English: Hasta la vista Suchitoto

It is July 4th, Americans are celebrating their national day, I celebrated my anniversary yesterday, and the day also marked one week since I left El Salvador. The memories are still in my mind: the dinner at Tatiana’s place, the walk with Patricia and the later moon watching night at Es Artes with her and Eu, the last lunch with Eu and Ana Maria, the last dinner at Lupita’s place with the Es Artes team, the last party at Coqui’s place, the last night in Villa Balanza, and the last trip to the airport with Roberto and his son. Everything is still here with me.
Saying good bye is a double meaning sentence. It means “I will not see you in a very long time” but it also means “I hope to see you again”. I stick with the second meaning, because I want to keep the hope that, in the future, I will see again the wonderful people I met in El Salvador.

The project has been completed and I hope I delivered what CUSO-VSO expected with this placement. In August there will be a meeting with other volunteers that developed the same type of research in other countries, we will share experiences and give ideas on what the next steps would be in order to get diaspora involved in their countries.

Regardless what happens in the future with CUSO-VSO and the follow up of this project, this trip to El Salvador allowed me to grow as a professional, but especially as a person. I reconnected to my Latin culture in a way I never expected, I learned a lot about myself, and I remembered a few things that the daily rushes of Toronto’s life had made me forget. Saint-Exupéry wrote “the essential is invisible to our eyes” and this fully applies to my journey in El Salvador. With time I might forget the buildings, the documents, the meetings I came across during this project; but I will never forget the spirit behind the projects that people are developing over there.

This is my last post in this blog, but certainly not my last connection with the town and the people who welcomed me with open arms. I wish you well Suchitoto, see you next time…