Corrections, apologies and another thing...

Tito corrected me on some of the information I had wrong in my political rant two blogs ago. I have been toying with deleting it all together, but think I will leave it up for now, until anyone suggests otherwise. I did make the suggested correction though, thanks Tito!

In coming back to Canada, I have had some time to reflect and though I don't feel bad about ranting sometimes, I have come to understand that it's easy to stand on the outside looking in and say what needs to be fixed. Sure, sustainability is a problem, pollution, corruption, crime, etc., but those exist here as well and need to be fixed just as much.

I still think about the project every day, new ideas come to mind about things to do, to teach, to produce. I will have to let it all go for a bit though as I prepare to go back to rehearsals for my own performances in three weeks!

A part of my energy is still in El Salvador and I am only now starting to feel at home in Canada. On Friday night, there was a sudden cold snap and fall anounced it's presence. Soon, here it will be cold. But inside me, it's still the Tropics!!!

Hasta la huego todos!! Gracias por un viaje et un tiempo incredibile!!

Gracias El Salvador. Vaya bien...

I am back in Canada. This is not a dream.

Time has raced by, especially in the last week as we prepared for the presentation of the Romeo y Julieta scene. Everything has happened so fast that I still don't feel like I am back.

We completed the Romeo y Julieta project with great success. I worked with the students on a variety of exercises for text, performance, character, etc. over two weeks just focused on the scene. Much of the work we do here in Canada when addressing Shakespeare, I managed to translate...or Patricia did for the most part! Though many of the students took some time to understand all the text and appreciate how to interpret the situation, some were very quick to give outstanding and clear performances.

On the day of the performancet here was no rain and a fair crowd was present. In the morning, a pre-requisite scandal took place when ten of the students (the majority of whom were in the Prologue) didn't manage to get on the bus from Copapayo, a neighbouring town. But when they arrived by the afternoon, everyone cheered and we managed to get in our dress rehearsal.

Perhaps the only problem was that the audience arrived early! This is definitely not the norm in El Salvador and Tatiana was excited to see this new tendency. We posted the show time as 4pm, expecting to start by 4:30 because people always show up late in El Salvador! But people began to arrive at 3:30! We barely managed to squeeze in a dress rehearsal because a crowd had gathered outside.

We even managed to interest the owner of Las Ruinas to come. Though he was highly critical of the students and of the show, he did say that he was happy to see the students being introduced to Shakespeare and that he was interested in seeing a professional production of R+J in his theater one day.

It was, to me, a major victory. This man had expressed so much skepticism about the entire venture of Es Artes when I first met him, that I was thrilled to find him even slightly interested in the future of the project.

The students were very excited and very thankful at the end. They presented me with a beautiful cotton shirt on Friday. We all hugged when I left, tears were shed and a general sense of accomplishment was what I was left with. I left behind a few gifts and things for the props and wardrobe. I had hoped to shed a huge amount of unnecessary weight in my bags, but my suitcase still weighed 50lbs when I got to the airport!!

I didn't bring back very much but a heavy heart, full of memories, song and a lot of humidity!! The weather in Toronto is actually the same as what I experienced there, 35 degrees and humid.

I find it hard to quantify and qualify all the things I have in mind when I think about this amazing experience. Perhaps that's why I got political in my last blog.  It's impossible not to see injustice in El Salvador and it's just as hard not to want to get involved in helping.

Not getting involved in the politics in El Salvador, when one has worked and lived there is also impossible. A project like Es Artes has so many different major organisations, donors and sponsors behind it that it has become a puzzle of political and personal interests. I said to Patricia once that it sometimes feels like everybody wants a piece of Es Artes.

Tatiana said in one of our final encounters, that Es Artes really needs people who are ready to do social work. Perhaps as somewhat of a challenge, she said "We need people here that fit the right profile." I wondered if I was the right profile.

In all honesty, living in the tropics for the first time for an extended period of time can be very intense. In the last week, I saw more insects of an impressive size than ever in my life. Spiders the size of my hand, centipedes, wasps. Living without access to warm water, drinkable water, basic goods and services is not always easy for a middle class Canadian.

But when I took my first hot shower last night, it somehow felt all wrong. It helps that it's over 30 degrees here too, but nonetheless...My cold shower seemed so much more right somehow! I feel like I have been bitten by a tropical bug...one that makes me yearn to go back to that heat, those faces, that work.

I am almost certain that I will apply to return to El Salvador to work with the Es Artes program again. Tatiana and I spoke about the potential of my returning to do teacher training and I would like to explore the prospect of staying four to six months there next year.

In the meantime, I will carry many fond memories of Suchitoto and the country in my heart and mind. I will likely write more in this blog at some point, when something comes back to me in a flurry of colour, sounds and taste.

I have started putting spicy sauce on everything and am really looking forward to giving my mother the homemade chili sauce from Lupita's restaurant in the Centro of Suchitoto. I have so many stories to share, things to tell and really, I just want to start thinking about the next time I get to back.

Though I am thrilled to be home, I will carry the feelings I have from that country for some time I know. It may be two or more days before I feel grounded again.

On my last day in San Salvador, Tatiana asked me to help a little with the combat she has planned for the upcoming production of The House of Bernarda Alba. I was surprised to hear that this included several beatings and a drowning sequence at the end. I tried to help as much as possible, but their rehearsal was only four hours long. We took almost that whole time to work on the fights. But otherwise, they wouldn't have had anyone to help them! I hope what I did for them was useful.

I also want to spend more time doing stage combat next time I go down. There simply isn't much of a tradition in El Salvador and all of the actors have stories about getting hurt in fights onstage because no one there teaches that.

Regardless of what I do when I return and even when I return, I know El Salvador will always present it's own challenges, it's own rewards, a welcoming smile and an open hand. Muchas gracias Suchitoto, El Salvador y todo el pueblo Slavadoreano! Hasta la huega y que tu vaya bien!! Con muchos besos...Nicolas VB Toronto Canada, August 31st 2010.

final days and stomach issues

I awoke this morning to find my stomach was again having issues. A bit of an unfortunate way to spend my last days here, but it is very hard to avoid. The locals tell me they take anti-parasite pills as often as twice a year and issues like mine are common, even for them. It's almost pointless to try and figure out how or where I got whatever is in my system, best just to treat it.
In talking with others about this remarkable place, I have come to see that sustainability is a big problem in this country, as elsewehere in the developing world. For example, people here were used to buying their goods wrapped in banana leaves for a very long time and now, with the introduction of plastic packaging, the roads are littered with people's trash. There seems to be little understanding that litter is a serious problem. People throw their trash out the windows of vehicles constantly. Yesterday, when I went to Los Tercios, I found a plastic container that had been tossed to the ground right next to these amazing waterfalls. I picked it up to dispose of it, when I could find a garbage. As I walked out of the area, I crossed a man smoking, who casually tossed his empty pack into the woods. I was somewhat heart broken.
They say that if you tell people enough times that they are stupid or incapable, etc. they will end up believeing it. Here, since the Spanish colonised this part of the world, I feel that people have been being told that. Their native cultures were destroyed, traditional ways of living surpressed, their economies subjected to foreign rule. And today, the same problems persist. El Salvadoreans do not even have their own currency. Foreign investement (especially American) is prized and national industry is almost non-existent. The result is that the country is entirely dependent on the production of goods, manufactured very cheaply, which are sent abroad to be sold. Then, those same products are sold back to Salvadoreans at foreign prices. Someone told me once that some jeans are made here at near slave-labour costs, sent back to the US, then sent back here to be sold at $70 per pair! The other day I bought deodorant and it cost as much as I would normally pay in Canada. But there is no locally made, national brand of deodorant available here. Almost all of the essential products that you buy in El Salvador are manufactured elsewhere. Foreign investement imposes a stranglehold on the people here. They are free to buy American products at American prices, but are not enabled to make their own products, even though there is no shortage of labour to do it. And since the Spanish invasion, agriculture here is practically non-existent. The Spanish imposed that coffee, sugar and corn be the principal crops to be grown and that remains true today. El Salvador is one of the most deforested countries in Central America, which also renders the soil infertile. Many of the vegetables you find in supermarkets here come from abroad, as does much of the meat.
The result is a culture where people do not feel in control of their own lives. Many people here rely on money sent from relatives in the US. And the economy is stifled by these grotesque practices of foreign investement and exploitation. When it comes to culture, much of the same is true. Almost all television is American, the music you hear in the streets is often American, the movies are all bootlegs of American movies. This country is stuck in an ongoing enslavement, cultural, economic and social.
The people here want change. Many of them say that things were better during the war. Because during the war they could still afford things and things were available. Now, they can only buy foreign made products which cost much more than what most can afford to spend. But these things are the basics of life, without which it is often impossible to survive!
I heard recently that Pacific Rim, a Canadian company is suing the country for $277 Million because El Salvador refuses to allow them to mine El Salvadorean gold and silver. Since the country refuses to allow this company access to one of the country's precious resources, this company is suing the country for an amount that would devastate the economy. Because, in this insane world, a company can now sue a country for limiting its access to that country's resources. Another case where profits come before people!! And so, the people of this country will suffer even more so Canadians can have access to El Salvadorean gold. Because it's likely that El Salvadoreans won't be seeing much of it.
Much of the economy here depends on the manufacture of clothes, made very cheaply, then sold abroad. The clothes made here are manufactured in maquiladores, which are basically sweat shops. Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Gap, Guess, Levis, almost all of the giant clothing corporations make clothes here. Someone told me that jeans are made here at slave-labour wages, sent back to the US, then sent back here where they are sold for $70 a pair! And we have the audacity to call this investement!! It is nothing short of exploitation. When you land in San Salvador, the first things you see are Pizza Hut, Macdonalds and Burger King. But most El Salvadoreans can't afford to eat there! So who does all of this "investement" benefit? Certainly not the people of El Salvador. The next time you rush out to buy new clothes or products from any of the major labels, check to see where it was manufactured. Ask yourself if your need for this product supercedes a country's rights to clean water, clean air, basic human rights and the choice of it's own destiny.
The maquiladores here in Santa Anna ( a town on the way to San Salvador ) manufacture clothes for Buffalo, Guess, Levis and others. Maquiladores are high security environments. El Salvadorean do not have access to them and you require a special pass to get in. The products are manufactured in brutal conditions, with many of the workers working on their feet full days. They are allowed twenty to thirty minutes for lunch. Often, they are told that they cannot go to the bathroom or they pay will be docked for lost time. The products manufactured here are sent immediately to the US, where they are sold for a great profit. But El Salvadoreans don't have access to them until they return into the country to be sold in high end stores at American prices.
How can people here have a real sense of their own culture, when they don't even have a sense of how to live independently? And how can they gain access to that independence when we impose such draconian measures on their development?
And so, sustainability is of prime importance in all developing nations. Learning to build an economy and culture that is sustainable, that is self-sufficient and productive is perhaps on the most essential thing. And Art and Theater can help. Because Art endures the worst circumstances. And often, the more horrible the circumstances, the greater the need for Art.
Stratford Ontario is perfect example of this. A small, local theater company becomes the one of the largest theater companies in the world in only 50 years, stimulating not only the local economy, but indeed a national industry. I hope Es Artes will do the same for this amazing and courageous country.

last day off

As today was a day off, and the last one, I spent the morning waiting for Marvin, a local artisan, to take me to the waterfalls. When I called him an hour after he was to meet me, I found out that he was sick with fever and couldn't get out of bed. This type of thing is a very common occurence here. Tatiana was struck with Dengue fever not two weeks ago and had to take over  a week to recover.
So, I decided to head instead to Los Tercios, the other waterfall nearby to which I had already been twice, but where I longed to return for one last visit. My last chance to enjoy the natural beauty of the surrounding area.

Afterwards, I came to Es Artes to work on the "set design" for our presentation. Not much of a set really, but we hung some drapes over the main entrance, set up the sound and finished preparing the props.

Yesterday, we started to run the scene when the rain came...hard. I tried to soldier on in spite of the cacaphonous downpour, but was forced to capitulate after the winds tore the tarp we have set up to protect the audience from rain and it fell on my head!! Decidedly, Mother Nature wanted us to call it a day. I can't say I wasn't a bit frustrated, but that's the way things are here. Sometimes, despite your best intentions, there is simply nothing to be done because it rains too much, because people are sick or absent, etc, etc. A constant process of adapting to the circumstances for those coming from abroad.

Tomorrow is technically my last class. Wish me luck!!

The beginning of the end...

We started the week on a bit of a weak note. The students ran the scene several times today, but the energy just wasn´t there. Focus is something they are learning, not something they are necessarily used to...teenagers are the same everywhere! As we enter the last days of rehearsal, I feel the need to find a way to make them work together a bit more.
One of the difficulties thus far lies in the romance onstage coming into conflict with the romance offstage. The girl who is playing a servingman is involved with the boy playing Romeo and he is nervous and uncomfortable being romantic with Juliet, played by another girl. This is causing tensions that I am almost incapable of addressing properly. Thankfully, Mario and Tito both spoke up about it the other day, expressing things that I am either unsure of or simply not fluent enough in Spanish to say.
The politics here work on all sorts of levels!! Arguably, the most valuable part of my training for this project, has been learning how to improve my negotiation skills!!
A local vendor whom I have bought some items from has offered to take me to another waterfall Wednesday morning. As this is a day off from teaching, I am keen to go. This may well prove to be the last chance I have to see some more of the natural beauty surrounding Suchitoto.
I know that as much as my returning home to Canada will be immensely satisfying, it will also leave me hungry to return to this amazing country.

Lluvia, siempre la lluvia!

Well, the Festival de Maiz (Corn Festival) was an impressive event. Hundreds of people walked in a parade, then crammed into the church and onto the public square afterwards. A whole day centered around corn! A way of saying thanks to God for the bounty, explained one of the vendors. However, it rained all day and the performance scheduled for 4pm was cancelled. After understanding that we were rained out, I made my way to Es Artes to blog some more. To my surprise, the students were almost all here, even those who weren't involved in the days projected performance. Most of them were here at 1pm, an hour and a half early for the projected rehearsal, which was obviously cancelled. Some had been here since 10 am. For many of them, this is a very special place. Even the cool kids, who sometimes look like they don't want to be here, or at least act like it at moments, were here and stayed here. Es Artes has come to be a place of purpose and connection.
So, since they were all here, I decided to offer an impromtu stage combat class. They all stayed to participate. Even the young girl with the broken heart ( I assume ) and the tears in her eyes, sat in the corner and had a laugh at some of the work. They all wanted to be here and were ready to work, even on a day off. That would almost never happen in North America. Granted, many have no place else to go, but I still say it speaks to the power of Theater and Art, and the need for more of it in development projects.
I was told once that the head of the volunteer organisation for the region,on whose behalf I am working here, actually said that he does not believe in the value of Art in development programs! He would feel differently if he could see, hear and talk to these students!

Earlier, I sat in the church, long after the massive crowd had left. As the cleaners cleaned the pews, I was lucky to witness many people in prayer. Old women and men crept in, bowing their twisted old bodies and kneeling to pray. I remembered Tito saying that it is understood here that North Americans are rich in material things, but poor in spirituality. Here, the opposite is true. Many people have nothing, or less, but their spirituality, their faith and their hope is still strong. I was suddenly hit by a wave of great sadness as I thought of the old and infirm around me, the young and the fit alike, praying to God for forgiveness, for mercy, for comfort after years of hardship, hunger, poverty and war. My atheism felt so empty in comparison, so selfish. The sadness turned to joy as I heard the loud, almost obnoxious music and noise pouring in from the central square and thought of the beauty of these people, their infectious jollity, their remarkable and beautiful faces, their tremendous hearts. It was truly a touching moment. And in my stuborness, I did not kneel in prayer, though in my own way, I think I prayed a little too...

The beauty of this place is taking a stronger hold on my senses and my being. I will miss it much more than I ever thought. Better make the utmost of these last six days now...And to think, I never got to show them a stage combat choke because we had to let them get home!! Sigh, so many things to do, so little time. Thanks be to God!!

Run through day...

Saturday is always a tough day. We start at 8, but the students don´t arrive until as late as 9am. We always start late, as everything does here. Between two or (in this case) three teachers, we wrangle nearly 40 students ranging from ages 15 to over 30 into the space, divide them as we can and work as much as we can until 5pm. The work is exhausting, let alone trying to focus that many students, when many of them only get together once a week and have to work with a group that has been coming every day. I am seldom clear on which is more difficult, wrangling adolescent hormones or Shakespeare!

Today was a very productive day though. I never cease to be impressed by these students. Today, many of them arrived, after a week away from their last session of choreography and all remembered it! They only had one session with the dance instructor, who worked like a demon to teach them a choreography and that was a week ago! I could never do that!!
There were some who felt a little underused today, as we concentrated primarily on working the dance into the scene, and those only involved in the prologue were sidelined a bit, but when we put everything together, I was really impressed.
In essence, we are presenting a scene from Romeo and Juliet. We start by doing a choral reading of the Prologue and proceed to perform the ballroom scene with a dance in the middle. The scene is being performed by students who are in attendance all week long. The prologue and the dance are being performed by 2 groups, formed from among those who can only attend class Saturdays. So the group is disparate. Many have not really had much chance to see the work of others, in other groups. Today was really our first chance to put it all together. The result was very impressive. Though parts still obviously need work, it is really starting to look and sound like a real Shakespearean scene...in Spanish!!

Of course, issues and obstacles continue to arise. Today a few were missing, some left early. The boy playing Romeo is involved with another one of the students and is having a hard time playing the romantic lead to anyone else. But the constant desire to progress, to improve, to advance and to go further is in them all. I have much to be nervous about, but so much more to be proud of already with this group.

Tomorrow, they are presenting a scene from the Salarue project they organised before I arrived. It will be held in the public square, in the midsts of a huge public festival. I think they may have more challenges ahead of them than they realise because performing in the Centro is somewhat like performing a play in the middle of the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. But nonetheless, I am certain they will rise to the challenge.

We were talking last night about how the circumstances of life in El Salvador would seemingly make theater nearly impossible to do, but for the tremendous will of people here to better their lives. And it´s always amazing to see how art is often a great place to start when we want change.