It seems that the middle of our trip was more focused on love, exposure to reality, and preparation to be used like never before.

I felt loved every single minute, especially when I was with the kids. It does not matter if they were all surrounding me, braiding my hair,* or just looking at me. Every time I was with them I felt the sincerity of their hearts.

During one of our night reflections I mentioned that listening is an important part of love. When I was listening to the kids I felt love either because I saw how much they were lacking it and so there was a natural impulse in me to provide it, or I saw how full of it they were and I had a spirit to receive their embrace. So it does not matter if you are lacking it or full of love, through the art of listening you are in love with that other person. Love is just that: being in that invisible space with someone where your minds agree, your hearts seek understanding of the other, and your body feels at home.

This reminds me of the night that Lydia, one of the FoxFires, told us to read 1 Corinthians 13, the famous bible passage on love.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

She told us to replace the word love with our name. It made me think about all the times I say “I love you” to people. Am I really patient with them? Am I angered? I thought this was a great interpersonal exercise.

Another vivid memory in my mind is a time I was in one of the slums. I was sitting in this small couch and a street kid was looking at me. He was right next to me. I put my hands out and the child touched mine. He had small hands. When I looked into his eyes, it looked like an ocean of happiness. It was as if this simple touch filled his life. It was a sense of acknowledgement. The child knew he existed because of our touch. His eyes were happy. To see this child trapped in this moment, this real and yet unreal moment saddened my eyes. My soul rejoiced, however, because I know that part of my job as Eliana is to bring balance to these people. I was in love at that moment. It was only for one minute, but the residue still lingers in my heart.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uGPAiO7vj0

As residents of the United States of America, we are fortunate to live in a country where the government is controlled by the people it serves. It is clear when reading the words of our nation’s great Constitution that the architects of this transcendent document meant for “the people” to have the final say in how the nation moves forward. The people’s will is expressed through the representatives they elect to speak on their behalf.

This type of political structure is called representative government. Each Election Day the people have an opportunity to choose a person that will best reflect their will and that of their neighbors. That being said, the questions one must continually ask are: Is this representative making decisions with my best interests in mind? And, is the representation currently in place reflective of the community it serves?

It is critical one realizes the magnitude of these questions. The first is important because it encourages one to question whether the person who was chosen to represent in the past still holds the values and judgment he/she was elected to exercise. This becomes increasingly important when one considers the competing interests from other districts in the overall governing body.

For example, a state legislator whose district includes Sea Girt should base his or her advocacy work on the views of coastal residents. For that representative not to do so, decisions in the legislative body would reflect the needs of other parts of the state, such as urban or agricultural areas, possibly to the detriment of this oceanfront community. Therefore it is important that the representative understand and reflect the will of the people they serve.

The second question deals with ensuring that a governing body reflects the people it serves. In other words, the representatives should reflect the cultural, economic and social makeup of the communities he/she is representing. In New Jersey, this means taking into account the significant diversity that exists within the state. Opponents of this notion will argue that affirmative action is not justified. That is not what I’m advocating for here. Again, take the example of the beachfront community. If the representative is not a beach resident, how can he/she truly know and understand the needs of the community? So should be the case, for example, in areas where there is a large Latino population; there should be representation, at least in part, by individuals who are Latino — who know, understand and participate in the community.

Now, there are many elected representatives that will say “trust me.” However based on the previous information I suggest we turn that question around and say: “We will trust ourselves to hold you accountable.” The architects of the constitution based their work on limiting the power of government and making it of the people, for the people, and by the people. As such, in this type of political structure it is OUR responsibility to ensure that the answers to both of the question above are yes. We cannot, as responsible citizens, relinquish our responsibility to continually demand that our needs based on the cultural, economic and social makeup of our population be properly represented in the governing body.

We should keep this in mind each and every time we step into a voting booth, as well as every time there is a position open where the occupant is responsible for representing a diverse population — from school board member to president, including state legislator. The decisions we make in that booth will not only affect us as individuals but also our community and families as well, and not just now, but for generations to come.

Therefore let us always take responsibility for holding each of our representatives accountable. We are the authors of our future, either through action or inaction. Your community is counting on you.

Y acuerdense — Su voto es su voz. ¡Voten este 4 de Noviembre!

Siempre Adelante!

I returned from my week-long trip to San Diego, CA where I attended the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Annual Convention. The highlight of the conference was the participation of the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees, Barack Obama and John McCain, respectively. I was privileged to have front row seats for both speeches and a perfect view of the audience and their reactions to the speeches. The speeches were well covered by the media so I thought I would provide a different angle to their participation.

This was the third major Latino event where both candidates made appearances. In June, both Obama and McCain addressed the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials (NALEO) Convention (which I also attended) in Washington, DC. In early July, both addressed the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) convention, which was also in Washington, DC. The NCLR Conference is the biggest Latino advocacy conference in the United States as it draws over 20,000 people per year to the conference. This year’s NCLR conference probably set an attendance record.

Obama’s speech got many standing ovations at the NCLR Conference. He got one of the biggest applauses when he mentioned that the immigration enforcement system that separates children from adults was not working and needs to be changed. He reminded the audience that McCain no longer supported his own bill, the McCain-Kennedy Bill which would have given undocumented immigrants an opportunity to come out of the shadows and into the American light. He did a very good job with his speech and I thought that it was beyond brilliant in terms of how he put all of the issues together to sync with the common themes of NCLR’s mission. He also discussed other issues that were important to Latinos (i.e. education, health care, foreclosure crisis). In a sign of respect for pronunciation, Obama pronounced “La Raza” with the soft “rrr” and not the usually hard “RRR” that most English-speaking individuals pronounce the word. Any time you can say a Spanish word in the correct phonetic pronunciation, that will always win you points in the Latino community.

If you want to see my feedback to the local CBS affiliate in San Diego following the Obama speech, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkwPmqktCVg&NR=1.

It also includes a summary of everything that happened that day, including the clash between Obama supporters and anti-immigrant protesters outside the San Diego Convention Center.

McCain’s speech was well-prepared and he stayed on his point. He got a nice applause when he talked about the fact that some in the Republican party used the immigration debate to denigrate the hard work of Latinos in the United States and he condemned it. To his credit, McCain stayed after his prepared remarks to take questions from the audience . . . a gutsy move if I must say so myself, since most of the audience were fired up regarding the immigration debate. A very courageous moment happened during the Q&A session when an undocumented student took the microphone (risking her identity and admitting she was undocumented). She asked McCain to please think about the millions of undocumented students who did not come to the U.S. by choice. It was a risky move by the student to expose her immigration status in front of the cameras, but McCain answered that he would support immigration reform only AFTER the borders were secured. That didn’t win him a lot of friends in the audience since the timing of such an initiative was suspect. McCain countered the criticism regarding his border-security-first position, saying he is a straight talker and that a comprehensive bill could only be achieved after the borders were secured; otherwise it would not pass Congress in his opinion.

Overall, I think the audience gave McCain positive points for just showing up to the NCLR Conference and staying to take questions from the audience knowing that he was going to get tough immigration questions. Bear in mind that the audience was already expecting a more hardline message from McCain so the audience may have felt better with McCain’s speech because he spoke very sincerely even if his views didn’t sync with that of the audience. Many of the conference-goers remember the speech that Karl Rove gave to NCLR two years earlier in Los Angeles where Rove was severely booed because of his hardline approach to immigration and read from a prepared speech that seemed to forget who his audience was . . . Latinos who care about immigration. Compared to Karl Rove’s speech, John McCain’s speech was a relief to the NCLR audience. I heard from women at the conference that having Cindy McCain there won him some points with Latinas. He also won points when he insisted that the Q&A session go longer than the original schedule and was willing to stay as long as he was allowed to in order to answer questions from the audience of thousands. When McCain was finished with the Q&A session, he received his only standing ovation (a common courtesy that the conference attendees gave to every speaker at the conference). Of all the three major Latino events (NALEO, LULAC, NCLR), McCain probably gave his most effective public speech at NCLR.

I would have to say that since Obama got at least three standing ovations at the NCLR Conference (vs. one for McCain, when he concluded his Q&A session), I think that Obama did a better job connecting with the community. However if you handicap the fact that the crowd was looking for an inspirational speech by Obama and a hardline speech by McCain, one could argue that it was a wash for both of them because they got an inspirational speech by Obama as expected but didn’t get a Karl Rove-like speech from McCain, which may have exceeded some people’s expectations.

Neither McCain nor Obama have a lock on the Latino vote. Because of that, both will have to work hard to address the concerns of the communities. The next opportunities to address a national Latino audience will likely be the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Convention in Sacramento, California this September. I expect that both candidates will be invited to address this all-business segment of the Latino community but we will not know if they will be addressing the USHCC Convention until late August or early September.

The first part of our trip was all about expectancy, adjusting, and receiving. Arriving to the Motherland was out of this world. We landed like at 9 am. As I stepped out of the plane there were too many thoughts in my head: How is the food? How do you say bathroom in Swahili? I can’t wait to see the kids! I need to take a lot of pictures and so on . . .

Everything was a rush. We got our bags, and were welcomed by two girls from the FoxFire team (the youth Ministry that were with us). Our welcoming committee wore blue shirts and their smile welcomed us. I looked up and there was a sign that said: “Smile, You’re in Kenya.” For some reason that made my heart jump.

When we got inside our bus, all I thought about was Dominican Republic. It looked very similar, except poverty was more obvious in Kenya. This can be seen in the streets since most people were walking or in a car. I fell asleep on the bus right away only to wake up to this beautiful complex. The air smelled like burning wood or leña, and the place was surrounded by nature. All the ladies stayed at the first house and the men were taken to the middle house. I felt as if I was in college all over again when I saw a door tag on my door. I jumped in my bed and noticed a mosquito net on top of me. I felt at home.

At 2:00 pm, after napping, showering, eating breakfast and lunch, we went to the ByGrace Home, the orphanage we worked with. Our time over there was beyond measure. As soon as we stepped out of the bus the kids came running to us. Immediately they got in a circle and we started to dance and sing. Afterwards the kids had a presentation for us. They wore dancing outfits and performed for us. There were several introductions and presentations and then we had a tea break. We ate the most delicious biscuits and drank tea.

We blew bubbles with the kids and played with them. I am glad we had this visit. The ByGrace Home housed 22 total kids who all slept in a total of three rooms in the second floor. Their small living room served as their school. Next week we would start constructing a school for them, and the entire team was excited.

The night came rather quickly. Before I knew it, we were back to the AEE (African Evangelistic Enterprise) house. We had a delicious dinner. The food was similar to what I eat everyday: white rice, a beef stew, delicious Kenyan bread (chapati) and greens. During dinner the foxfire team taught us a Swahili song, which became a group favorite, and we sang it together. Everyone went to sleep early. We were still exhausted from all the traveling.

I was anticipating what would happen the rest of the week. Everything was still unreal to me. I could not believe I was in Africa, but even more, I could not imagine the way I was going to serve the people and make a difference. The suspense was killing me, but I decided to turn my brain off, and just feel the experience.

For Fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS47TSp-NY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25sfoRiSDwE

Two weeks ago my vision to go to Africa began. I can’t believe it actually manifested itself. The funny thing about visions is that the more you see it and want it, the more the world works against you, but somehow with enough faith it manages to come true. The first day of my journey began in London. Here is an example of pure craziness.

We arrived to London at about 9:00 am (4am US time). Everyone was excited and awake. We left our bags at the Left Luggage in Heathrow Airport and immediately took the subway. Our flight to Nairobi, Kenya would not be till nighttime, so we had the entire day to explore. We went all the way downtown where we met the rest of the group. Twenty eight of us from all over the world were finally together for this 2 week mission project. As the group found a place to eat, I looked directly in front of me and saw Big Ben, the clock next to the river. It was such a cloudy day. The feeling of being in London did not hit me. I guess I have traveled to so many places, I take sites for granted. I saw how my friends fed the pigeons and a dozen flew our way. When they finished we began to walk. We had a whole city to explore. We laughed and took pictures of the funny taxis, the way people drove on the other side of the rode, and the way people were similar to those walking in NY (selling roasted peanuts, hot dogs, and showing their creativity through 2 minutes of drawing a caricature). After walking all over London we ended up in this small coffeeshop that had a Barnes and Nobles look. We decided to meet the entire group there since we had split up. I was cracking up because there were people in the group that really, really had to use the bathroom (if you know what I mean), but the bathroom did not flush. Lauren and I started writing a rap song to mock them and we were almost finished when it happened. Jen said she could not find her small purse where she had all her documents. This was not good. Here we were in London, waiting for half the group. It was 3:15 pm. It would take at least 45 minutes to get back to the Heathrow airport and we had to start boarding at 6:15 since our flight was at 7:15. Now we had to retrace all of our steps. The battle was on.

We went all the way back to where we first had lunch by Big Ben. In retrospect, it probably was not the smartest thing to do. We should have retraced our steps backwards. Since it was not in the expected location, we retraced the entire town, for a second time. This time it was only four of us on the mission. Since it was hot I decided to leave my backpack with Ken, the leader. I was not going to walk around London with my big backpack. I was on a mission and I was certain I would find her documents. There I was walking behind my three freshmen: the victim, her boyfriend and the best friend. For some odd reason I was ever so peaceful. We walked so fast, looked everywhere and asked everyone. I even prayed and tried to listen but all I heard was be still, be still Eliana. By the time we went around town one hour had passed and we had to think quick. The rest happened very quickly, like a movie. We met half the team by the main bridge, next to Big Ben. Bertrand, the Switzerland guy, was on the phone with Ken and said, “They are right here, we got them.” He told Jen she needs to hop on a taxi and go to the American Embassy where they will issue her a temporary passport. Ken would meet her and Angelika there. The only problem was they closed in 10 minutes and it would take one hour to get the passport. This is on top of the fact that we had to get the train to the airport and check in, all before 6:15. It was now 4:20 pm. Could a taxi make it all across town? Well, what usually takes 15 minutes without traffic took 45 minutes. The taxi driver said that there has not been so much traffic since 9/11. Something was definitely working against us. When they got there the place was closed and somehow they let them in. How they managed to get to the airport in time for the plane beats me. I was unaware of their side of the story. Meanwhile back to the group…

We all jumped on the subway and arrived to the airport. Everyone was there except Jen (the victim), Angelika ( the best friend) , and Ken ( the group leader). Everyone went through the gates and passed security, hoping to meet the others on the other side. There was one slight problem: I could not go through because Ken had my backpack, which held my passport. I could not board and boarding began in 10 minutes.

6:00 pm - Xavier decided to stay behind with me, since he wanted to see how Jen was doing. Moses, another participant also stayed because he had an international phone and we needed to call Ken. Praise God for these men.

6:15 pm - Moses looks at me and says we need a plan. He tells Xavier that if its 6:30 and we are not back to run to the gate and tell them not to close it because there are still people outside. Moses and I decided to go downstairs to the other building to wait by the Left Luggage. Ken left his bag there, so he had to pass by to pick up his bag. We waited and nothing happened.

6:30 pm - Moses looks at me and says: “I need to get on this plane. Take my phone and wait by the gate, good luck.” He ran back to the gate. “Did he just leave me here? Talk about being a Deliverer!” Here I was in London. No money. No identification and in my hand was a Blackberry. I was waiting for three people, one of which was the group leader who had my bag.

6:45 pm - Our plane would leave at 7:15 and everyone was on it but me. Ironically I felt peaceful. I left the gate. I walked down the hall, down the stairs, went outside and back in another building to the Left luggage with hopes that I would see Ken there, but nothing. I decided to call Ken one last time. There was one problem, the phone was locked. “Great, just what I needed.” I closed my eyes and told God that it did not matter. If it was his will that I stayed then that is fine. I was convinced I was staying. I was calm, yet I kept pacing back and forth.

7:00 pm - Suddenly the phone rang. Yes! It was Moses. The irony. He starts talking with a rushed voice. “Eliana where are you? You need to go back to the gate. Andrea is waiting for you.” Now I thought, “Who is Andrea, and why is she waiting for me?” He told me that everyone including Ken were on the plane. I thought about it and then a rush entered my body and I knew I was not staying behind. I ran the long hall way, out the building, went inside the other, up the stairs and then down another long hallway. Andrea was wearing red, she was a Virgin Atlantic Lady. As I ran I met her eyes. She nodded as if she knew who I was. She looked at me and said, “Follow me.” This was intense. She had my passport and I felt as if I was in an action movie. We skipped the line and went through this secret path. We walked quickly through hallways and back doors. Andrea’s phone rang and she was giving quick replies. Then she said, “Okay, she will run there.” She increased her pace, and I increased mine. I was not walking fast because if she was not in a rush, I did not need to be. I looked at her and asked her, “Are you flying with me?” and she smiled and said, “No.” At that point I knew I was by myself and I had to run! I started to jog. She gave me my passport and told me it was gate 26 in her British accent. “Great, five gates to go,” I thought. She waved and said, “Good luck.” All I could do was laugh. “Honey, I don’t operate by luck,” I thought. I ran as fast as I could. I was sweaty and smelly. My body was simply disgusting. I held a fruity umbrella in one hand, and a camera and Blackberry in the other. I turned so many times and once I saw Gate 24 I ran faster. All I could think about as I ran was, “Man, this would make a great blog.” Up ahead I saw one of those airport people movers only to find that it was broken. “Ugh, more running!” Finally I managed to see a security who was screaming, “Nairobi, Nairobi!” That was not my name, but it was my destination so I replied yes!!

7:25 pm - They got my boarding pass and I saw the faces of my team. They clapped and hugged me. Apparently they refused to go inside the plane till I was inside. And of course they had to wait. The attendants were not going to remove the luggage of 28 people. It would have taken them longer. Talk about solidarity. I wondered how Ken was there, and he told us how he lost his phone and had no idea he had my passport. We went inside and I was laughing. I was also sweaty beyond thought. I had no option but to take my shirt off and borrow one of Xavier’s. It’s funny. The reason I left my bag with Ken was to not sweat and be smelly.

It seemed that everyone had their own individual story. Talk about an icebreaker. Jen looked at me and smiled. It brought me comfort because I knew she had her passport and was feeling better. She sent me a quote that read: “Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” The irony. It was the same quote I gave the team one week before coming. Your own medicine sometimes heals you. That concluded our London adventure, a very wonderful beginning to a life changing trip. I learned one very important lesson from all of this craziness:

When in London, wear running sneakers and carry an ATM card.

It’s rare that the Chairman & CEO of JP Morgan Chase Jaime Dimon gives a public speech, but on Tuesday (July 8), he addressed the FDIC Mortgage Conference in Washington, DC. His topic was broad-based with the state of the financial markets and his overall economy as the focal points of his comments. The list of speakers at the conference was a who’s who, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

During his speech, Dimon expressed his concern about the tone in which some conservative members of Congress are addressing the immigration debate. In his speech, Dimon said, “Let’s not kill the golden goose.” He then went on to say, “I listen to some of our politicians speak, and I think they’re going to send ME back.” It was the only time he got some laughter and long applause in appreciation that some conservative members of Congress have gone too far with the immigration/deportation debate.

Dimon then added “we have to build a economy that is vibrant and healthy and some policies can destroy that . . . don’t destroy the beauty of this economy that could produce so much,” which was a message directed to those anti-immigrant members of Congress that immigrants are a source of growth for the U.S. economy.

His comments were very welcoming in my opinion as JP Morgan Chase recognizes the importance of immigration in the United States. His comments sparked a debate on CNBC, which is the official television network of Wall Street. Shortly after Dimon concluded his remarks, there was a short but clearly heated debate between CNBC contributor Charlie Gasparino and CNBC Anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. Gasparino thought that it was not a good speech by Dimon and added that he thought Dimon made a “crazy comment about immigration.” Caruso-Cabrera, feeling that Gasparino was injecting his own conservative views on immigration, cut him off to clarify and defend Dimon. It sparked an argument between Gasparino and Caruso-Cabrera. This is yet another example as to why it’s important that we have diversity in the broadcast media. Thankfully Caruso-Cabrera (who is Latina and was once named by Hispanic Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics” in the nation) set the record straight before a live national audience that Dimon’s stance on immigration is a positive one.

Even on Wall Street, the issue of immigration is a hot topic. I for one am thankful that the Chairman & CEO of the third largest banking institution in the United States understands the importance of immigration and it makes me feel proud to be a JP Morgan Chase customer. As a Wall Street financial analyst, it also gives me pleasure to see that we have anchors on CNBC such as Caruso-Cabrera who understand the positive of the immigration debate and will not allow contributors to inject their own politics into an objective economic debate.

To see some of the videos clips, visit http://www.cnbc.com/ and search “Dimon” and you will see some of the clips that I reference in this blog. Bravo to JP Morgan Chase President & CEO Jaime Dimon and bravo to CNBC Anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera.

One, “Oh hell no, you didn’t come to El Salvador and not drink at least one beer with your cousins. For that you might as well have stayed in the U.S., Yankee!”, seventy-five mosquito bites, more than a hundred jokes of which I was the punchline, one allergic reaction to a pupusa with pork, one incredible drunken night, one horrible hangover, one, “Did you kill yourself?” from Grandma, with a, “I think so” response from me. One, “Where the hell am I? Oh, I’m in El Salvador.” Two shrimp and oyster cocktails, two fried fish with rice and salad, two trips to the beach “Conchalio, Mirpon” and mini soccer game with Godfather. Twenty, “Damn you didn’t grow a bit, mijo!” from tias, tios and cousins. One family gathering that turned into two. One, “C’mon just stick your fingers down your throat and all this will be over!” One fainting incident. One, “I remember why I use to drink” moment, followed by, “I remember now, why I don’t drink!” moment. Twelve “refills” from my cousin, and dancer, to a resounding, “Yes” from me, “RE-Fill, RE-Fill, RE-Fill.” One, “Grandma used to kick my ass all the time, I don’t know what you are talking about” to a “You were the special one, no one ever touched you!” One, “I never spanked you” to “Oh yeah, I did, when you didn’t want to eat and use to jump the fence to go play futbol.” One, “I told you so.” One, “Damn grandma was a looker when she was young,” to an uncle’s response, “Yeah why do you think there were 13 of us?” To a cousin’s response, “No television.”

One, “A secret between two is of God, between three is of Satan,” while Grandma stared at me while I was in the room (insinuating I was Satan!). One, “Holy crap, are we in Hell?” Uncle, “We might be. Check if your grandma’s here!” One, “Mira hijo de P%&a, I’m not too old to pull your ears!” One, “So, you went to Mirpon and they said it was a good business day. Who drank all those beers?” With no choice but to tell the truth, my aunt, my two cousins, and myself, said, “Grandma drank all those beers tio; see, she was so lit, she was dancing Reggaeton!” (True story by the way, not that she drank all the beers, but that she was dancing Reggaeton).

One, “I was so hungry, because I didn’t eat on the plane, in the hopes that when I landed they would take me to Pollo Campero (El Salvador’s national fast food chain of chicken), but instead, they took me to Pizza Hut!” Uncle, “You were so set on Pollo Campero, that when they asked you if you wanted anything to eat, you said, ‘pio’.” One, “I have to let him win (my uncle in the game of soccer), but I don’t think he needs help, he can move for an old out of shape, beer gut guy.” One, “I heard that, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me old.” One, “Hey the lady with the bill is looking for you”; one, “How did she know I’m the one who’s going to pay?” Thirteen family members turn and look at grandma, “She told her.” Two unexpected farts from the old lady, which left me surprised. One room-clearing fart, which left my cousins saying, “Ese polvo esta fuerte!” One, (to my first cousin) “I can’t believe you had three years to find me a girlfriend and you failed.” One, (after hearing what I had to say, my young 12-year-old, second cousin went on her own to immediately find me a girlfriend) “Here tio, te presento a mi prima.” One, “I love you prima for being proactive.”

One, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is not the first time I’ve had a shotgun pointed at me.” One, “Don’t worry it’s not loaded, but it’s not meant for you, it’s for him.” One, “Huh? Well shotguns splatter, point it that way!” One, “Please don’t take pictures in here.” One, “I didn’t know, so can I take the bunny ears off then?”

One, “Wow, the women are so beautiful.” One, “Hey, I know I look good but why is everyone staring at me?” One, “They know you’re from El Norte, but they can’t figure out if you got deported or you’re here visiting.” One, “Hey do you mind if we go to the beach, pick up this lady, drive back, and then go eat?” One, “Do I have a choice?” “No.” “Then I guess I don’t mind.” One, “Hey I think the battery is dead.” One, “Ok, so what does that mean?” One, “Means we can’t go anywhere.” One, “Hell NO! I’ll buy you it and we’re good for the rest of the trip!” One, “Holy crap, I think I passed the Ruins of Tazumal.” Me, “How do you know?” Primo, “’Cause we’re five kilometers from Guatemala.” One, “We drove for two hours, almost ended up in Guatemala, and this S&*T is closed!????” Primo, cool, calm, and collected, “It does appear that way, oh well, what you going to do? Well, at least take a picture now that you’re here.”

One too many stories of the civil war and how my cousin was forced to kill himself because he had escaped an ambush by the guerillas; uncle was assassinated (by the military death squad). One story on how the FMLN targeted my other uncle. One story of how my aunt had to flee the country because the Military Death Squad was going to kill her and my cousins. Two stories on how my uncle became involved in the guerrilla movement. One story on how one of my uncles couldn’t leave the Police Station where he was, while the combat was two blocks from his house. One, “I can’t believe this, I never saw my two uncles together during the war.” One, “I don’t think I ever did either.” Two, “The good times we missed due to our country’s war.” One, “Holy crap, we were there!?” One, “Yeah, and you were chanting: ‘El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido.’ ” One, “I can see me saying that!” Two, “And you were only four.”

Airplane ticket, $753 plus tax; three nights clubbing, $300; two nights of family outings, $230; 30 pupusas in the total trip, about $10; 5 coconuts, $2.50; one long trip to Guatemala to ruins that were closed, $45; one incredible drinking binge for a day, $120; one car battery, $74; five Pollo Campero visits, $40; four bus rides, $2; two $24 cleats; one $10 watch; $60 worth of miscellaneous stuff for friends and family; countless war stories from both sides of the family and family-related stories; one ecstatic aunt; and one Reggaeton dancing old lady of 88 years of age that I like to call Grandma: “PRICELESS.”