Dec 31, 2012
juanbar

Salvadorean people are strict Christians and their most important date in their calendar is Christmas Eve. They celebrate the Birth of baby Jesus. They live this day quite similar to American  people: meeting the whole family and sharing together.

This is how 24th December was:

5:30

Wake up! Don´t ask me why we get up so early, I don´t understand it yet.

6:30

We killed 2 hens, we plucked them and quartered them, with all the preparation they need.

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8:00

Go to the bank to withdraw the present our brothers & sisters that live in USA has made us in form of remittances. Long queue and slow employees. We wait for an hour.

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9:30

Go to the market with mami Valentina to buy the last things me need to prepare the dinner. It is crazy how busy was the market!

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11:00

Come back home alone because I lost my mami in the market. We continue preparing the hens.

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12:30

We eat eggs with frijoles.

15:00

My sister Marcia prepares Honduran Torrejas and sanwiches.

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17:00

Everything is ready. Lets prepare and stay with friends and family around the area.

19:00

Papa Chente, mami Valentina, hermana Marcia and me have dinner together. The menu is roast chicken  with thin corn Salvadorean pancakes and pineapple juice.

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21:00

Family members begin to arrive. We talk, dance, laugh, chat, hug…altogether!

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22:00

We go to buy fireworks and start exploding them.

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24:00

We hug every single relative and friend, we wish them merry Christmas and continue exploding fireworks!

Captura de pantalla 2012-12-25 a la(s) 20.02.31

3:00

We go to bed after good dances of Cumbia, bachata (my favourite one) merengue, salsa…I get lost with dance names and I don´t distinguish them very well.

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Merry Christmas and happy 2013!


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Comments

Thank you, Juan, for this personal story. Do you work with Apoyo Integral or did you just volunteer to give Kiva lenders this first hand impression of El Salvador? I wish you and your family a very happy 2013!

Yes, I am a Kiva fellow that has collaborated with Integral, Fundación Campo and PAdecomsm, always in El Salvador! Happy new year for you and for your family also!

About the Author

Juan Barbed

Juan was born in Bilbao, Spain 25 years ago. He studied at Colegio Urdaneta where apart from working hard he was very involved with soccer, tennis and many other extracurricular activities. After this, he earned a Business Management degree from Deusto University with a specialization in Finance. His last year of his degree program was spent abroad in Paris at ESCP-Europe Business School. After this, he worked for two years for Fineco, a wealth management firm located in Bilbao. This summer he took part of Imagine, a program of entrepreneurship and innovation in Silicon Valley.

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