One more entry for the year

Alright, I figured I would write one more entry before the holidays.

This week went incredibly slow...incredibly. Probably cause I´ve been counting the days...but that is besides the point.

Yesterday we had our office party. I´m not sure what type of meat i ate, they weren´t sure either. Then they figured it out and told me, but I still have no idea what I ate, but it was good. All the employees got different gift baskets donated from buisness the alcaldia works with. I was excited to get a new guacal (kinda like a big plastic bowl that you use for everything down here) and some free food. I´m all about the free food. Otherwise, everyone just kinda chilled and chatted. After the giveaways, a bunch of people made a break for it. I stayed. It´s fun seeing the office crew get a little hammered and then start to dance. I got back home around 5:30ish.

That brings me to today. I´m packing up everything. Iris helped me wrap your gift Aunt Ann....unfortuanly the word gaudy hasn´t entered into their vocabulary. Man is it ugly. I´m hoping they force me to open it in costums.

Otherwise, for your information, I´ll be spending Christmas Eve at Iris´s house opening preseants, drinking and eating (but not turkey...she sold the Christmas turkey). I´ll then spend Christmas Day at the beach...it´s tradition down here. Get some last minute color before shipping out.

Well...Love you all and have a wonderful Christmas!

Love

Your favorite Peace Corps Volunteer

I did it all by myself!

Hmm….where should I begin? Let’s go with Sunday. We had our second tourism event, but it was a little bit of a bust. Only one bus showed up from Sonsonate, but another bus, one from San Salvador randomly showed up…it was kinda weird. Anyhow, I volunteered along with Jessica (another muchacha in the town) to escort our visitors to the waterfalls. Unfortunately, the buses could only take us about half way. A – because they can’t make it underneath one of the water pipes and B – there is no where for them to turn around once they get there. The road is just to narrow. So, we hiked it for about a half hour to get there. I got stuck talking to a nice guy who found out I don´t like it when people use my name as a catcall. So, first I had to listen to how it was a compliment and then about how I needed to develop patience. That went over well. Though, a quick side note. Not all catcalls or staring annoys me. At the last birthday party I went to, I was sitting in one chair and a boy in a few over. His parents told him to move down and when I smiled at him this huge grin came across his face. The other funny time was when I was walking to work and some guy was eating breakfast. I said ´buen provecho´ (kinda means enjoy) and he responded with a surprised look to see me there and then mamasota (hottie). Like, that was all that could come to his mind at the sight of me. hehehe

After all the fun of the waterfalls, I went to the soccer tournament. Two fights almost broke out, but that was because they were during the later part of the day…..after everyone has been drinking. But overall, it was a nice day.

During the week, el jefe (the boss) came out for a site visit. He was just making sure the house I had chosen was safe and met Peace Corps standards, which it does encase you were wondering. It was really sweet since I got a free lunch out of the deal! $2 I can use for something else. I did offer him some magic bars…but he has some policy against robbing volunteers of food. What a nice guy.

Now, for what I did all by myself….or at least some of it. There is a program call the World Computer Exchange. Basically, companies in the US donate their old computers to this organization. The WCE then cleans them up and ´sells´ them to organizations like ours. The truth is we pay about $70 – the cost of shipping. So, with the help of my counterpart, I organized a meeting with the directors of the schools. Three showed up this past Wednesday and I presented and explained the program all by myself. Score! They all seemed interested and we’re going to meet up in January to fill out the application.

Then on Friday, I had a little arts and crafts time with the kids at the Casa de Cultura (culture house). Myra (Sonia´s daughter) helped me out big time. We made this clay like substance from salt and flour that hardens when left out. So, the kids formed it into whatever shapes they wanted, decorated with markers and then I laced some thread through so they can hang them when they are dry. It was fun and they were asking when the next time we could do it was. I’m not sure, but I’m not opposed. Hell, the entire thing cost me less then $3!

The rest of the weekend was spent getting diagnosed with two stomach ailments...errr... and watching the soccer tournament. The Mayor´s team lost, it was a shocking blow. Alright time to go......6 days till Belgium!

In Service Training

So, after about 3 months in your site, the Peace Corps training facility holds a little get together for the group. This is called in service training. I got to have some more spanish classes...i think this is the first time in my life that I actually looked foward to having spanish class...and more technical training.

I arrived on Tuesday and stayed with my host family on Tuesday and Wednesday night. I don't know what it is, but whenever I step into that community my stomach rumbles. No, i'm not sick....but I think my stomach just has a bad association. It wasn't bad since I was only really there at night after my training sessions. Again my host bro was like...gonna stay for 15 days right? And I was like, I can't even stand staying in the same house as my family for 15 days let alone you guys. But, it was nice to see them and I did get plenty of ice cream. That stuff is good. I did bring them a big piece of pottery meant to hold water. It keeps it cooler then the plastic containers. No, I will not be bringing one of those for christmas so you can all give a sigh of relief. And they treated me very well as always and gave me a Christmas presant as I was heading out. I think they were surprised by how much spanish I was speaking. That was fun.

Thursday I spent in San Vicente in the hotel with the other volunteers. It was just a nice night of chatting and eating the local food. I don't know why I'm so adventurious when eating some of this stuff cause it clearly can and does get me sick, but it can be sooo good. There are these things called pannes (again..misspelled) that are bread...kinda like little loaves, cut open with coleslaw (a form of), chicken, veggies, mayo, some kind of sauce...just good stuff.

The actually training sessions were pretty helpful. As mentioned above, spanish class was a welcomed advantage. My english class students thought it was funny I was going to spanish class. Otherwise, they talked about soliciting funds for projects and the amount of work that is incorporated in that. Others talked about mental health and the stages we go through. I think I'm out of the 'ohh shit' stage and heading into the 'bummed but hopeful' stage. It's really technical. I also got my flu shot...that stuff hurts.

After all that fun, I took a lazy Friday morning and got into San Salvador (the capitol) around lunch time. I then did dress shopping for Aunt Ann's wedding. The best part was that I dragged my friend Carl around with me to do it. The poor guy. If the dress part wasn't bad enough, he also had to hang for me shopping for heels. But, the dress is hot and so are the heels. Now if only I could find the right accessory........

Now, I'm just hanging in the Peace Corps office. I was gonna go tan by the pool, but of course today is the only cloudy day of the week. So, I'll probably just had back to my site early and continue counting the days till family! (18)

I didn´t crash this one

During the week I got to run over to Yuayua for a night to meet up with some other volunteers and Bryan Dwyer (the boss). It is really beautiful up there. Nice, clean and cool (weather wise). It is more of a tourist destination. And the pupusas were phenomenal. I think I’ll take people there if they visit me. It apparently has a food festival in the park every Sunday where you can get a plate full of delicious sea food for $5-6. Anyhow, we just met up to have a small meeting and catch up with everyone. It was nice to hear that others were having the same difficulties as I was. It was also nice that the boss uncorked several bottles of wine. Though, during the middle of the meeting Sonia called me to harass me and to ask me where I was for La Fea (my soap opera…which I am completely hooked on…it’s sooo good right now). It was actually quite funny.

That brings me to Friday and Saturday….both days I spent the majority of my time in my house. Why? My refrigerator. I got a new one!! I went Saturday to the store and sat there till they said the repair guy was coming and he would give me a lift back to my house and take a look at the fridge. He looked at it and was like…want a new one? I said yes. Though, they were a little shady about it. The guys came with the new one but transferred all my shelving and brackets from inside the old fridge to the new fridge and put all the new stuff in my old fridge. I think they are going to repair it and sell it as new. I think I also figured out why my old fridge died. The socket it was plugged into no longer works. I think when the socket died it took the fridge with it in a blaze of glory.

The tournament went smoothly on Sunday. Not much to report in that area, but Sunday night I went to a quince añera.

This was my second quince añera…but this one I was actually invited to. I think they thought that I was gonna crash it anyway so they might as well give me an invitation. Either way, it was nice to get my own little invitation with my name on it. I got her earrings. My box was by far the smallest, but size doesn’t matter…right? I went and ate (love free food) and hung around. During the few minutes the music died, Jenny, David, PJ and Dana gave me a call. (I hope I spelled Dana’s name right). It was really quite miraculous they called when they did. Though after a while I had to hang up since the music was on and in full blast. Of course, two second after I hung up they turned down the music. Figures.

So, that’s about all for now. I’m counting down the days till Aunt Ann’s wedding and seeing family.

From turkey to cows

So, Thanksgiving rolled around and I made my way to Stephen’s site for the festivities. It turned out to be just him, Carl and I celebrating there. We enjoyed chilli with pan frances (white bread) and our drink of choice. I went with wine, Stephen with liquor and Carl with beer. We skipped the whole turkey thing. It turned out to be a quite night, I crashed early…wine does that to me. I shouldn’t say it was too quite, Stephen’s site was starting their patron saint festivities…..they start at 4am with a town wake up call. They blare loud music and walk through the streets announcing the day’s schedule.

After waking up late on Friday, we made our way to a Peace Corps soccer game in Jayaque (that is totally misspelled), Nathan’s site. Only, we got there so late that after an hour and a half, I had to hop back on the bus to get back to my pueblo before the last bus left and it got too dark. Still, it was nice to see other volunteers and talk for at least a little bit. That night I crashed. It fact the power went out and I didn’t know it till the next day when somebody told me.

Saturday I slept late…it was sweet. When I eventually did get up, I managed to clean about half my house. And it was in need of it. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this, but we switched seasons down here. It happened on Monday? They call this summer…even though it’s cooler now….I call it the windy season. (side note: the wind down here is called norte or north since it comes down from the north) The wind started and stayed for three days…it was impressive. I thought the roof was gonna come off my house or at least my patio. Stephen called it the rapture…a tree was snapped in half in his backyard and his turtles have gone missing. Anyhow this relates to cleaning my house in the following – the wind gets so strong that it shakes the house and all the dust that has accumulated on the ceiling/roof comes falling down in chunks and coats everything. It is really quite disgusting. So, one has to clean everything. In the afternoon I went with Lito (husband of Iris) to Iris’s parent’s house. She was already there; she had left earlier…before I was willing to get out of bed. It was a nice afternoon in the countryside. We visited two of her old friends who had just recently had babies. Had lunch (I apparently eat shrimp now) and just relaxed. I also hopped on a horse for two seconds…they were a nice two seconds. That night we went to a vela (when someone dies, the family hosts visitors that night and offers coffee and tamales…a local food. People come to show their respect and many stay till all hours of the morning) of a local whom had just passed away. Actually, there was a rumor that he passed away last week and then it was corrected. So, when they told me he passed away I asked if they were sure, they were. Iris and I just went to drop off some flowers, Sonia stayed till 1 or 2am.

That takes us to Sunday and the soccer tournament. If I accidentally switch from soccer to futbol, please forgive me…it’s just what it is called down here. I got up and went down to the field at 7:30am, the appointed meeting time…so naturally I didn’t meet up with anyone till 8ish….Heidy came down. She and I then walked up with to the Alcaldia to grab stuff for the tournament and ask for other stuff to be brought down. Louise Ernesto arrived and got the sound system. After all this it was 8:30am by the time we got back to the field. The first thing I noticed when we got back was not the people…but the heard of cattle that had come and was now grazing in the middle of the field. I laughed and cursed myself for not bringing my camera. It took about an half an hour to set up the sound system and get everyone ready. During this time both Heidy and I received numerous cat calls…which was a little bit surprising considering the hour and the fact that we were there with Louise Ernesto. The teams present took an oath and then I got the honour of the first kick….kinda like throwing out the first pitch…and I did score. I’m awesome! It was a nice morning of mariachi music, soccer and a nice breeze…with the occasional cow running through the middle of the field. The game was stopped when all the cows ran through the field to get to the other field…guess the grass was greener. He he he. The tournament lasted all day and will continue for the next couple of Sundays. During the middle of it, it was decided that I should go with Don Justo (mayor) to Sonsonate. I was really confused and didn’t really want to go…since usually trips with Don Justo end with me coming home later then I wanted to and/or drinking too much beer. But, finally they got me to go. Once I got in the car Don Justo explained to me why I was sent. Apparently, he promised everyone that he would be back by 1:30pm to watch his team…but nobody believed him. So, they told him to take me because if I was with him he would have to come back. Not quite in my job description, but I got a free lunch out of the deal at Pollo Campero (kinda like KFC)…who am I to complain. That evening I finished cleaning up and went to bed early….I’m still tired.

And, alas, still no luck with getting my fridge fixed. I’ll have to go bitch and complain as best as I can again this week.

And then the President came…..

Over the weekend I managed to find my way to my third jaripeo or rodeo if you will. I think it was by the same company that did the one in San Rafael Cedros. It was actually quite nice….a little warm, but nice. We arrived a little late (we being Don Justo, Sonia and assorted others whom I do not know) (we were late because we went to pick up all the aforementioned others), so we had to sit in the sun the entire time. Yup, I’m a little red. But, on the bright side I got treated to everything...such as food, beer and the rodeo itself. I didn’t actually want beer because of the sun, but once someone knows that you actually drink it, it is impossible to get them to stop buying it for you. I know, it doesn’t sound like a problem…but the beer down here is weak. Sonia also didn’t want to drink, but got suckered into it as well. Thank God she came, or else I wouldn’t have known anyone. Originally Heidy was suppose to come, but she couldn’t make it out. It was all good until the end…as happens so often in life. A guy by the name of Carlos and I had been talking for most of the rodeo and he gave Sonia and I a lift back to the pueblo (Don Justo was going to Sonsonate to hang out more and we weren’t in the mood). During the entire ride back he asked me if he could help me to get to know the country during the weekends. He could take me to the beach, mountains…a hotel….his house. He’s a professional and I’m a professional so obviously everything would be ok. Right….Sonia helped me out at the end by saying that I lived with her and I managed to not give him my cell phone number.

Anyhow, that brings us to Monday and the President (of El Salvador), Tony Saca. The federal government here is instituting a new program call Red Solidaria. It’s a program located in the poorest municipalities of the country (which my municipality is part of) and they give money to poor families based on the number of children they have. In return for the money, the kids must go to school, receive all their vaccinations, and go to the doctors when needed. For example, if they miss school for health reasons they must provide a note from a doctor verifying this. So, in order to initial the program in my municipality…the President came! It was really quite cool. The town was cleaned up and painted (unfortunately, mostly in the colours of ARENA...the political party. They even painted the library their colours!) They helicoptered him to the cancha (soccer field), which was just cleaned, and the drove him over to our little pueblo. PJ, you will be please to know he was driven in a Toyota Land Cruiser. I took a pic. They did all the usual pomp and circumstance…the band played beautifully…..and everyone went through their perspective speeches. During all this, people lined up to receive their first payment. I helped hand out sandwiches and juice. Within an hour the whole shebang was over. It was cool to see….through I am disappointed I didn’t get to take a picture of him up close or with him……but there is always photo shop!! The nice part was after it all, the Alcaldia closed for the day. Nothing like an afternoon nap.

Una maestra de ingles (an english teacher)

I am a terrible teacher. Terrible. They sit there and stare at me. I hate being stared at. Alright, that was the first class, the second class was better. On Monday (the first class) I started with the alphabet and didn’t really know where to go from there. After you go through the alphabet twice with words, sounds and all….what do you do? I went through some phrases and then the class was over….it was a little short. Wednesday’s class was better, but still short. I’m using Wed classes to review Monday’s class. I made up a quiz consisting of matching the letter to the sound, small translations and answering simple questions….I then split them into three groups and made it a competition! It was awesome. I brought chocolate as the grand prize. They all had a good time. But I really have to try to extend the class time…maybe that will happen naturally as the material gets harder. I think for next week’s numbers we’ll play bingo.

Nada Mucho

Not too much to report this week. Over the weekend I checked out a pupusa festival since it was the national día de las pupusas. A pupusa, in case you are wondering, is a corn tortilla stuffed with beans (refried variety), cheese, pork or a combo of the aforementioned. They are usually served with a tomato salsa and cortijo (not sure if that is the proper spelling). Cortijo is kinda like coleslaw, but not really.

Anyway, it was up at Rachael’s site…so we hung out. She gave me brownies! She so good. And then we went to a correo de cintas. I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but if you’ve forgotten, it is when they string a line across a dirt road and put a piece a fabric with a loop at the end on the line. Guys then charge at the line on horseback with a small stick (kinda like a chopstick) and attempt to catch the loop with the stick. It’s actually impressive to see when they catch it. Otherwise, it’s just guys playing around on horseback.

I also went to a training with Olivia about environmental stuff. She is the environmental person within the Alcaldia, it’s a new position. I got up at 4:30am to go to this training….when did we leave? 6:30 am. I won’t go into it, just know that was a little frustrating. The training itself was tiring. I was able to follow most of what the presenter was saying, but I didn’t catch the jokes…and there were a lot of jokes. He used slang and double meanings for words that I don’t know in the first place. But, it was at the Holiday Inn and the food was well worth it. We had a three course lunch that consisted of a wonderful salad (laugh away Jenny), a nice beef main course and a dessert. The dessert wasn’t all that fabulous. But the snack at 3 was divine!

On a sadder note, this past weekend my refrigerator decided it no longer wanted to work. I miss it terribly, but am thankful that it is under a three year warranty. YEY! The only problem is I don’t know when they are going to get out here to fix it. Errrr….

General Stuff

Ant bites hurt. They´re not like mosquitos. Mosquitos bite and then run, ants just hold on and wait for you to kill them. And their bit just plain hurts.

I have a colony of ants I allow to live because we have an informal agreement (informal because they obviously don´t know about it and are kept in check by me) that they stay on one side of the pila and can eat what they find in the trash and in the pila....nothing else. So, when a second colony showed up, they were killed off because they dis-obeyed the aforementioned rules of the game.

On a different note, I am completely addicted to La Fea Mas Bella or Ugly Betty for you folks up in the good ol´ US of A. It´s kinda sad how addicted I really am, I have to watch it every night and if my ususal place isn´t avaible, I hunt down another.

Then there is Iris. Iris and I are hanging out every day and it is my go to spot for when I´m bored or lonely. She´s awesome. We talk, dance, and occasionally cook with disasterious results (I failed to buy the proper flour for the pizza crust.....). I think I´ll be spending Christmas Eve with her. We´re going to cook and chill...hopefully without disasterious results.

Speaking of Christmas...the town hall is all decorated. I was kinda sad when they started, but then I got up and started to help....it made me feel better. It´s kinda wierd to think of Christmas in 80 degree + weather. But, I´ll manage. We originally put ribbon around some of the desks of people... when I walked in this morning they were taking it down. I thought the grinch and come to town and told them to take it down...but a girl was just taking it home to iron it. It is really wrinkly or maybe that is just an excuse and they didn´t like the design.....only time will tell.

Alright...that about all for now. Later!

Shakira

That’s right, I went to see Shakira in El Salvador on November 6th and it was awesome!

My fun started on Sunday when I got my ass on a bus and went to the capitol. Of course I chatted with Rachael the entire way since she was going with me. We hopped off the bus and went for the office…or at least I did, Rachael never made it past Shaws (Shaws is a restaurant/café hang out with free wireless internet), probably because she brought her laptop with her. After a quick run to the office to drop off books and use the internet, I was back at Shaws for lunch. They had a nice chicken pot pie. The crust was more doughy then flaky…but I can handle it. Then it was then time to go to the pool! The Sheraton Presidente allows Peace Corps volunteers to use the gym, lockers and pool. So, I lied down and bathed by a beautiful big pool. It was wonderful. We also got to see the doors to the room where Shakira was staying! Wow, that sounds a little pathetic...but it was cool at the time.

It was then off to the Estancia for dinner and relaxing. The Estancia is a hostel down here that all volunteers used…and it was packed. It was almost full Sunday night, but for Monday night there was no room. I mean even the couches were reserved. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Sunday night was just spent eating pizza, watching a movie (paradise now. It's about a suicide bomber…it was actually quite interesting, I recommend it), and just chatting.

Monday…what a beautiful day. I got up lazily and had my normal in capitol breakfast of a doughnut and a V8 fruit splash (I like to think of it as a balanced meal). I spend the day mostly with Christina (another new muni). We started off with the aforementioned breakfast, then moved onto shopping (I found a yoga matt! And she got her gaudy gold earrings) and then finally back to that beautiful pool. What can I say, it was sweet to just bask on one of the cushioned beach chairs (the type you can lie down on – I forget their name…I’m losing English vocabulary as I gain Spanish vocab).

After all that we headed back to the Estancia to get ready for el concierto de Shakira! I swear I have never seen so many volunteers in one spot. Some of us headed out at around 6 to go wait in line. Thank God I picked up some dinner along the way. That line did not move and I think it was because of all the people cutting in. Not that I can criticize cause we allowed quite a few volunteers to cut in line. We finally got in a little after 8:30. The opening act was a dj who just spun techno the entire time. It wasn’t bad, but a little weak. Shakira finally made it to the stage at around 9:20ish? She was great and mixed up her new stuff with her old stuff. The way she dances made all the girls jealous and the boys crazy. My two favourite songs she saved for last as an on chore. People don’t scream here as they should for on chores…though occasionally a bunch started in with ´otra!´ which means another in this instance. Still, she did come out and it was great. After the concert a bunch of us met up at Wendy´s (we somehow got separated into groups once we entered the stadium…imagine that). I love midnight frosties. Then it was time for bed…I have an early bed time here.

Tuesday was a long day of travelling. I had my breakfast…hmm…doughnuts, and went to the office. I dropped off forms and headed to shaws. It turns out Shaws has english muffins….an essential ingredient in english muffin pizzas. I then hopped on the bus and got my butt home for a meeting and softball….both of which got rained out. All well!

Halloween

It was off to celebrate Halloween this past weekend in San Vicente…home of the trainees (even though no trainee attended). I got going Saturday morning after a quick visit to Rachael’s site…she seemed to need a visit. Some garbage project in need of more help. I was initially supposed to stay and help with a garbage pickup, but she could tell I really didn’t want to be there, so she let me go. Yey!

After about 4 ½ hours of bussing fun, I finally arrived in San Vicente and promptly checked into the wrong hotel. Apparently I never got the memo about the switch. After I found out about the switch I was able to get my money back and move to the proper hotel. It was then time to eat! San Vicente just happened to be having a food festival in the park. So, I met up with two other volunteers that had arrived and chowed down on some local cuisine. I must say, the goat roasting away was disturbing…it still had it's head and eyes. Ewww. But, the food was great (It's kinda funny how I know crave some local food, like the tortillas…but I’m not quite doing the whole beans thing yet.) and we chilled with a Salvadorian friend, he is the owner of the bar where we had the party. After that it was off to walk around town and find an internet place with Stephanie. All of them were closed…but we only found this out after walking in the rain for about ½ an hour. We then walked to the bar in the rain (why not, we were already soaked) in order to help set up for the party. Nobody was at the bar yet to let us in…so we stood there until some nice Salvadorans let us wait in their house…away from the rain. They even gave us towels to dry off with and clean our glasses. Once the other volunteers and the bar owner came, we just talked and carved watermelons! They came out awesome and it was mad fun to do. I might carve one for Halloween. Then it was to the hotel…finally…to get ready for the party. Since I had been carrying my backpack with me during the day, it to was soaked along with pretty much all my stuff. But my costume wasn’t to badly damaged and so I got ready.

After getting ready, we headed back to the bar, finished up the preparations and then went back to the park to hunt down some dinner. I have to remember that down here things with names from taco bell aren’t what is cooked at taco bell. But, again I was please with what I found. We also picked up some snacks and liquor at the local supermarket. The owner of the bar didn’t really have liquor stocked, mostly just beer, so he said we could bring our own. Which was cool of him. Then the party started.

Everyone just started showing up at the bar, though in the end there weren’t too many of us. I was a schoolgirl this Halloween and even got my outfit from a real schoolgirl. Others were a butterfly, a tick, a punker, a muumuu (think homer simpson), black eyed peas (literally, girls with black eyes and P´s taped to their shirts) and just random things. Two of the guys shaved their heads into Mohawks. But, some of the ladies forgot their costumes on the bus and so we had some normally dressed people as well. It was great to see everyone and we just hung around and talked for most of the night. I enjoyed seeing everyone, getting out of my site and speaking English. During the party there were some down points. The first being that the person who was suppose to buy my Shakira ticket either did and gave it away or never bought it…so now I have to hunt one down. The second thing being that along with the volunteers were a bunch of unknown Salvadorans. That sounds so wrong, but it is only because we know the owner and were cool with the owner´s friends, but others showed up that neither us nor the owner knew…so, by the end of the night my little money thing went missing along with the $30 inside of it. I was a little peeved. But, another girl had her digital camera stolen…so I guess I was lucky. I was mostly mad at myself for letting my bag out of my site. But, friends took pity on me and bought me a few beers.

So, after the party we headed back to the hotel at around 1:30ish or earlier. Now, my Irish/German blood lines are wasted on me because no matter how little I drink I always feel ill afterward. So, at about 4am my stomach decided it was time for me to wake up and spend the rest of the night awake. That made me pretty miserable for Sunday’s trip back to my site. Which I had to do in semi wet jeans. I had only brought one pair of jeans and they got soaked the day before in the rain and didn’t have time to fully dry over night. The bright side was I got some reading done.

I did make a quick stop into the main office on my trip back to my site. I was a good little citizen and mailed my absentee ballot from the office on Sunday. The office can send these things via the embassy and their mail is quicker then regular mail…so I’m hopeful it will arrive on time. Though, I must say it looked like hell after spending the weekend in my backpack, but I think it’ll still count.

Dia de los Muertos

Or ¨Day of the Dead¨ is a Latin American holiday celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of November. During these days, family members of the deceased go to the cemetary and take care of the graves of their loved ones. They clean and repaint the headstones, sweep the grave (if it is covered in cement or tile) or reform the dirt mound, and then finally decorate it with flowers and candles. The 1st of the month is ususally in remeberance of children and the 2nd for adults.

I went with Iris, Rafael, and other family members up to the cemetary. It was almost festive with people decorating, selling food and drinks. Iris went to decorate the graves of Niña Chella´s parents (I don´t know how to spell her name, but Iris´s mother in law), a sibling of Don Justo and the brother of Rafael (Rafael is her husband, son of Don Justo the Mayor). Apparently he was a twin, but the brother died several days after they were born.

The cemetary itself was very different. There seemed to be graves everywhere (yes, I am aware of what a cemetary is). It was just a little more disorganized and I hated the feeling of stepping on someone´s grave. But, it was also more cared after and you could see the old flowers from previous visits along side fresh flowers.

In all we were only there for about a 1/2 an hour, but it was nice. Iris was surprised that we don´t have an equivilant holiday up in the United States....I think I´ll have to agree with her on this one.

Anywho, that´s all for now.

…and bring the mariachi band

So, after returning from San Rafael Cedros on Saturday, we had a tourism event in town on Sunday. It wasn’t quite what I expected….

The event was planned to start at about 10am, so of course nobody started getting ready till about 9:30 – 9:45ish. There was plenty of people selling food, but only one artesian was there selling at a table. I’m not sure if others didn’t want to come or just weren’t invited. There was also one woman selling shots; her table was busy the entire time. The youth group was selling soda, but never really got to sell much. It weather wasn’t warm enough and people were to too busy with the aforementioned beverage lady.

About three buses came full of people, right on time. (That actually surprised me, things here don’t normally occur on time or anywhere near any sort of time) The Mayor greeted everyone and then the Mariachi band started playing. During this time is when people started to look around, buy food and such.

After about a half an hour or so, the buses loaded up to take the people to the waterfalls. Now, to get to the waterfalls you have to use a road that actually goes beneath a river. Not far beneath it, only a few inches, but still. And usually there is a pedestrian bridge. But, at that point in time, the pedestrian bridge (the actually metal part that sits on top of the cement blocks) was being repaired and thus laid on the road. This blocked the road so that the buses couldn’t pass. So, the buses and everyone on them, had to turn around (or back up as it were…the road is small so the buses had to back up a ways to find another road to turn on to). By then it started to rain, so the buses just took the people to the next destination.

But, since the mariachi band was paid to play for two hours, they just continued to play in the park when there was about five people there…it was great. By this time my Mayor had invited me to join him and a few others for lunch. I figured, what the hell! I could go for a free lunch out. When will I realize that things are never going to be the way I picture them to be.

Since the mariachi band still had time left to kill on the contract and had some spare time in the afternoon, the Mayor invited them to join us for lunch. So, we (Heidi, Mayor man, three other guys and I) pilled into a few pick-ups, bought some lunch and beers and made our way out to a canton to some guys house. (I was later to learn that the guy we visited is the ex-husband of Sonia…..he left her for a younger woman. Ass) The mariachi band faithfully followed and serenaded us for at least an hour or two while all the guys proceeded to drink to their hearts content. I didn’t drink to much since A-I was with 6 middle aged men and B- I’m on medication and try not to mix drugs. I usually shifted between going inside and watching the soccer game (Go Real Madrid!) and sitting outside to listen to the mariachis sing. I also just sat there and wondered how I ever get myself into these things.

By about 5:30pm they were all very happy and I was tired. They were talking about politics and other stuff that I didn’t fully understand and couldn’t really comment on. (I try not to talk about local politics as much as possible so nobody can claim I’m on their side) Eventually, when it was getting dark, they decided to go to Sonsonate to continue the party. Heidi and I bailed with the promise to join them some other time.

I then just went and watched Spirit with Iris….I do enjoy a good Disney movie every once and a while.

Las Festivales Patronales de San Rafael Cedros

On Thursday (that’s the 19th of October), I went and visited my old host family in San Rafael Cedros for a few days during their Patron Saint Festivals. This entailed a total of four buses (each way), a day and a half with the fam, and me suppressing my fidgeting…but I did it, and all by myself!

The bus from Sonsonate to San Salvador was a little harsh. My stomach wasn’t feeling well and decided to let me know it….it’s amazing how long you can hold it when the only other option is getting off somewhere unknown by you in El Salvador. It's not like getting on the next bus is always the easiest thing and you never know the local conditions.

After all that fun, I finally landed in San Rafael at about 2pm. Yes, everyone was sooo excited to see me and that was a nice feeling. They fed me ice cream right away and asked what I had been up to for the last two months. My host mom and I then went off to the rodeo…which ended up starting late, so we checked out the local high schools science fair. I swear, they had one of the coolest science fairs cause they could get away with doing stuff that would never be acceptable in the good ol´ US of A. For instance, some students…in order to demonstrate a tornado…lit some paper on fire and them put it into a box that somehow formed a tornado that you could see through the font of the box (front was made of see through plastic). I didn’t see how precisely it worked since I was fixated on the fact that they were burning stuff. Other displays included stuff about English…so of course when all the students in English class saw me they had to practice their English. It was fun and I tried to speak slowly for the students. Though, I think my favourite was the display on alcohol….mostly because I believe they were brewing moonshine right there. It smelt like alcohol and my host mom even downed some. Coolest science fair ever!

Next we watched the parade of horses go by. They originally accompanied the Queen of the Barrio Con-something or other on her parade around the town, but were now on their way to the rodeo. So we followed them over and settled in to watch the fun. It was a good rodeo except for the fact that everything took so long. They started at around 6pm, which is sorta late around here. And it was around 10 -15 minutes between every 6 sec bull ride. But, at least the bulls were actually bulls this time and not just one’s pulled from local barns. The best part of it was in the middle of the program when the mariachi singers came out with some of the horses. Unbeknownst to me, there are actual riders who train show horses here. These horses were doing the different moves like extending their front legs as they trotted or trotting in place. Their best trick was doing the whole Zorro move. That’s right…they went full upright on their hind legs. It was pretty damn cool.

After all that, we went and grabbed dinner (pizza! Bad pizza, but still pizza!). We met up with Rosie and Marleny. This was great; cause out of everyone I missed Rosie the most. We then checked out the next parade with the Queen of the Barrio. They really celebrate their queens here. Before her was a band, fireworks and baton twirlers. And she was crowned by the Mayor in front of Town Hall. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this, but it is my goal to be crowned queen of something down here. It shouldn’t be to hard, they have queens down here for everything. I’m talking queen of the barrio (sorry, barrio is neighbourhood), queen of the police, queen of the casa de cultura, queen of festivals, queen of ….well, you get the point. Any who, we watched her crowning and then went and got changed for the dance. I didn’t get changed because nobody told me there was going to be a dance. So, while I waited for everyone else to get ready, my host mother tried to get me to put on some of her make-up and use lotion and all that jazz. I politely declined. I hate it when she tries to do that, though I know it's part of the culture to always look nice. The dance itself wasn’t to bad…just a little empty. That might be due to the fact that the dj felt the desire to speak during the music every two seconds…I was about ready to kill him. My first dance partner was a guy that accompanied a friend of Rosie. He was drunk and can’t say I enjoyed his company. But eventually he ran off and I danced with a guy I knew from my time during training. He was cool. He use to call me gordita (little fat girl), apparently I’ve lost enough weight to lose the title as well. We left the party around 1:30am. This was fine by me since by this time I was tired.

So, of course, since my stomach doesn’t care when I’m tired, it decided to wake me up at around 4:30am…how nice. During this visit I shared a room with the host mom, so she knew I was getting up. I told her later in the morning it was due to all the greasy food I had the day before and not that I was sick. I then told her I was going to San Vicente to visit a friend there. That was a lie, I went and got diagnosed with another stomach aliment. It was funny, because they gave me pills and for the rest of my time with the host fam I took them secretly so they wouldn’t feel bad that I was sick again. Somehow popping pills secretly was amusing all in itself. I almost didn’t take them because I want my stomach to start building its own defences, but then two things persuaded me to take them. The first being the long bus rides back to my village and the second being that I’ve continued to lose weight. Not that that is a bad thing, but I think it's because my stomach has been trying to fight off infections for two months and isn’t absorbing all the nutrients it should. So, I decided to help it out a little by killing everything in it.

After the morning chillin in San Vicente, it was back to the house. I had a lovely chicken soup for lunch and finally figured out what the yellow balls in the soup were….chicken eggs that hadn’t been hatched yet. And no, I never did or will eat one. I have to draw the line somewhere and that seems like a good place to start. The rest of the day went by pretty lazily. I took a nap in the hammock, read my book, checked out the parade for the queen and king of kindergarten, did some shopping, went to mass and chilled with the host family. I was also nice enough to accompany to little kids (friends of the family) on a ride that went all upside down and everything after the little boy asked to go on. The little girl almost cried during it, so I tried to keep my arm round her…little bit difficult when being flung hither and yon…but I tried. Mostly, we just walked around the festival and checked everything out. That night I slept quite well.

Finally it was Saturday morning and making my escape was a little bit of hell. During all my time so far they repeatedly asked me to stay till Wed or to come back on Monday for the dance. I tried to explain that I had an event on Sunday and thus could not stay and Monday was a work day. Yes, Peace Corps is work and I can’t just run away for a week at a time to go check out festivals. They weren’t pleased with the answer, but they accepted it. I stayed till 10am and then said it was time. They gave me a few presents for my home and a bunch of food to take with me. It was nice of them. Alfonso accompanied me to the bus stop and told me how sad his mother is when I leave. That she cried the last time and all. I felt bad but also a little mad, but more on that later. I then hopped on a bus and made my way home. Have you ever been on a bus so cramped that you knew if it crashed you wouldn’t move an inch? Just wondering. I got back a little later then I wanted but still had time to check in with Iris and get ready for Sunday.

Now back to the host mom…I think I’ve figured out what makes me not want to visit them, it’s the host mom. I always think she is judging me and what I do. If I say I enjoy living on my own and having my own space, she gives me a look of disapproval or of not believing that anyone could be happy living in such a manner. Or that after telling her on Thursday that I hadn’t been to mass in a while, we magically found ourselves at a mass on Friday. She always has some look she is giving me or laughing at something I’m saying or doing. I know she doesn’t mean it that way, but it's annoying. And it's nice that she misses me when I leave, but I only lived there for 10 weeks. It's just weird and uncomfortable sometimes. But such is life and I’m sure I’ll wind up visiting them again in the future.

Why i don´t write about my week...

I don’t do anything during the week, and I’m pretty serious about that. I do small things, like write people, sit in on meetings, draw calendars, watch soap operas and play softball (when it's not raining). I wanna do more, but I’m just not there yet.

But, my weekends seem to be a little more interesting. I crashed a quince añera this past Saturday. For those who are not aware, instead of a sweet sixteen, they celebrate the 15th birthday. Iris was trying to explain a few of the details to me, but she wound up having to draw it out. Primavera to me means spring, but apparently it also applies to girls participating in the quince añera….hence my great confusion and a drawing. The birthday girl parades to her party and in the hall. Before her walks a little boy and girl of about 4 years of age. Behind her walks 14 girls (primaveras) and 14 boys (their ages vary up to about 18 years of age). They all sit together at a giant table and the party begins. I went with Iris and the family…..we just basically went to have a free dinner. And some left right after having the dinner. I won’t lie…it's pretty much the reason I went. It just got awkward when the birthday girl and her mother were walking around and greeting everyone, thanking them for coming and all, then they stumbled upon me and was like, ´oh, who’s this?´…it was funny. We stayed for a little while after, but left before the cake was served. I was a little sad about that. But not too much, cakes here never taste as good as they look.

Sunday I went and checked out some actual pools with Heidi. We went with her sister, her sister’s boyfriend and another guy. I must admit, I know it's dangerous, but I like riding in the back of pickups. I enjoy the wind and the sky and all that jazz. Any who, the pools were quite large and mostly man made. It seemed like a combo actually. The sides of the pool were made of concrete, but the bottom of it wasn’t. It was also filled with spring water. That means if you stayed still little fish came over and started to nip at your feet or legs. That was a weird sensation and often kept me on the move. It was nice to get out, but a little awkward since I didn’t know the guys and the whole language barrier.

After all that, I went home and treated myself to a nice hot bucket bath. Yes, that means I boiled some water, mixed it with some cold in a giant plastic tub and went for it. It was wonderful. I should do that more often.

Un Fin de Semana

So, after my grumpy Friday* I decided to finish cleaning on Saturday morning and then get ready in the afternoon for a baby shower. Of course, there was no water on Saturday morning, so I settled for reading my book in my hammock, making pancakes and listening to my ipod…it was rough. My pancakes need a little work, but I got time to practice and for 3 minutes I was attacked by mosquitoes that then randomly disappeared.

In the afternoon I took a bucket bath (thankfully I still had enough water in my pila to do so) and got ready for the baby shower. (Oddly enough, they say baby shower down here in English, they don’t translate it.) The baby shower turned out to be more fun then I thought it would be. Half the people didn’t show from the office and Jessica (the pregnant one) found out about it (it was suppose to be a surprise), but it was all good. Heidi and I hung out and drank beers/ate cake with everyone else. I was able to follow a few more conversations and learned even my Mayor is worried about the politics and the potential for violence in certain areas…no, not my area. Also, he wants me to help organize a soccer tournament for the guys in the town. If I do it, it's not political so more people will play. I like that he is thinking that way.

After the party I chilled with Iris at the house. We made cookies and watched a movie. I love cookie dough. Though I went to bed early and crashed. It was nice.

Sunday wasn’t bad either. In the morning I went over to San Pedro and waited for Heidi for an hour. She had bus difficulties. Erica (her sister) came along to and we hiked it to the pool. Now, when they say pool down here they mean naturally formed pool and when they say it's close, they mean that it’s at least a half hour walk through a corn field. It was a little small, but it was cold and nice to sit in. I sat there and drank a coke while eating Doritos……and life was good. Afterward, we hiked it back up the cornfield and into the pueblo. Heidi was looking to buy a wardrobe for her house. I finally got home around 2:20pm, changed quickly and hopped onto the next bus to Sonsonate for food shopping.

Why does it always rain when I don’t have an umbrella with me and have to walk a ways. That sucked, but I finally made it to the super market. I found mac and cheese…which made me happy and picked up things to make lunch from. PJ might not agree with me on this, but sometimes you need more then just peanut butter to get by. Of course, while in the supermarket, some guy stared at me and then tried to start up a conversation by talking about how beautiful my eyes are...so spooky. So, I managed to look busy and he left me alone. YEY! I finished buying everything, entered into a Visa competition (I have to collect stickers now in order to win $10,000…it could happen!) and then trudged back out into the rain and back to the bus stop. Who was there? Scary guy with his two kids. Damn. Of course he struck up a conversation and was asking me where I live and yadda yadda. Why is it just because I’m a Gringa people think I want to talk to them and tell them everything that is going on in my life. Or everything in theirs…or that I want to take them to the US when I return. It's irritating. He didn’t turn out to be that bad of a guy…just weird.

When I finally got home, I took a shower and made myself some mac and cheese. That stuff can really make you feel better. I also kept my front door shut so nobody could stare at me. (There is this little girl that will stare at me for like 10 minutes at a time when the back part of my front door is open…it’s freaky.) I then had my phone call with my parents…always a good thing. And I finished the weekend how I started it…reading a book.

Fotos!

Alright, here is the next batch of photos! More will come when I get to a speedy computer.


http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=973271159386490165/l=210564688/g=11114116/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Enjoy!!

What’s up in the Pueblo

Just a few updates on what’s going on in my neck of the woods.

I recently found out that the old mayor screwed over the town by leaving it $300,000 in debt with nothing to show for it. So, my town now pays about $7,000 monthly in repayment. That doesn’t leave them much money for projects, which is why I think my mayor asked me about finding funds when he first met me. I’m hoping they don’t see me as a way to make up the difference. Cause that would be bad.

The women are slowly thinking about the softball team. I can’t tell how serious they want to be about it. Whether they just want it to be social, whether they want to be competitive or they just like the idea of it. The last time we practiced they decided that Iris and I should be captains, but I think another woman will act as an unofficial captain. She already runs the practices and she knows everyone. Practices are interesting because everyone just stands in the outfield talking, sometimes running, avoiding guys playing soccer, and you also get to learn how to dodge cow pies and the cows that made the pies. It’s all good.

I’m going to start teaching English October 16th. It’s kinda of a scary thought, I have the resources but it's still going to be me in front of a bunch of El Salvadorians trying to teach a language when I’m not even good at their language yet. We’ll see how that goes.

Alright, that’s all for now.

Mi Propia Casa

I must say, I always knew at some point in my life I would live on my own, but I didn’t think that it would be in El Salvador. I’ve moved to my own little house not to far from my own place. And I do mean little.

When you walk in there is one room and that’s it. It’s a large enough room that I can set up a bedroom type setting on one side and a desk area on the other and have room to spare. Though, I don’t have a window. I can’t say I like that, but the back of the door opens up so light can come in. It’s hard to explain, but at some point I’ll put up a pic so you get the idea. Then you continue out to the back. I have a small patio where I have already hung up my hammock. On the left I have my refrigerator (expensive little guy) and my stove (Yes, my kitchen is outside…just like camping!). Along the left side wall is the bathroom and shower. The rest of the yard is a little garden that I’ll have to work on at some point. Another nice aspect of the house is that the roof has clay tiles. This keeps it cool during the day…thank God! The only problem worth mentioning is that it doesn’t have good cell phone reception…I’ll just have to wait for the new tower to be built and hope for the best.

Most of my stuff is on lend from my host sister, Iris. I pretty much took whatever wasn’t nailed down. This includes my stove, table, chairs, dresser…..you name it, I stole it. That isn’t to say I didn’t buy my own stuff. I picked up a pretty bad ass toaster oven (what else would I bake cookies in?), a refrigerator ($300 for something that comes to chest height! I’ll sell it in two years to the next unsuspecting volunteer…bwa ha ha ha ha) and all the necessities of setting up a house (desk, dishes, cleaning supplies…etc). I bought a lot of the stuff in the market…that was an adventure. It twists and turns everywhere. If Iris wanted to lose me, she could have in about a second. I got a good deal on some things, but not everything (Mainly dishware, I should have waited and bought it at the super…but I’ll try not to stay bitter for too long). We sent the stuff we bought in the market back with a pickup. It only cost me $.50 and they dropped it off at the old house for us. That was awesome and a little strange. Next we went to the mall. Here I did some food shopping and stuff. When I bought the fridge, my host sister asked if we could hitch a ride back to town with them since they were going to deliver the fridge anyway…they said yes. Which was great, since we threw the rest of my bags into the back of the pickup along with the fridge and my bad ass toaster oven. Saved us time, sweat and money.

I went back and did some more shopping the following two days…it’s just draining. I know how my father feels when he sees money just flying out the front door. And not that I need money...don’t think that. I still have plenty, it’s just wearing spending $400 in a day.

I figure for small stuff I’ll probably use tomato crates...you know…as book shelves and such. Rachael is going to come over and help me get that organized.

It’s weird living on my own. I made my own breakfast for the first time in four months this morning and it felt pretty good. The weird thing is I continue to make warm powder milk with cornflakes…it’s growing on me. Soon I’ll make pancakes with cinnamon or even get a waffle maker. Though, I also found the little mice tracks in my dish soap...ewww. I also have to clean the house out. I have a different definition of clean then others. I’m hoping to keep cucarachas out of the house. But, I’ve also decided that washing my own clothes is overrated, so I’m going to track back to my old place and borrow the washing machine every once and a while. I’ll also head over there to eat and watch tv…it’ll kind of be like I never really left, at least for a while.

The first night was loud…the evangelicals were singing for half the night. I live right by their church. The second night was loud too….but that’s because my neighbor decided to play music at a high level and because there were cats running after mice on the roof. That kinda sucked. But I know I’ll eventually settle down and sleep through it all.

One of the things I’m worried about is being lonely. It’s easy to hide in a house by yourself. I’ll just have to fight my introvert self and get out there. Or bake cookies and have everyone visit me.

Thus ends/begins my house adventure…I´ll keep you update as thing move along.

Because Mom yelled at me

Yes, I know…I haven’t written in a while. My mother has pointed this out quite a number of times. So, now I’ve posted a bunch of things! Start with the Independence Day one and work your way up to this one.

I guess I’ll start with what I’m up to. Not much. I think I’ll start teaching English in October as my first project. I figure it’ll help me get to know more people in the community. The youth group is still getting its act together. They’ve finally landed a youth house. They offered to let me live there. I told them the Peace Corps had some security regulations that prevented me from living in a place where 5 random guys would have the key to the place. They understood. Otherwise, I’m looking forward to working on the tourism stuff and artisans in the future.

I’ve managed to stay healthy! YEY! We’ll see how long it lasts… but I’m enjoying it while it does. If only I could get the mosquitoes to stop biting sooo much.

I’m looking into getting my own place. It looks like I will live in a one room house with a small backyard. But, it’s in the center of town near everyone I know. I think I’ll start moving in there next week. First I’ll have to scrub it out...ceiling to floor.

Side note; is it sad when you have more money in your bank account after joining Peace Corps then before? (Yup, my housing allowance is really adding up!)

And finally, no you can never escape them….Jahova´s witnesses. I like reading in my room with part of the door open (doors here have a backing...so the door can be shut but you can open the backing to let air and light in). That is where they spotted me. First it was just a small boy, then the older ones came. I initially thought they were just selling stuff door to door like a lot of people do down here…I was wrong. I also thought I was good, I just looked at them and said I didn’t understand (it was kinda funny, cause I did actually understand…how sweet is that). Finally, a true benefit from being a gringa! I also told them to wait as I went to get Iris to help me. She wouldn’t come and insisted I tell them no one was home. So, I went back and said I didn’t understand again and was sorry. They, of course, handed me a book that had their mission written in English. Damn. Eventually, I managed to get them to move on to the next house. Though, I think they may be coming back with an English bible…I’m worried.

Monday Monday

So, Monday was a good day. First, I learned I would be getting a new counterpart. I know that sounds mean...but the old one and I just didn’t click. She was kinda mean sometimes….laughing when I didn’t understand things and I never really felt included in the events. Heidy is different. We were working together with the youth before she became the social promoter and she’s cool. She has already taken me to a tourism meeting and a woman’s equality group meeting.

The other good news what that they are building a cell tower near by…maybe I can finally get some reception….without the scavenger hunt.

Homesickness

I think it began with getting a package from mom and dad. Or maybe the whole parade thing. It could have been the big cockroach in my bag that it took my a half an hour to kill with a broomstick. But any which way, I woke up Saturday homesick and in a funk. I was going to accompany my host sister to her parents’ house…but then I wasn’t feeling well either. So, I optioned for the stay at home, eat MandM´s, and drink tea philosophy. It turned out to be the better decision since my host sis got rained on and they had car trouble. On Sunday Rachael came to my rescue and we headed into Sonsonate for some Pizza Hut. Yes…Pizza Hut is now comfort food and considered high living. Eventually, after talking with the parents and siblings, I’ve managed to get my self out of my homesickness. I also had a good Monday.

Independence Month

September 15th is the official Independence Day here, but they pretty much celebrate all month. Now, before any of these celebrations, we would have to decorate the stage area in front of the town hall. So far, I think I’ve blown up at least 4 bags of balloons. I’m now able to blow up a bag without getting light headed or dizzy! Ohh...the talents I am acquiring!

It starts September 1st, obviously enough, with the opening celebrations. This basically consisted of the bands coming from the different schools and marching in a parade. When they got to the town hall, they stopped and had a little shin dig. This mainly consisted of the national anthem (which is really quite long), the oath (again, really long), some presentations and various speeches from various people. They then marched around town and that was the end of it.

Next came September 13th. This is when all the kindergarteners came out to march and play. It was really similar to the opening celebrations, only with younger people.

September 14th was torch day. In the evening about 15 students (those with good standing) ran from Sonsonate to my little neck of the woods in order to bring the independence flame to the town. I’m impressed because they ran for over an hour and a half…..up hill and down hill. I might try it next year just to get the t-shirt. Anyway, they brought it to the center of town and lit the torch located in front of the stage. Next came the usual…anthem, oath and speeches. I think this is my favorite of the activities.

Finally, September 15th! All the bands from all the schools came and marched to the center of town. Where the Mayor and everyone waited and watched. During this time, I got called to sit at the table of honor. I was initially just standing in the crowd enjoying myself…but then they spotted me. Not difficult, it was the easiest game of Where’s Waldo ever. So, I sat on stage with the Mayor, the Priest and the guy in charge of the Casa de Cultura (Culture House). I tried to look content and respectful. It’s hard, cause you don’t want to sit there smiling like an idiot but a pensive look makes you look sad. I’ll have to work on it. It was nice to see the presentations and the local dances. (I have some video of this actually since the girl who was using my camera accidentally turned it to video mode…..I also have video of peoples´ feet) After that I figured I was in the clear…not so. The table of honor then led the parade around town. I really felt kinda out there….on display if you will. It was a weird thing. I hid the rest of the day…well, as best as a sol gringa in a town can.

There is one more event to come….closing ceremonies. They are going to occur on September 29th. If you want a description….skip back to the second paragraph.

Independence Month

September 15th is the official Independence Day here, but they pretty much celebrate all month. Now, before any of these celebrations, we would have to decorate the stage area in front of the town hall. So far, I think I’ve blown up at least 4 bags of balloons. I’m now able to blow up a bag without getting light headed or dizzy! Ohh...the talents I am acquiring!

It starts September 1st, obviously enough, with the opening celebrations. This basically consisted of the bands coming from the different schools and marching in a parade. When they got to the town hall, they stopped and had a little shin dig. This mainly consisted of the national anthem (which is really quite long), the oath (again, really long), some presentations and various speeches from various people. They then marched around town and that was the end of it.

Next came September 13th. This is when all the kindergarteners came out to march and play. It was really similar to the opening celebrations, only with younger people.

September 14th was torch day. In the evening about 15 students (those with good standing) ran from Sonsonate to my little neck of the woods in order to bring the independence flame to the town. I’m impressed because they ran for over an hour and a half…..up hill and down hill. I might try it next year just to get the t-shirt. Anyway, they brought it to the center of town and lit the torch located in front of the stage. Next came the usual…anthem, oath and speeches. I think this is my favorite of the activities.

Finally, September 15th! All the bands from all the schools came and marched to the center of town. Where the Mayor and everyone waited and watched. During this time, I got called to sit at the table of honor. I was initially just standing in the crowd enjoying myself…but then they spotted me. Not difficult, it was the easiest game of Where’s Waldo ever. So, I sat on stage with the Mayor, the Priest and the guy in charge of the Casa de Cultura (Culture House). I tried to look content and respectful. It’s hard, cause you don’t want to sit there smiling like an idiot but a pensive look makes you look sad. I’ll have to work on it. It was nice to see the presentations and the local dances. (I have some video of this actually since the girl who was using my camera accidentally turned it to video mode…..I also have video of peoples´ feet) After that I figured I was in the clear…not so. The table of honor then led the parade around town. I really felt kinda out there….on display if you will. It was a weird thing. I hid the rest of the day…well, as best as a sol gringa in a town can.

There is one more event to come….closing ceremonies. They are going to occur on September 29th. If you want a description….skip back to the second paragraph.

What I've Been Up To

Hmmm....lets start with the youth group. So, I continue to just kinda follow along and go to the different meetings. The group is starting to form, but they need some more representatives from the different areas of town.

side note* my town had four cantones...which are the countryside areas. Places that may or may not have running water.

But, I am enjoying working with a girl named Heidy. She's a little younger then me but very friendly and helpful. So is the guy from Agape who is helping to organize the group along with two other groups from different towns. Last Wed we all went to Ataco to meet the group there, see how they had set everything up, like their youth center, and then play soccer. I didn't play......I wasn't willing to run out into the mud with the boys. The boys play rough here.

Next, I've made it a point to go visit all the cantons in my town/municipality. There are four in total, as mentioned above, and I'm visiting them with the Health Promotors. These are guys that go out to the families and check in on the kids and the houses. They put abate (kills mosquito larva) in the pilas (giant sinks), bring vaccinations to the kids and tries to help the local people live healthier lives. They really do amazing work and really are interested in how they can help their people. They do their best, but the conditions in the countryside are still very harsh. Kids run around half naked and dodge trash. You can tell the children are malnourished by their vacant stairs. I'll have to see if they have any projects going.

Finally, there is the softball team.....which is flopping a little bit. If I don't go...let's say cause I'm tired from hiking all day...Iris won't go. Then the next woman won't go b/c Iris isn't going...and so on and so forth. I'll make a mental note of this for future groups.

Otherwise, I just kinda hang around and try and get to know my village.

Small Stuff & Little Peculiarities

The small stuff is usually the good stuff.

For example, I was chillin in the Town Hall when the mailman came in. He went through his bag and pulled out some letters and a small package. Alls I could think was how awesome it would be if that package was for me......and it was! Thanks for the cookie mix Grandma!! We (meaning my host sister) cleaned out the oven (it was really sketchy) so we can make them.

Or how I finally bought myself a full size mosquito net so I can enjoy the full bed......maybe I'll splurge one day and get nice sheets and a sweet pillow. Though, I think I overpaid for the mosquito net, but it was worth it. It was funny to hear my host sister retell the story of how we bought it. She started by saying how much it was originally $22 and how it went to $18, but she bet we could've gotten it down to $15. In actuality it went like...sale's person $22, Iris would look at me and I would look at her and then the sale's woman to lower the price and we would repeat till we came to $18. But, I decided let her have her moment in the sun. Whatever.

Also, there are the storms. The place I'm at is actually two sets of houses set up parallel to each other with a yard in the center. The higher of the two houses has this beautiful view of a the countryside. I like to hang out up there in the hammock when there is a storm because the thunder and the lightening make quite a spectacular show. And most of the time our power survives it....so it's all good.

Then there is how my old host family wrote me a text message saying they missed me. So, I called them and they said how they were afraid I had forgotten them. And how excited they were to hear from me. I explained how impossible it was to forget them (from many standpoints) and I missed them too. I might head back out there way for the Festivales Patrinales for San Rafael in October. Just for a night or so.

The Peculiarities

There is this chicken. We (family I'm living with and I) don't even own it. But for some reason, it loves to come into the house and run around. It wouldn't be so bad, except that it shits in my room. It's done this twice so far and it if does it again I might just kill it myself. It's really funny when I'm sitting in my room and the curtain is closed, then I see it's shadow outlined on the curtain like some horror flick. But, since I'm not yet afraid of the chicken (no avian flu here) and chase it out of the house. Nothing like a good chicken run to get the blood going in the morning.

My other exercise consists of the broom bug fling. It seems bugs (like moths/cockroaches) like to die in the middle of my room for no apparent reason. So, I fling them out the front door with the broom....I must say I'm getting good distance now. Maybe it's because I'm achieving a nice arc. Who knows.

Week One and a Half

Hmm...where to begin.

The first Sunday here I went with my alcalde (mayor) to another town for a Rodeo. Not like the rodeo´s in the US, smaller bulls....collected from local farmers. But still, it was interesting. Once there I met up withRachell (neighboring volunteer). Her and I chilled while my alcalde went his own way....for the best. She introduced me to all her people and her host family. Between the boys being bucked/falling off the cattle, we had singers (some good, some not so good), queens (they have queens for everything.....ex queen of the rodeo, queen of the patron saint festivals, queen of the police....everything) and some really fun drunk people. Alright, maybe fun isn´t the word...let´s say interesting. We also had to navigate the mud...it poured at one point during the festivities. Afterward, I went and chilled with a bunch of the local ladies and my host sis (Iris). We just sat on a corner and watched a mariache band. I couldn´t help but stair at the singers tremendous underbite. We sat till it was dark and then piledlled into a car to head back home. Apparently, during my time with the band, my alcalde was searching for me even through Iris had called one of compatriotsates to say I was with her.....oops.

Monday started my first ´work week´, i really don´t do any work right now. I think I did pretty well my first week. I started sitting in everyone´s office for about an hour or two to get to know ttheirnd thier jobs. Yes, it was just as, oawkward, akward as one may imagine. But, I´m starting to become accustomeawkwardnesskwardness. I also managed to attend various meetings about stuff I didn´t fully understand. One included a soccer tournament, another scholarships and students who are living up to the grade requirements, and a health committee meeting. Not to forget the youth group that I´m now working with or the softball team I´m helping to resurrect. Alright...maybe I´m more like sitting in with the last two...but i´m getting there! I´ve also managed to introduce myself to different organizations in the community, like the health center. I´ve walked through the town (takes about 15 min or less from start to finish) artisansed some artisians (pottery anyone?). I also managed to finish about a book and a half....I have a lot of down time. I´m also still watching La Fea Mas Bella...my soap opera.

On Thursday we had a spectacular thunder storm...spectacular! I´ve never quite seen a storm like it. The house shook from the thunder and the land lit up like it was the middle of the day with the lightening. We, of course, lost power/watvaryingne lines for varing amounts of time. The water came back on after a little less then a day, electric on saturday and phone lines till yesterday. It was quite romantic writing my journal by candle light.......but then I went to bed at 7:50pm cause there was NOTHING to do.

Over this past weekend, I Rachel'sack out to Racheals. There was part of the Peace Corps soccer team playing futbal rapido (smaller version of soccer done on a small basketball court) against the locals. The women won by one point, but the boys weren´t so lucky. Afterward we chilled at Rachel's place. Rachel´s site is currently enjoying it´s festivals patronales...so there was plenty going on. We went and say Axe Bahia (group from Brazil) in concert. I must say, I was a little disappointed. First, because they said we could dance with the group and then retracted in favor of locals dancing instead (yes, i know it´s better, but still! i was excited and they ripped the rug right out from beneath me...err). Next, because they only really sang two songs in the hour or so they were on stage. The rest were dancing competitions and promotions. They advertise A LOT here during programs.

Sunday morning everyone left but me.....I was staying around for the Cross Dressing Competition later that night. I´ll talk more about that in a minute. Basically, we just chilled around town. I saw a skit put on by some local kids, ate some pizza (just have to not think about NY) and took a nap. Ohh..there was also that thing with the guys on horses. They would make the horse go as fast as it could toward this clothes line type thing. On the line were targets in which they had to try and put this chopsweirdtype thing. It was wierd. There would also be random parades with people in random get-ups. That night we helped out at the Cross Dressing competition by being the male escorts for the ´ladies´. It was fun to finally cat call some of them....bwa ha ha ha ha. We went by the names of our mayors. I don´t think anyone caught that, but it was still funny to me. Some of the guys really got into it and strutted like a model..Rachels great. Apparently Racheal and I made good ´guys´because some people actually mistook us for them or just didn´t recognize us.

That brings us to thiRachel'sMonday I went back to Racheals site (what...she´s like half an hour away) to attend the local dance. It´s like high school..boys on one side, girls on the other and if they dance there is a nice space between the two. Stephen (another newbie) was also there. We make fun of him because his alcalde just keeps buying him beers whenever they go out no matter how many times he says he doesn´t want one...it´s great. The dance was divided between dj music and a live boy band. The band was terrible...well...not the band, the singers. They tried, Lord did they try..but it fell a little short. Afterwards, I hunted down my alcalde for a ride...I was worried he would leave without me. We got back to the house around 2:30ish and I crashed.

Tuesday the Alcaldia (mayors office) was closed in honor of its employees and we all hit up lunch. I didn´t understand most of what went on and everyone though that was incredibly funny. I thought it was funny when half my speech (at the end everyone said something) was in english...Sweet Revenge!

I´ve also noticed a few changes with myself. For example, I opened my peanut butter and found 3 or 4 little ants....I said, ´it´s still good´, picked them out and carried on my merry way. I'm also ok with the random bugs and reptils I find. Wel...most of them.

One last note....I´ve seen a spider, an aracnid if you will. I thought that I had seen spiders in my life, but I hadn´t. It was like a taranchula....big, very big....huge...furry...with a defined body...and big legs. Hell, it probably could've taken on a small dog, like a tea cup yorkie. Iris killed it with a broom.

My Site!

Friday morning I got up and got my ass to my site. Alright, maybe Friday afternoon. Hey, I had to enjoy one more hot shower, one more visit to the mall for Burger King, one last hug from other trainees.

Thankfully two other trainees were going the same way as I. We left around noon and took the bus to sonsonate. There was a pretty good Jackie Chan movie playing all the way. Hey, who am I to judge. In Sonsonate we broke up to our different buses. This was the scary part. I managed to find my bus and ask the cobrador (guy who collects money) to tell me when I got to my site. He even helped me find the Alcaldia.

I then nerviously entered the office, but almost instantly my nerves were calmed. Everyone was really sweet.

I´m currenty living the in the Mayors place...which is cool. His daughter in law lives there and her and I are chillin. She is basically the same age as I am and she cooks pretty well. They even bought me a bed! with a pillow! The only sketchy part was when they were cleaning out the room and there were some kind of bugs living in a corner. They swept them out, but I try not to think about them. And the only problem, so far, is that my cell phone doesn´t have great reception.

There seems to be plenty of work to do and people have some grand expectations. Hopefully, not too high. Some have already asked what I¨m planning on doing and the guy in charge of the youth group had already recruted me. I don´t know how it happened, but it did.

I´ve also visited the waterfalls and they seem pretty bad ass. When people come to visit we´ll go swimming there.

Alright, I gotta go. Please forgive me if entries are a little more spaced and less pictures. I´m working with dial up now. Later!

Interesting Week Part II: Orientation and Swearing In!

Alright, before swearing in we had to go through some last minute transition work or orientation....it was actually entertaining, besides the fact that it was orientation at the end of training, whatever. During these days we had awesome refreherios (so mis-spelled). Basically, snack breaks.

It began on Tuesday with Bryan and Stephanie (directors of the municipal and youth development programs) coming. We basically went over the rules. We got our little manuels.

Wed was the fun day. This is when the people from the embassy came over to talk to us. My favorite was the security guy. His presentation was geared towards people who would be working in the embassy so he kept skipping over slides that didn´t apply to us....like the one that said ´never take public transportation.´ That one was great! Peace Corps Volunteers live on the buses. Though, I can see where he was coming from b/c one of the last buses i was on in San Salvador had it´s CV joints break. I know it was the CV joints because i recognized the sound. (PJ) I won´t go into some of the other interesting slides, mostly because they may actually scare some of ya. Otherwise they just talked about the politics and visas. Basically, to watch the politics and tell everyone that I have no idea about visas. Then we wrote letters to ourselves to open in two years. It´s wierd talking to yourself on purpose. I, of course, started my letter by saying that I hoped that I would be reading this in two years. Vamos a ver! After this...it was off to San Salvador!

That night we didn´t really do very much...except check out a local chinese restaurant (which wasn´t that bad) and a local bar. I, of course, couldn´t enjoy all the festivities because i was still on medication....dammit.

Thursday was the big day for two reasons: 1- i finally met my counterpart and mayor 2-swearing in!

The morning was counterpart day. God was I nervious. I began to wonder what in the world possesed me to give up my life and spend two years in a small town in the middle of nowhere. My people came a little late, but not to bad. They live on Salvadorean time to which i am suppose to become accostomed. We´ll see how that goes. My counterparts name is Yessani (sooo misspelled). She is the social promoter in the town. I was soo glad to see that I had a social promoter and that she is a she. My Mayor´s name is Don Justo. We basically just introduced ourselves and went through the morning. The meeting was just to reinforce what volunteers do and expectations. Afterward, we loaded up their pickup with my stuff and waited for Swearing in.

After a quick change into my awesome dress, we were off! Swearing in took place at the Embassy. That thing is a fortrace or castle. It is built to tokyo standards for earthquakes. It took a while to get in since everyone had to go through a metal detector and there was only one metal detector. That was kinda piss poor planning, but whatever. My host mom came too...that was kinda nice. The whole thing doesn´t take much more then and hour. First my boss spoke, then Michael Wise (director of Peace Corps in El Salvador) spoke about what we can expect and the difficulties ahead. This did little to calm my nerves. Then a local mayor spoke about what to come and the country as a whole. I won´t lie, I didn´t pay the most attention to his speach. It´s hard listening to that many speaches in spanish! Then one trainee spoke, Anne. She spoke exceptionally well and I´m glad we chose here. The funny thing with most of the speeches was that half the time was spent with the introduction and thanking varios people. There is definitly a format for how to give a speech here. The final one was by the Embassador. He seems like a nice guy, though his spanish is very, very weak.

After all that, the big moment had arrived. Michael Wise introduced each volunteer. I don´t think he got a single state correctly...apprently i´m from California. We each recieved a little diploma. Then we were sworn in together! It was really funny because the Ambassador mumbled. Something about enemies foreign and domestic. So, I didn´t say the oath perfectly so I´m not sure if i´m really a volunteer or not. All well...it´s all good. All who are going to send mail should note that it is now PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) and not PCT (Peace Corps Trainee).

After a quick meal my counterpart and mayor left. Then it was time to party.....sober style. Stupid medication. I recieved the sepurlative for most likly to sleep in the Peace Corps office....cause i´m sick all the time. errrrr. We then just all went to a local bar and partied it up. It was nice to meet the other munies and dance the night away. The music alternated between a live band (they weren´t bad, not fabulous, but not bad) and a dj. I only completed some of the missions assigned to me. Basically I sniffed a girls hair (yes..i have a pic), slapped some girls ass (no, I don´t have a pic) and other similar tasks. After a late night snack, i returned to the hostel and slept well.

Interesting Week Part I: Leaving My Host Fam

Alright, so after dengue I only had about four days left with my host family. It was kinda wierd to return after a week and a half of not being there, but all went well.

On Saturday... I think about the 12th of August, we had a family fiesta for all the trainee´s families and that´s where I met back up with them. It was just a nice day of chillin and seeing who lived with who. You know, put a face to all the stories. We also made (by we I mean two trainess, not me) chili. It was funny to see who liked it and who didn´t. I can´t say any Salvadorans fully appreciated the corn bread. In a way, it was a little bit of revenge for all the food we had to eat. Bwa ha ha ha ha! I was a little sad that I didn´t get to beat up the pinata...the little kids got that privilage.

Sunday came along and a bunch of us went to Ilabasco, an artisan village. We just walked through and picked up some stuff. I got a wind chime type of thing made of bells (for whenever I get my own place) and a cross for my host family. While walking we all agreed that we were ready to move out and finally become volunteers. That night we (host fam and I) were suppose to go get pupusas for dinner (pupusas are tortillas filled with either beans, cheese, cheese combos with different veggies or pork combos). I really wasn´t interested, so thank God we went to Pollo Camparo (kinda like KFC). Of corse I didn´t order the right thing...so my host mother gave me a dirty look...but whatever! I was breaking free in two days.

Monday just came and went....nothing too much happened.

Tuesday was my final night there. It was bitter sweet. We finally went out for pupusas in a nearby canton (small, small town) and they were actually pretty good. Maybe b/c they were really hot. Everything tastes better here when it´s hot. I had also brought home a cake so we had that for dessert. It was kinda funny, I was like...lets have cake now and they were like...ohh Barbara wants to have the cake now. I´m not sure if they thought it was a presant for when I was gone or what. I found it humorus.

Wed morning and I was out of there! I gave hugs to everyone and promises to return (which i do intend to keep). It was kinda sad.

Now, the family was a very sweet family and I don´t want it to sound as if I´m ungratful for all that they did for me. Lord knows they watched out for me and tried to make me feel at home. It´s just, I felt like I was living back with my parents and all my siblings in one house and had to eat whatever they threw down in front of me. I did recommend them for another volunteer. Hopefully what they learned from me they can apply to the next volunteer.

The site visit that never happened

So, yea....I was suppose to go on a site visit this week. Check out my housing options, meet my counterpart and figure out stuff for the next two years. That didn't happen. Me and my confirmed case of dengue wound up chillin in a hotel for a week. Now, I know what you're saying, 'what a rough life....livin in a hotel'. But really, this wasn't exactly a five star hotel. My room is right by the road....i love trucks. I also managed to get quite a lovely shock in the shower....literally. They use electric heaters and I reached up for something and got shocked. I spent the next five min in the shower standing very still.

But, thankfully I wasn't alone in my illness. Sam also was stuck in the dengue hotel. So far we've seen Pirates of the Carrabean and hit up a lovely italian restaurante. Our jefe, Bryan, also stopped by and took us out to dinner. It was really nice of him and quite comforting.

So, now I have less than a week of training to go. Hopefully, Sam and I will be healthy enough to return home tomorrow to our host families so that we can attend the family party on sat and start to get all of our stuff organized and packed for the big event! (Swearing in) Of corse, i'll be keeping my celebration to some nice soft beverages (coca cola).......to many drug interactions to risk anything else. I'll keep ya up to date.

MY SITE!

I actually got this before my whole illness thing.....but now i have time to write about it. It´s gonna be quick. I´ll be located in the Department of Sonsonate!

If you want to know specifically where I will be, you´re gonna have to write! And no, not just post a question to my blog....write to my e-mail.

The Incredibly ill Ehlen aka the hospital part II

So, the friday before the hike up the volcano (see previous entry), I was diagnosed with another stomach thing...amebas to be precise (disease numero 4). There is nothing like the feeling of knowing some little thing is living and breeding in your stomach. Even with this knowledge, I climed up the volcano....what a stupid move.

Monday and Tuesday I felt horrible, but I figured it was b/c of the volcano...makes sense right. Climb when sick equals longer recovery. Then on Wed I broke out into a 103 - 104 degree fever with incredible joint pain. Knees, lower back, hips and a pounding headache. So I went to the training center and I called the nurse and she asked me if I wanted to come into the capitol or spend the night with my host family. I said with my host family. I then spent the afternoon in the training center in the a/c only to feel worse and worse. So, what wound up happening is I went back to my host family to pack some clothes and then was driven to the hospital.

The second time wasn´t so bad. This nurse was better at putting in the IV and drawing blood. The doctor came in, looked me over and said....I think you have dengue. Love tropical deseases. Feel free to research this desease before continuing with the blog. I didn´t sleep at all. The AC was on high, but I was still sweating up a storm. And there were no comfortable positions. It really sucked. I slowly got more comfortable the next day and finally slept thursday night. During this time, I also found out another trainee was in a few rooms over. Apparently he´s got it too. I´m not too surprised, we live in the same training community. I stopped in before I left for the hotel....he didn´t look so good.

I stayed in the hospital till Friday when they shipped me out to a hotel. No, not a five star. A little one that has ac and cable. The only problem is that when you are suspected of having dengue (i´ll talk about why suspected and not known in a sec), they put you in a seperate hotel from all other volunteers in town. They found when they put us all together, dengue kept being spread to the same people from the mosquitos. So, I´m basically by my- self aka quaranteened. (Cue violin in the backround). The trick to dengue...testing wise...is that it doesn´t show up on dengue tests until the desease has mostly run it´s course.

I´m now waiting to see whether I have dengue or a UTI (yes, another....but they are having trouble confirming this one as well...one came back positive, the other negative) or maybe I have both. Sweet.

So, now i´m chillin.....if anyone would like to write, please feel free. I don´t mind saying it´s a little hard right now.

Chichontepec (mountain of two breasts)

I can´t belive I climed all 2,180 meters.

That´s right, this little ehlen got up a huge ass volcano.

We started climbing at approximatly 6:45am and I didn´t reach the summit until noon! It was a bitch of a climb with some serious inclines. As usual, I started off with the first pack and slowly made my way to the back of the pack. For a good portion, I walked it alone. Everyone either walked faster or slower...alright 1 or 2 walked slower. It was mad scary when I walked alone since the path sometimes diverged and I had to guess which way to go. At one point I really felt lost, but then I looked down and found a footprint. It´s amazing how the littlest things can be so reassuring and that you find them when you need them. Though, sometimes it was nice walking alone. Otherwise, the person would be infront of me and turn the bend before me....then I would either here a ¨ohh hell¨laughter or a wimper.

After arriving at the top (Yes everyone..I made it to the top), I just plopped down and had a peanut butter sandwich...such a treat. I´m serious, they don´t really like peanut butter down here. Anyway, at the top is actually a military post. I believe they just rotate every week who stays up there. The guy was cool and showed some of us a different view (I wasn´t so inspired to move, so i didn´t see the view). After, we chilled on the helicopter pad. I also recieved/made some phone calls. I thought I would have better reception....being that I was sitting right next to a tower, but I guess it was the wrong company.

After about an hour, it was time to descende. It took about 3 and 1/2 hours to get back down that thing. Your legs get so tired that more of us fell on the way down then the way up. I must admit, the entire way down I kept saying to myself, ¨I can´t believe I climed the whole thing.¨ A girl also made me paranoid (and you know who you are!) that pervious trainee´s toes had turned black from the pressure of being forced into the front of the shoe. Thankfully, mine haven´t. The walk down was frustrating for mainly one reason. You would stop and look out over this beautiful view, breathtaking even....then you would realize that you were nowhere near being down the mountain.

After we all met up at the bottom it was time to head home. I got home, ate, showered and went to bed. I was exhausted.

Las Ruinas

Just a quick description about the ruins in El Salvador...they´re smaller then those in other countries, but still cool.

The first set we went to was just a few sites that were discovered when a company was constructing grain silos. It basically just consisted of some neat little family dwellings.

The second was called San Andres and actually consisted of some temples. Unfortunaly, you could not see them very well. First, they´re covered with some dirt/tarps for protection. Originally, the temples were covered in cement..¨the finest was to preserve them.´ Unfortuantly, this system allows water in but not out, so the temples are rotting from the inside out. What was cool to see was a staircase. It went down at least 20 feet. Or should I say it originally went up about 20ft. The area was covered in volcanic ash..a shit load of it. Is it bad that we played frisbee on acient lands? Or that they almost lost the frisbee in the ruins? Also in the site was a indigo plant. Yes...of a later decade. It just showed where they made indigo and how. It was very well preserved b/c of the volcanic ash. Hopefully, I´ll be able to upload fotos soon.

Gender Day

Real quick...this was a day that we explored gender roles in El Salvador...I only mention it to thank Barbara (the trainer) for lunch. She made this awesome meat sauce with spagetti and salad and garlic bread and three types of cake! It was to die for! So...thanks!

Oh...and gender roles are apparently going to make a huge impact on my service. More about this at a latter date.

La Playa! (the beach)

If I closed my eyes it felt like I was on the beach in Montalk. There was a slight breeze to help with the strong sun and the sound of waves crashing in the backround....but let me start at the beginning.

After training on Friday we hopped onto the 'party bus' and crusied our way to the beach, actually an island named Tasajara. Once we got there we hopped (i know, we're doing a lot of hopping) onto the boats and made our way over to the island. Now, when we got there I took off my shoes when I got off the boat and walked around. There are fire ants on islands down here and they hurt. Really hurt. After a hearty dinner we just kinda chilled. There was a pier that extended over the water where we could watch an awesome lightening storm. No rain, no thunder....just lightening. When I went back to my room to get ready for bed, i found that ants (the evil variety) had invaded my bed. So, I and the girl I was splitting a bed with (there were two people per bed...what do you expect, we´re on a budget here) went on the hunt for a new room. Thankfully, we were takin in by another group....we just had to ignore the bats (no, not the sport quipment) that were flying around.

The next day was spend at the beach....at least the majority of it. After a fruit/granola bar breakfeast, we all ran off to go soak in the sun. To get to the beach with the waves (we were on the bay side of the island) you had to walk down this dirt path. It wasn´t so bad except when the mosquitos were waiting for you. You could just see them swarming around the person infront of you and you knew they were doing the same thing to you. When we got there, there we´re kids with horses offering rides. As tempting as it was...those horses looked really sketchy, as in probably having no training. So yes...i passed on the opportunity. I thus spent the morning playing freesby, body surfing (big ass waves) and just taking in the sun. It also included eating a peanut butter sandwich...sand included. This continued till lunch time. After being served a wonderful lunch, I read and chilled in the hammick for a while till the midday heat had subsided. Then it was back to the beach! More surfing (bigger ass waves) along with some quality sand castle construction. I also think i took a nap...it was all good. That night was the drinking night...sweet. There is nothing like chilling on a island with a cool breeze and a refreshing drink. But, it was also when Adrianna and Will announced their departure from Peace Corps. I haven´t mentioned them before, but they are a couple that lived in my training town with me....I´ll miss you guys!!

After sleeping in, i headed back to the beach on sunday. It went by so quickly! The waves were even larger...hard to believe...and it came to the point where I wasn´t even comfortable hanging out to far. After being pummlled and napping on the beach it was alas time to leave. Of corse they (the hostel) waited till then to spring additional charges on us and wouldn´t call the boat till we coughed it up. I hate it when shit like that happens at the end of a trip. It just leaves a sour taste in your mouth. When we got back to the main land more mosqitos were waiting and they were vicious! But that´s about it.

Overall...it was a sweet trip and I´m glad I went on it. A little less white and a little relaxed.