history of Salinas

8.26.10

The main highlight of the day was that I read a lot which felt good, good for the soul ya know? talked to Zeneida’s mom about the history of Salinas. It used to be a salt mining town, where the people filtered the land and used the salt (i’m terrible at remembering/understanding/explaining these things so bear with me). So the salt brought the people to Salinas and also it has access to the water where people can catch shrimp and fish as well. Zeneida’s mom talked about her parents living here and this is where she was born and raised her kids. She had 12 kids total, but a couple of them died, and she also semi-adopted a couple as well because there was a woman she knew who didn’t have the means to raise her kids, so the family took them in. It was a great conversation because I don’t know her very well but it was cool that she shared a little bit of her family’s history with me. Then there was a meeting at the school that I went to with Zeneida and there was another man there from ERA (Escuela Revolucion Agraria), a school with the Department of Agriculture or something. He’ll be coming her twice a week, Weds and Thurs for a few hours to give seminars and help the people learn how to cultivate the land to improve the look of the town and increase production of agriculture. I was also reintroduced to the people at the meeting and talked about the census and evaluation of the town over the next few months. Afterwards a few of us stayed and there is a growing concern that the jovenes/youth are involved in delinquent behaviors, drugs, theft, etc. In the end the adults want to organize a marcha against this behavior and present the jovenes with an opportunity to work together to find other solutions to working or getting involved in something else more positive.