In case you were wondering…Yes, Santa Claus does come to El Salvador. This being one of the many Christmas traditions our cultures do share. However that is not to say that Christmas in El Salvador is just like it is at home in the States, there are many differences as well. The most obvious and visible similarities are Christmas trees, family gatherings, presents and a loss of true meaning of the holiday. Even in a country named “The Savior” images of Santa Clause outnumber manger scenes 10-1.
For the entire month of December all the buzz was about Christmas. Everyone was asking where we are going to be, what are we going to do, are we going to get drunk and are fireworks going to be involved. Yes, I said FIREWORKS… which apparently is how you celebrate Christmas if snow isn’t an option. Christmas Eve fireworks are a long standing tradition in El Salvador. However, one night of fireworks apparently is not enough, as in my community it was necessary to have constant explosions at all hours of the day and night for weeks leading up to the big day. (FYI…If you don’t have any fireworks you can always throw lit matches at one another, just a little something I picked up on from the neighbor kids when we ran out of fireworks right before I kicked them out of my house because one bashed another one’s head into a brick wall over an ice slushy dispute…that reminds me, have a I mentioned this can be a violent country?)
Anyway, moving on to our Christmas happenings… On the 23^rd we had a dinner in our community with all of the “movers and shakers” of our community (pictured below). There was ample fruit juice for everyone as well as roasted chicken, carne asada, rice and salad. For desert we dinned on chocolate chip cookies, made by Melissa, and a cake from a local bakery.

Eating cake is one of my least favorite activities in this country, it comes in a close third behind dumping the trash basket full of poopy paper that sits next to the toilet and being constantly cut in-front-of in any sort of line I happened to be standing in. The cake here is always soggy, as if it were soaked in water before being iced and usually has layers of jelly like fruit filling that taste nothing like fruit. It is relatively expensive, and for this reason you have to eat every last bit. On top of that most people are so excited to be sharing their cake with you that they watch you take every bite just waiting for you to swallow each time so they can comment on how great the cake is and ask if you agree, in case you changed your mind from the last bite.
In El Salvador a much bigger deal is made about the 24^th than the 25^th. In fact, Christmas Eve seems to be the actual holiday, and Christmas is just the next day set asside for recuperating from the night before.
We spent Christmas Eve with our original, in-site, host family (below our a few pictures). Our Christmas feast consisted of chicken sandwiches and tomales. The latter I can only describe as wet cornbread compressed tightly in a large leaf with the smell of new pair of tennis shoes. The familiarity of this odor had been a topic of discussion many times over for Melissa and I until one day we had a break through when she pegged the nail on the head with the new tennis shoes comparison.

After several hours of fireworks, chicken sandwiches, tomales and even a little bit of dancing Melissa and I headed home at around 11:15 p.m. giving us just enough time to fall asleep so that the midnight firework tradition could wake us back up and then trickle on for the next two hours.
Christmas day was spent alone in our house, lying in hammocks, watching movies and gorging ourselves on all the American style junk food that we had found in the grocery store a few days earlier, including Doritos, Double Stuff Oreos and Milky Ways.

I will leave you with this a Christmas pic of Tilly…I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday

- Ross

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