A while ago I promised a post about the public buses in El Salvador as well as a post about families in El Salvador. I don't want to break my promises and let my readers down, so here you go...
There are tons of public buses in El Salvador, especially in San Salvador. You can pretty much go anywhere in the country by bus (although it may take you a very long time). The majority of people in El Salvador do not have cars, so they can walk, ride a bike (not many Salvadorans can afford bikes and some of the rural roads aren't very biker friendly), hitch a ride in a pick-up truck, or ride the bus. It's rare that a bus isn't crowded. It costs 20 cents for a ride on the bus, 25 cents to ride on a microbus (I don't really know why it's different to ride a microbus, it's still a public bus), and for some buses that go farther out into the rural areas it costs $3. There are buses everywhere and they all look a little different- I'm pretty sure that no two look the same.
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| Microbuses |
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| old school bus |
Some are old school buses from the U.S., some are old Greyhound type buses, some are microbuses. Almost all the buses are decorated in some fashion. Some have awesome paint jobs and most have some sort of decals or stickers on them- anything from Garfield to Jesus to Winnie the Pooh to the Virgin of Guadalupe to flags from various countries.
When people think about buses in developing countries, a lot of people think about riding on a bus with chickens. I haven't had the pleasure of riding on a bus with chickens in El Salvador, but I can almost guarantee that it happens. If people are going somewhere to sell something, or if they have bought something they are bringing home, they bring it on the bus. Riding the buses in El Salvador was rarely boring. There was always someone or something interesting to look at inside or outside the bus. People would get on and sell little things like candy. Sometimes there was even live entertainment on the bus. A couple of times men with guitars got on the bus and sang a song or two and then walked down the aisle to collect any coins that people offered for his performance. The most amazing thing about these men that sang on the bus was that they were able to stand, play the guitar, and sing all while the bus driver did his best to go as fast as he could over the bumps, over the hills, and around the corners.
The buses in El Salvador have gotten some international press time in the past year or so because the gangs have been killing people on the buses and burning the buses. On many of the bus routes the gangs make the bus drivers pay "rent". The gang members collect money from the bus drivers and in return the gangs say that they will protect the bus drivers or at least leave them alone. However, paying the rent doesn't always ensure that the bus driver will be safe and some bus drivers have been refusing to pay the rent. Sometimes when the drivers on a specific bus route decide that they don't want to give into the demands of the gang and pay the rent they may stop driving the route to protect themselves and to send a message to the gangs. Whether or not the bus drivers pay rent to the gangs, they go to work everyday not knowing if they will return home at the end of the day. It made me a little nervous to ride the buses, and even many of the Salvadorans don't like to ride the buses because you never know what bus will be the next one to be burned by the gangs.
Now onto the families of El Salvador...
I have to admit that my knowledge of Salvadoran families is only based on my experiences with a few families, but I'm pretty sure that my observations do apply to many Salvadoran families.
The best words to describe Salvadoran families are complicated and loving.
Salvadorans tend to have a lot of kids which translates into lots of grandkids. Because the families are so big, I'm still not sure if I understand all the relations of the families I stayed with, and it seemed like every few days a new family member would show up. There were always at least a few kids running around. I think "alone time" and privacy are concepts that Salvadorans know very little about. At times it was a bit chaotic with all the people and all the kids, but it was also nice to always have someone around. Everyone helps take care of each other's kids. Aunts and uncles regularly take care of their nieces and nephews. The older kids help take care of their younger brothers, sisters, and cousins. It is especially true that the whole family helps take care of each other, but it is also true that Salvadoran families will care for friends and even complete strangers as if they were family. Everyone pitches in to help with the cooking, cleaning, farming, building, and any other tasks that need to get done. Even the kids are expected to work hard. There were a couple of times when I saw kids not wanting to work, but the norm is for them to just do whatever needs to be done and most of the time without their parents even telling them to do it. Kids help around the house because they need to and because they know they are expected to (and not because they know they are getting something in return like an allowance). How many kids in the U.S. do that?
Salvadorans have a great sense of humor and this is especially evident in their families. They are always joking around and (lovingly) making fun of each other. They love to give each other nicknames (which made it even more difficult for me to learn who everyone is because i had to learn their real name and their nickname!). I love how they are so blunt and honest with how they joke with each other and just in normal conversations. Everybody is always in everybody else's business and it's hard to keep secrets.
While families in El Salvador are very supportive and loving of each other, there are also signs of weakness in their families. I can think of very few nuclear families where the wife and husband are on their first marriage and all of the kids living with them are biologically theirs. There are step-children and half-brothers and sisters and "adopted" kids. Many Salvadorans do not get married because they cannot afford to pay for even the legal paperwork, and a wedding ceremony is even further out of the question. Perhaps in part because marriage is less common and for many other reasons, many couples don't tend to stay together for life.
One issue is that the men are often absent from their families for a number of reasons. One reason is that many fathers, sons, uncles, grandsons were killed during the war. They left behind wives and children who have had to learn to live without them.
Another reason why the men are absent from home is that they have left to find work. Some men leave the rural areas and go to the larger cities in El Salvador to work. Some men travel to neighboring countries to find work. And many Salvadoran men have migrated to the U.S. to find work. Whether the father has gone to the city or to the U.S., he will send money back home. There are so many Salvadoran families who depend on money that is sent from family members living in the U.S. Without this money many would not survive. Some will work for a few years in the U.S. where they can earn much more money than they ever could in El Salvador, and then they will return when they have enough money saved up. However, the men don't always return, especially those who have migrated to the U.S. Some find new wives and new families and stop sending money back. I think that most have the intention of returning to El Salvador, but once they realize how much better life is in the U.S. they just stay. This tares up families and leaves kids without dads.
Men are also absent from families because of the violence of the gangs. They often abandon their families when they join the gangs (or their families disown them) and they leave behind young wives and little kids when the gang members are killed in gang activities. The gangs also murder those young men who won't join or those who won't give in to the demands of the gangs. The absence of men is creating a very vicious cycle. Young boys have very few positive role models in their own families. It's rare for boys to see what a faithful relationship with a woman looks like and it is rare for them to have a father, or brother, or uncle, or grandpa who they can look up to and strive to be like.
The men shouldn't get all the blame though. Salvadoran women will leave their men. A woman may leave because her boyfriend or husband was unfaithful or because he couldn't provide for her and her kids. Sometimes survival has to come before anything else and if a woman can find someone who can feed her kids I don't think it is our place to judge her for leaving a man who cannot feed her kids.
While Salvadoran families certainly have more than their fair share of problems and difficulties, these problems and difficulties do not diminish their strength and love.
