvador Volcano from a street in the city of San Salvador we call “Gringo Strip” because it attempts to look like a swank U.S. nightclub area.
2nd -	The San Salvador Volcano from where I started my climb.
3rd -	The “inner core” inside the huge crater of the volcano; it took me 2 ½ hours to walk around the outside of the outer cone or El Boquerón (literally the big mouth).
4th -	Part of the outer crater’s inside wall, it was all I could get from that close.
5th -	The city of Santa Tecla, a suburb of San Salvador, from the volcano rim.
6th -	San Salvador and the lake Lagoon Ilopango, also from the volcano rim.
7th -	Some of the stands set up for the Fiesta Patronal in my town, Atiocoyo. The fiesta lasted from the 5th to the 8th of December.
8th -	The office of DGRD {Dirrección General de Riego y Drenaje or the government irrigation agency} in Atiocoyo. I more or less work out of this office, & I live two doors down from it to the left in the picture.
9th -	A hand operated merry-go-round that was set up in Atiocoyo for the fiesta.
10th -	The inside of my room at Atiocoyo.
11th -	Peace Corps Office in San Salvador.
12th -	The central office of Antel, the Salvadoran national telephone company.

They’re sort of a hodge podge, but perhaps will give you some idea of the different facets of the environment I’m living in. There’s quite a contrast between fancy modern buildings like Antel {headquarters} and the straw and adobe huts of most of the people around Atiocoyo. Anyway I hope you enjoy them!

As always,

Dean

Letter(2), January 3, 1975

Dear Jan,

Sorry I forgot to tell you about getting the books (if I did, I don’t really remember). I have already read Travels with Charley and really enjoyed it except the part about Wis. Made me homesick! Also read Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography which was really interesting. He went from London’s slums to being a multi-millionaire within about 6-7 years, but instead of becoming an archconservative was a socialist as much as he was anything. He got in trouble with U.S. authorities for advocating U.S. entrance into W.W. II to form a second front & relieve the Russians. He was more or less chased out of the U.S. in the “Commie” scare of the early 1950’s.

I wouldn’t worry about sending glasses. I have my extra pair & P.C. should pay for fixing the others. Lots of luck with your practice teaching and your trip to Florida. Find out for me what kinds of dangerous snakes inhabit tropical rivers. I have been going swimming in the nearby Rio Sucio {sucio means dirty, but this river was reasonably clean near Atiocoyo} each afternoon with a guy from the Taiwan Mission who speaks a little English. Yesterday some guys told us there is one kind of dangerous snake around here!

Just was talking with another volunteer who says he’s going to have his dad fill out his tax return under power of attorney. I wonder if I might be able to do the same. Since you’re going to get this letter at home anyway, maybe you could ask Mom about it? I can send my statements of earnings from the Peace Corps up there and they will already have my statement from the bank and my W-2 from my job at the U. {University of Wisconsin - Madison} so it should be pretty easy to fill out. I figure to come out about even on federal, but I don’t know about state tax. I may have to sign a power of attorney form for them to do it too. If Mom thinks it’s easier, they can send the stuff down here & I’ll fill it out. I wonder what the State would think of a Salvadoran check?

Bruce should get going if he wants to go to school next fall what with financial aid deadlines and all. If he wants to go to Madison I know some people he could talk to about majors & careers & stuff.

Got over the “dysentery” in pretty good shape, but I have lost a little weight since I’ve been here. I’m down to 172 from 180, but feel very good at this weight. I think I was getting kind of fat before. Now I only have to worry about “tortilla belly”. It’s hard to get the protein you need here. There is lots of rice, and frijoles and tortillas to fill you up, but they are deficient in protein. I do pretty well though. When they butcher something at the comedor {small informal restaurant} where I eat I always get a big piece of meat.

Lots of luck with your practice teaching & the coming semester and all.

Take care,

Dean

Letter, January 3, 1975

Dear Mom & all,

Sorry I didn’t write sooner, but I left San Salvador for Atiocoyo Dec. 22 and haven’t been back in town since. Am really sorry that I couldn’t get the license application back sooner. I really would like to get it renewed as I am driving a motorcycle now and it’s nice to have even if Salvadorans can’t read it because it looks very official! Thanks for going to the trouble of getting Dr. Forsythe to fill it out. I probably could have gotten the Peace Corps doctor to do it, but that would have meant more delays. I don’t want to risk sending dollars in the mail, so could you please send it in with a check; don’t know if they’d take a check from Banco Salvadoreño {my Salvadoran bank} or not. Am sending you a Colon for all your trouble. It’s worth about 40¢ if you ever get down this way so don’t spend it all in one place!

Donna should be back to normal by now, so I guess that leaves you the only cripple in the family, as I’ve had no problems at all with my head since it got bopped. I don’t know how you get things done with a sore foot like that; when I have a sliver in my foot I’m about immobilized!

Sorry to hear about Freda. Doesn’t seem that you ever lose a cow but what it’s a real promising one. I imagine Dad was real heartsick over losing her.

Sorry to hear about Dave Steiner’s accident, but at least it clears up my puzzlement over what Dave Stieber was doing driving recklessly in a Volkswagon! Hope Dave will be O.K.

Tell Donna that there is no way I’d ever get any food out of customs while it was still edible. If she sends any tell her to write Buen Provecho {common Spanish expression encouraging a person to enjoy what they are eating} on it for the benefit of the mail clerk or customs officer who gets it!!

I am sending another letter with this one (the same day). I wrote it over Christmas while I was journeying to Cerro Verde to climb Izalco, the country’s most famous & beautiful volcano. Hope you enjoy my disjointed journal. Please ignore my inquiry about Dave Stieber. I think I told you in that letter that I got your film O.K., but if not I’m telling you now. Took some pictures of Izalco, of a lake called Lago Coatapeque and some Indian ruins in Chalchuapa called El Tazumal, but haven’t finished the roll yet.

Hope you all are enjoying your beautiful winter. Here it is getting hotter, dryer and dustier. There is just no way I can keep my room in Atiocoyo clean as it fronts on the main road through town which is 6 inches deep in dust and government vehicles go back & forth by it all day. You really get to appreciate the value of water working with irrigation here. The ground is so hot & dry it is just powder & when the water comes down a ditch a little steam is given off ahead of it. Today I took some soil profile samples at 30 cm. {centimeters}, 60 cm., and 90 cm. of some land on the experimental farms. The topsoil was so dry it would keep filling in my hole & I thought I’d never get to 90 cm.! There is clay beneath the soil though at about 3 feet so it will hold the water well when they irrigate it. You wouldn’t believe some of the soil they work here! Just solid clay, full of big cracks when it’s dry and so sloppy when it’s wet that only oxen can work it. But then it beats working the hillsides which other farmers work! Lots of luck for the new year!

Dean

Images, January, 1975

Irrigation agency office in Atiocoyo. The second door in the whitewashed lean-to is the door to my room - where I lived while I worked there.

The inside of my room in Atiocoyo.

Mr. Ou {pronounced Oo} & Mr. Yu in front of their house {in the Atiocoyo Project Experimental Farm}. {They were} members of the Taiwan Agricultural Mission. { They were experts in the production of rice and vegetables. }

A corn field in December in the area which was to be irrigated by the Atiocoyo Irrigation Project.

Cattle grazing in a rice field after harvesting. Note how dry the road is in the dry season; it is pure muck in the rainy season. The tin building was a grain dryer & storage shed for the farmer owner of the hacienda.

{Picture taken at the} experimental farm in Atiocoyo. In the foreground is {upland} rice grown under irrigation sprinklers. In the background beans are growing.

Rice paddies & corn plots on the demonstration {experimental} farm.

Rice paddies planted by Mr. Yu, a Taiwanese agronomist, at the Atiocoyo demonstration farm. It out-produced their conventional upland rice by 5 times or more, and the Salvadoran technical people decided Mr. Yu should teach local farmers how to grow "wet" rice.

Heavy equipment at the Atiocoyo Irrigation Project demonstration farm. In most of rural El Salvador you wouldn't see 2 big tractors & a grader all in one place very often.

Stands at the Patron Saint Festival in Atiocoyo {(December 5-8, 1974)}. They sold mainly beer, food and sweets.

A hand-operated merry-go-round and a fruit stand at the Atiocoyo Patron Saint Festival.

Children playing with a piñata near the soccer field {in Atiocoyo}.

The train stop in the community of La Estación near Atiocoyo. Farmers have sacks of corn piled on the platform ready to load in freight cars to take to market in Santa Ana or San Salvador. Later in the year they'll ship watermelons the same way.

Letter, December 23, 1974

Dear Mom, Dad, & all,

Today I’m starting a mini-journal of how I pass Christmas & New Year’s here in El Salvador. It doesn’t really seem like Christmas, though. The weather is more like the dog days of August and there hasn’t been more than a few drops of rain since October (to say nothing about snow!). I have heard that they sometimes get snow at the top of the tallest mountain in the country (Volcán Santa Ana). I hope to climb it and nearby Izalco (easily the country’s most beautiful & impressive volcano) during Christmas vacation. Had meetings in San Salvador last week with the guys I trained with in Costa Rica, we had quite a time! Got back here Sunday and have been learning how to irrigate using canals & siphons these two days. Tomorrow I’ll help Ingeñero {literally “engineer”, but they use it as a title here} Garcia (boss of the experimental farms) take some soil samples & will probably do a lot more of that during vacation. I sure do drink a lot of water when I work in the sun here; today I drank the milk of three coconuts besides (I’ve really gotten to like them.)! Took two pictures of a bunch of local kids trying to bust a piñata today, hope they turn out. I’m sure glad I bought a kerosene lamp in San Salvador because the electricity just died (as it often does)! I only have it at night anyway & then when it dies it’s a real pisser. My kerosene lantern was made in Czechoslovakia and yet only cost the equivalent of $2.80 here! I have a Honda 125 motorbike to use now (although they haven’t given me the key yet!). Looks like I’m going to be learning how to ride a motorcycle!

Dec. 24, 1974

Today at noon we had a little party for everyone who works in the demonstration farms. There were lots of coconuts to drink the milk from and Ingeñero Garcia’s wife made two piñatas for the kids to break open and all the kids were given little bags of candy. Some of them needed clothes & other things a lot worse, but still it was very nice of the Garcias. This afternoon I went for a swim in the Rio Lempa (the large river which runs through the center of the project area). I chose a bad place – the current was very fast – and had to walk quite a ways upstream to swim back across to where I started from. They have acres & acres of watermelons growing near the river & some are starting to get ripe! In honor of “La Navidad” {Christmas} they are showing a Mexican cowboy picture in town tonight. People seem to enjoy fireworks, sparkers & beer here no matter what the holiday. Plan to leave for Izalco in the morning if I get any sleep!

Dec. 25, 1974

Well, here I am at a run-down (but not cheap) “hospedaje” {small hotel or guest house} situated on Lake Coatepeque, a strikingly beautiful crater lake which is near the volcanos Izalco and Santa Ana. The area around the lake is almost entirely owned by rich folks with “country estates” here. There are also 2 resorts for gringos & other rich folk and the real grubby place where I am. Seems like everywhere I go in this country I am reminded that the privileged few have an iron grip on this country. There is no decent provision for the “middle class” Salvadoran to enjoy this lake. Tomorrow, I’m told, I can get a bus at 5:50 am for El Congo & from there catch a bus for Cerro Verde (from where I can climb Izalco & Santa Ana. Hope to climb both in one day. Rode in the train from Atiocoyo to Santa Ana (the major city on the west side of El Salvador) with the two guys from Taiwan who work with the experimental farms in Atiocoyo. One speaks Spanish, but very fast and with poor grammar and the other speaks some English but no Spanish at all, so we make one heck of a threesome! Hope my pictures of the lake turn out; it is really remarkable to me to have a lake in a volcano like this.

Dec. 26, 1974

So much for trying to climb two volcanos in one day! From where the bus left me I had to walk 2 kilometers just to get to Cerro Verde (all uphill). Then I had to take a trail down Cerro Verde (which is nearly as tall as the volcano) to the base of Izalco to start my climb & of course I had to reclimb Cerro Verde afterwards (that was the clincher!). It was worth it though! Izalco (known as “The Lighthouse of the Pacific” because it was continuously active from some time in the 1600’s until 1962 & used as a landmark by ships) is almost entirely volcanic rock yet, very little vegetation has squeezed its way in. I was surprised, and a little frightened, to find that there is quite a bit of gas still being given off from cracks in the rocks around the crater. Some of the gas is strongly sulfurous. As with landmarks everywhere, I guess, there are names and “José le ama a María” {Jose loves Maria} type stuff painted all over, but I couldn’t help feeling that the old giant might just blow his stack one more time just to show us humans he’s still got something left after 300+ years (more than any human can claim). I wrote my name in pencil in deference! Had a streak of luck getting back to Santa Ana. There was no bus, so the guy who collects the money for parking {at Cerro Verde} helped me find a ride. I ended up getting into town in the back of an old truck with 11 guys from Santa Ana about my age. It was a rough ride but they were a real decent bunch of guys, though kind of crazy like highschool kids in the States! They invited me to eat with them in a Pupusaría (Pupusas are sort of the national snack here; they are like 2 thin tortillas with a little fried pork fat or else cheese cooked in between.). And one of them helped me find a room. I have my own bathroom & a double bed for only ¢6 {six colones} a night & am living high!! Tomorrow plan to visit some Indian ruins known as El Tazumal which are near Santa Ana & are reputed to be the best in the country.

Dec. 28, 1974

Well, here I am, home again in Atiocoyo, still waiting for the key to my motorcycle! I came back yesterday by train after visiting the Indian ruins in Chalchuapa (El Tazumal). The ruins were pretty impressive although the fact that the government has been touching them up with cement detracted from their appearance somewhat. I was also disappointed to learn that the city of Chalchuapa destroyed the only round Indian ruins yet discovered in El Salvador to make room for urban expansion! Looks like they will celebrate New Year’s in Atiocoyo just about like they celebrated Christmas and the day of their patron saint, with plenty of booze & fireworks! Wouldn’t be so bad if my room weren’t located right in the center of town. This brings to an end my disjointed little travelog. Hope you find some of it worth reading!

Dean J.

P.S. – Thanks for the film, I only had to pay a little more postage to get it so it was a good deal for me! I hope you’ve gotten the roll of film I sent from here by this time, save the paper that explains the pictures since I may well forget where I took them inside of two years! Read in the paper today that 8 bombs were set off in 8 cities in El Salvador the day before yesterday by terrorists. I understand it was Colonel Molina’s (the president) birthday and so they wanted to let him know he didn’t have as tight a control over the country as he thought he had. I only hope they don’t decide to make Americans a target of their activities. It’s easy for such organizations to hate Americans when the Americans they see are generally rich tourists or embassy personnel. Even Peace Corps Volunteers make in a month more than the average Salvadoran makes in a whole year!

On the lighter side, how did your Christmas go (?) and how is all that cold weather and nieve (snow)? It’s been getting hotter & drier here and will continue to do so until March or April. Was a generally poor crop year & I think there are going to be a lot of hungry people in this country before the rains start again!

Is Bruce planning to go on to school next year? If so he’d better get his applications sent in & stuff as soon as possible. If he is undecided about what he wants to or ought to study to get where he wants to go, I would be glad to recommend some people at Madison he could talk to. The main thing is not to wait ‘til the last minute & then find yourself at a loss for what to do!

I hope Donna’s leg is coming along O.K. Everything bad that can always seems to happen to her! I am anxious to hear how Dave Stieber is after that car accident of his, also.

Hoping the new year slides in with a quiet bang for you all, I remain… …uh…

Dean

Card, December 20, 1974

Description: Monument to “El Salvador del Mundo”, the patron saint of the republic of El Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador

Happy holidays & a prosperous new year from the family's only "Latino".

Dean

P.S. - The statue is the symbol of El Salvador, "El Salvador del Mundo" (The Savior of the World) or 'Christ on the ball' as it is universally known among PCVs {Peace Corps Volunteers}.

Images, December, 1974

{ A view out the window of a train car, near San Salvador. I traveled by train from my first 2 sites, Atiocoyo and San Isidro, to the capital, because both were on the San Salvador to Santa Ana rail line. }

Shanty town along the train line going toward Santa Ana.

Shanty town along the railroad tracks. It is all too common to see poor quality housing in gulleys or on steep hillsides all around the capital city.

The red railroad sign says: Look! Listen! The white sign on the plywood wall says: FOR SALE

A beautiful church on the town square {of Santa Ana}. I was told that this church was designed by an Italian who traveled with Columbus, and that it closely resembles a church in Florence {Italy}.

A picture looking at Izalco Volcano from on top of the adjacent hill Cerro Verde. There is a luxury hotel on top of Cerro Verde, built when Izalco was still active & attracted tourists in droves. It has been dormant since 1967.

The frame of a shack on the barren slope of Izalco.

A picture of the San Salvador Volcano in the distance, taken from the slope of Izalco.

Inside the crater of Izalco. It still releases sulfurous gas from cracks in the lava.

A shot of Cerro Verde & its hotel from the rim of the Izalco Volcano.

The huge crater of the Santa Ana Volcano. This picture was also taken from the rim of Izalco. Santa Ana is El Salvador's tallest volcano, and folks say once every 15 years or so they get some frost on top of it.

Ruins at Tazumal, the best known Mayan site in El Salvador. According to a sign in the nearby museum, there was a more impressive round temple near this one, but it was bulldozed out to build houses.

Kids on the ruins at Tazumal.

Houses in Chalchuapa, the town where Tazumal is located. In the background is another of the 20 or so volcanos in El Salvador.