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| Chirilagua: 100% Salvadoreño! Washington DC Invites You Their Little El Salvador. By Phalana Tiller About 3 miles south of the nation's capitol lies an intersection. An intersection of towns, and intersection of roads, an intersection of cultures. I lies where Arlington, Virginia meets Alexandria, Virginia, and just south of where Mount Vernon Avenue hits Glebe Road. It is also one of the many intersections where El Salvador has met the United States. Still know to most Northern Virginians and Washingtonians as "Arlandria", this strip of supermarkets, dressmaking shops, video stores and hair salons has transformed in the last five years or so into "Chirilagua". The neighborhood's general appearance has not changed much in the time. The inhabitants, however, seem to have changed. It is now a primarily bilingual, immigrant community. As one young resident explains it, the name Chirilagua is derived from the region in El Salvador where many of this community's new residents come from. The new name has also become a signifier in the local lexicon of those who really know the neighborhood and those who just drive through. One lifetime resident of Alexandria responded to a question about Chirilagua with, "oh, you mean Arlandria, yeah, i think I've played soccer down there. What are you going to write about, though? I mean, what is there to say about that strip? " This person has never walked the sidewalks of Chirilagua, and unbeknownst to him he is missing out on a growing part of his own hometown. ___________________________________________ The appearance of Spanish clearly draws a line Chirilagua certainly does stand out , even to those who only experience it from a car. it is impossible to miss the sudden inclusion of the Spanish language on storefronts, signs, and on the sides of buildings. the local Safeway supermarket promises "alimento" (food) and "medicamente" (drugs), and a banner on the side of an apartment building offers "un cuarto por $499" or pronounces that it is "abojo de nuevo management". One can easily find "pollo asado" on Mount Vernon Avenue now, or get laundry done at the "lavanderia". The appearance of Spanish clearly draws a line between this pocket of Salvadoran community and the surrounding sprawl of Washington's suburbs. Buttressed on one side by the soccer field at Four Mile Run park, with the contrasting images of pickup matches on warm afternoons and day-laborers working off the effects of intense exertion with beer and sleep, Chirilagua offers a quiet and slightly odd mixture of retailers peddling a vast range of goods and services. All along Mount Vernon Avenue are a number of cheap yet fine eating options with roots from all over the world. Although the most visible choices are Central American, one can also select from Vietnamese specialties at Saigon 54, frozen bananas covered in chocolate piled high in the freezer at the Latin market, Thai delicacies at a lovely restaurant, or perhaps a $2.95 lunch of vegetable soup and a grilled cheese sandwich at the Wafle Shop (and yes, it is spelled with on "f" and pronounced "way-fel"). Along with the Wafle Shop, RT's Restaurant stand s as a monument to the working middle class, mainly white and black residents who were previously the majority residents of Arlandria/Chirilagua, and who still live in surrounding neighborhoods like Del Rey. The greatest commodity on the street seems by far to be the numerous fashion boutiques such as "Tienda Sandrita - joyeria, ropa, zzapateria", (Sandrita's Shop/Boutique - jewelry, clothes, shoes) which stock anything from underwear to shoes to jackets to car decals to children's toys and jewelry. These shops also frequently offer dressmaking and alteration services, as well as advice on immigration processes and travel arrangements. Walking into a tienda is a little bit like walking through Alice's looking glass or through a Star Trek worm-hole. The world which lies beyond the doors is nothing like the generally quiet street outside. On one visit, cooler temperatures outside left the sidewalks relatively still. Inside one of the tiendas however, it was balmy and very much alive. The brightly colored clothes competed for attention with shiny gold jewelry and the huge selection of videotapes and CDs. ___________________________________________ Rather, we felt as though we had somehow been carried away In many of the tiendas the music collections are vast and amazing. Familiar Latino artists such as Selena and Luis Miguel feature prominently, while hundreds of other performers from all over Central America maintain a constant presence. In one tienda, the floating sounds of voices firing off in Spanish and the salsa music piping through the sound system, along with the moist heat from the overworked furnace added to the feeling that somehow passing through the entrance to the store hadn't simply brought us inside a store. Rather, we felt as though we had somehow been carried away to small village deep in the hills of El Salvador, and placed in the "anything-you-want-we-got-it" shop of that village. simply opening the door and stepping back onto the sidewalk takes you right back into the cold and gray of ta late winter day in Northern Virginia. Another element on the strip are the plentiful check cashing establishments which pepper the neighborhood. These businesses allow people to cash paychecks without having a back account or much legal documentation, and like many working class neighborhoods elsewhere, there is clearly a market in Chirilagua which utilizes and sustains such businesses. The Inspiration Temple Holiness church of God, which appears to be an Evangelical storefront church, exudes an air of mystery as it sits back with closed blinds alongside one of the many Chirilagua tiendas. The church's exterior gives away very little information about what kinds of services are held or who worships within its sanctuary. It remains unclear exactly what the Inspiration Temple is all about. Although many people speak of the area as Chirilagua, in only very few places can one actually find the name written. There is the "Chirilagua Unisex hair salon" right on Mount Vernon Avenue, and in one of the tiendas, there's a wonderful T-shirt with the words "Chirilagua, Alexandria, Virginia" in neon green and turquoise blue on the front and "100% Salvadoreño" across the back; a slogan one never sees in any of the souvenir shops of Alexandria's tony Old Town. Unlike many of the ethnic neighborhoods found in other, larger cities - the "Little Italys" or "Chinatowns" - Chirilagua has no entry archway or bilingual street signs to distinguish this area as home to people who are recent immigrants or first generation Americans. There are no tourist handbooks highlighting Chirilagua as one of the Washington area's must-see spots or tour buses making their way up and down the streets. Rather, Chirilagua is a simple, cozy neighborhood where people, from this and at least one other country, call home.
by Phalana Tiller
Born in Botswana, Southern Africa (and raised between there and Alexandria, Virginia), Phalana now lives between New York City and Johannesburg, South Africa. Besides contributing to UM as a writer and editor, she also works as a film and television actor. She can be seen in the upcoming comedy “Recipe for Disaster”; as a sometime VJ on M2; and co-starring in the South African sit-com “The Carruthers Brothers”. She thanks her sister Michaela for being an example of grace and an inspiration for excellence. This website: Copyright © 2000 Dream World Media / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. |
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