Viene el cambio.

This is my El Salvadoran check-in. I am in El Salvador! I won't have much time to write a ton, because I've already had a ton of internet time, but I wanted to write a blog while I was HERE to remind myself of the need to write about this place.

Yesterday we woke up at 3:45 for the second time in a week to official, credentialed international election observers! It was a really incredible experience, to be given the chance to see a country speak it's voice from the inside out. Manny and I, along with a couple youth radio reporters we were teamed up with, drove down a mountain at 4 in the morning in the bed of a truck. I will miss things like this so much when I leave Central America. We were stationed in Sensuntepeque, the capital of Cabañas, a region on the Honduran coast.

It was unusual because we observed in a pretty conservative region, so I saw a lot more support for ARENA (the ruling right-wing party) than I did for the FMLN. This was after spending a week meeting people who spoke about their experiences and pain during the revolution and their hope that change was coming this Sunday. Before yesterday, I was really starting to wonder who the mysterious majority was who had kept ARENA in power for so long. Turns out they are kind of a mix of the very wealthy and the very poor.

The ballots for the election were incredibly simple - just a picture of each flag, with instructions to mark an X through the one you prefer. I get the sense the elections here are much more accessible than they are in the states - I wonder if we'd get the 80% turnout rate if it were that easy, instead of having the appearance of elitsm that I think all our debates and ammendments give off. Then again, this system makes it much easier for votes to be bought.

Although everyone was braced for tons of fraud, it seems like everything went pretty smoothly. There were some Hondurans and Nicaraguans nearby with fake DUIs (their voting ID) with the names and info of deceased, and I saw a few other fishy things going on, but overall it was a pretty peaceful day. Voting centers are like hometown fairs - everyone is decked out, there are street vendors, and there is just this sense of anticipation and excitement. Voting is definitely an all day event. I feel so grateful to have been able to share this experience with the Salvadoran people, even if only on a small scale. Especially with a victory! It really echoed Obama's from the fall.

I'm really anxious to see how this works out for El Salvador. Funez ran on a pretty moderate platform, and his victory is without a doubt a HUGE acheivement, if only because it means an overthrow of the exploitative government who has been using scare tactics to rule, riding on the tails of the US-funded massacres of the 80s. But now Reagan and Bush are not president, and the world isn't so terrified of communism to attack any country who decides of it's own accord that left-leaning politics might work for them. So maybe they've got a chance. Or maybe in 2 years they will be like Nicaragua, already jaded and suspicious of their leader. I don't know. (And I really don't mean to be making such broad generalizations. There are Nicaraguans who love Daniel, and there are Salvadorans who are displeased with the victory of the FMLN.)

Okay, I need to get off the computer. I really need to write more about this country later, because there is SO much to say, and I feel like I've learned so much only being here for a week.

BUt we will see when I have time... because I'm going to COLOMBIA on Friday! My mom will be there, and on a whim (a kind of reckless one) we decided I should miss a couple days of class and fly down. Which means this is my current life schedule: return to Managua on Wednesday, fly to Medellín on Friday, fly back to Managua on Wednesday, leave for the Coast on Thursday, come back to Managua on Wednesday, have one more week of class, and then return to the coast for ISP.

How is this possible?

More later.