Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Tri-X
There was some sort of evangelical church festival in the plaza for the weekend. Lots of ranting and raving, and coming together against homosexuals and other such sinners.

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
...while staring deadpan at the chinita.

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Tri-X
So I asked the cobrador twice to tell me when we reached El Triunfo so I'd know where to transfer. I certainly HEARD him say yes. But when we arrived at the junction, he jumped off and allowed a crowd of food vendors to fill the aisle. This sweet woman helpfully asked the vendors if we were in El Triunfo.

I pushed past the women with some difficulty, then required the driver to clamber out the passenger-side door to get my backpack, and as I was racing across the Panamerican Highway to catch the next bus, I saw the cobrador chilling on the corner. He barely nodded as if it to say, "hey...haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Thanks, dude.

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
Although there were occasional whispers behind my back, this was the first man to look me straight in the eye and ask in unabashed wonderment, "chi-neee-ta??" Just one of the benefits of being old.

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
Oscar is an ex-guerrilla living in Segundo Montes and working in Perquin as a guide. We hitched and walked from Perquin through Arambala to get to El Mozote, where one of the civil war's many atrocities took place in 1981. Perhaps one of the worst—the vicious slaughter of more than 1000 men, women and children. Arambala was destroyed as well.

El Mozote is just a tiny hamlet, but people fled here from the surrounding areas because they'd been falsely led to believe they would be safer.

Rufina Amaya was one of the few survivors and most outspoken witness to the massacre, repeatedly called upon to describe her family's brutal murder. She died in March 2007 at the age of 64, and is now buried within the bars of the El Mozote memorial.

Posted on Jun 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
A tribute to the children who died in El Mozote, within this very church.

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No child, no matter how young, was spared.

Posted on Jun 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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And yet, life goes on.

Little by little, people returned to El Mozote. Some originally lived there and fled before the soldiers came. Some were ex-guerrillas who just needed a place to settle. They can't spend their lives focused on tragedy.

Posted on Jun 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Family living next to the ex-guerrilla camp. So lovely to completely lack self-consciousness.

Posted on Jun 11, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Don't know why it was closed to visitors (considering there were no other tourists in town, you'd think they would have appreciated me showing up), but this sweet girl from the family living next to the camp ran over as soon as I entered.

I mean, she TOLD me why it was closed, my Spanish is just too limited to understand.

Posted on Jun 11, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Plus-X
...with young family living on the property.

Posted on Jun 11, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus Trip 35 | Fuji Neopan 1600
Big enough for football, seriously.

Posted on Jun 11, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Tri-X

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Olympus OM-2N | Kodak Tri-X

Posted on Jun 10, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)