So, I’ll do a quick take on what’s been going on down here.
I guess I’ll start with last week when my cell phone decided it didn’t want to work anymore. Since I didn’t feel like having to scream into the phone to have people hear me, I went and bought a new one. It wound up being twice as much as I thought it would be since I wanted to keep my own number. I was pretty mad about it for a while, mostly cause it was so expensive, is an ugly phone and I didn’t even get a free umbrella out of the deal. What is that about!
So, we’ll now cut to when I was home the following day. I decided that making cookies would be awesome. I made the dough just in time for the power to go out….my oven is electric powered. I thus took it as a sign from God that I should eat the aforementioned cookie dough. I felt pretty nauseous for the rest of the night but I think it was well worth it. Though, I’ll tell ya, it’s pretty spooky down here when there isn’t any power.
There still wasn’t any power Monday morning – so I had to cancel the eye campaign I had scheduled for that day. Since I had the day free, I decided to head into Sonsonate to translate for another eye campaign – some docs who came down from the US to check out eyes. I got there just in time to find out that translating started on Tuesday.
I went on Tuesday, but only because my pueblo still didn’t have electricity and because Luis gave me a ride. I really wasn’t gonna go by bus – was feelin a little ill.
Wednesday brought on my great escape! I’ve been getting a little snappy in my site and I think it was because I hadn’t been out of my site and chillin with out volunteers in a long time….so I fled! I got to head into the capital for my mid-service medical. Peace Corps checks you out medically at the beginning of your service, at the middle and at the end. It turns out I had a cavity and two wisdom teeth that should be pulled. They filled the cavity (which I’ll have Dr. Levy check out when possible) and denied the yanking of my wisdom teeth - apparently I have to be in pain for that to happen….
I got to stay at the new hotels the Peace Corps is using. Apparently, the place we’re using now has a neighborhood that is getting a little shady. The only problem with the new places are that they are so far away from everything. They’ve also started using three places – so there is no central meeting spot. So, I think we’ll continue to use the current place but with just a little more caution. Though, I will admit that the free breakfast at the new place was nice but the cold shower was harsh.
That night, my group and the new group had dinner – to welcome the newbies. We gave out superlatives and had Mexican….I enjoyed getting a beer. That night I met my new neighbor – Monica. So far, so good.
Thursday ( I know, I’m just blowing through everything) was their actual swearing in…which meant it was my one year anniversary as a volunteer! How insane is that! Anyway, it was overall decided that our swearing in was better then theirs…but we tried not to rub it in. The ambassador came and spoke – we thus had camera crews filming the event. That was a first – since the crews aren’t allowed into the embassy where swearing in usually takes place.
Afterward – it was time for pizza (from the Hut – cause that’s high class…seriously) and a little relaxing before the party. The party took place at a club located in one of the nicer malls. Overall it was great to get out, drink a little and get dancing. A few people didn’t recognize me right off the bat – apparently I look way different in contacts and nice clothes. All good.
That was pretty much it for the festivities and the weekend. I spent one extra night in the capital before heading back to my site. I just needed to tie up a few details and have one more hot shower. You’d be surprised how many ails a hot shower can cure.
Then came Saturday morning and I got on a bus back to the pueblo
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
A project
Dear Friends and Family,
Hard to believe – but I’ve hit the one year mark all the way down here in El Salvador. And contrary to what some may think - I don’t spend everyday in my hammock reading. Actually, I’m working in cooperation with a community group to realize a project.
In the small town of Santo Domingo de Guzman, in the western department of Sonsonate in El Salvador, works an artisan community. This group of over 60 men and women specializes in red pottery. As this group grows, it is coming across situations that restrict the expansion of their business. These limitations are presented in the form of production capacity and skill training opportunities.
The group concluded that they would focus their attention on improvements of existing ovens, construction of communal ovens and skill trainings. The new ovens will be communally used and centrally located. Existing ovens will be modified to include a chimney and a roof, among other work. Skill trainings would include work on a pottery wheel and painting classes.
Many of you have asked for ways you can support my activities (some of you haven’t...but your still getting this email with hopes that you always intended to offer help) and I’m asking for that support with this project. No fears – I’m not asking for your help in doing everything. I’m working in cooperation with a local NGO (non government organization), the artisans, and the town hall in financing this project. The NGO has agreed to pay for the two new ovens, the skill trainings and all the supplies necessary for the skill trainings. The town hall will help with transportation of building supplies and the artisans, themselves, will pay for the labor. All’s that is left is the construction materials for the improvements. This is where I am asking all of you to step in.
You may be asking, ‘what exactly are these ‘improvements’ you speak of?’ Let me explain. Many of the ovens are open on top – we would like to close the ovens, install a chimney and build a permanent roof.
The chimneys will:
A. Funnel smoke away from houses - reducing smoke related illnesses
B. Reduce the amount of wood needed to fire the pieces – the heat doesn’t
escape
C. Prevent destruction of the roof – the lamina roof is destroyed by the
fire and smoke rising from the ovens.
The permanent roofs will:
A. Protect the ovens from the nearly 6 months of rain received by El
Salvador yearly.
B. Expand the lifespan of the ovens – reducing overall costs to artisans
My goal is a little lofty – approximately $3,500 dollars. $3,500! The project cost is high due to the fact that 11 ovens will receive work – that’s a lot of bricks, metal and cement. I ask that you give what you can and maybe toss my letter to a few friends.
You should know that all donations are through an official program – meaning they are tax deductible! Not that any of you need incentive to donate.
So, if you’re all excited and can’t wait to support your friendly Peace Corps volunteer (that would be me) – check out the link below. And when you donate – please check the box that allows me to see who donated. I would like to have the opportunity to thank you.
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=519-089®ion=latinamerica
And if you don’t like the whole donating on-line thing, checks can be sent to:
Peace Corps
OPSI
1111 20th St. NW
Washington, DC 20526
Just make the check out to Peace Corps and put the project number (519-089) in the memo.
Thanks ahead of time! ¡Y que le vaya bien!
Barbara
PCV – El Salvador 2006-2008
Hard to believe – but I’ve hit the one year mark all the way down here in El Salvador. And contrary to what some may think - I don’t spend everyday in my hammock reading. Actually, I’m working in cooperation with a community group to realize a project.
In the small town of Santo Domingo de Guzman, in the western department of Sonsonate in El Salvador, works an artisan community. This group of over 60 men and women specializes in red pottery. As this group grows, it is coming across situations that restrict the expansion of their business. These limitations are presented in the form of production capacity and skill training opportunities.
The group concluded that they would focus their attention on improvements of existing ovens, construction of communal ovens and skill trainings. The new ovens will be communally used and centrally located. Existing ovens will be modified to include a chimney and a roof, among other work. Skill trainings would include work on a pottery wheel and painting classes.
Many of you have asked for ways you can support my activities (some of you haven’t...but your still getting this email with hopes that you always intended to offer help) and I’m asking for that support with this project. No fears – I’m not asking for your help in doing everything. I’m working in cooperation with a local NGO (non government organization), the artisans, and the town hall in financing this project. The NGO has agreed to pay for the two new ovens, the skill trainings and all the supplies necessary for the skill trainings. The town hall will help with transportation of building supplies and the artisans, themselves, will pay for the labor. All’s that is left is the construction materials for the improvements. This is where I am asking all of you to step in.
You may be asking, ‘what exactly are these ‘improvements’ you speak of?’ Let me explain. Many of the ovens are open on top – we would like to close the ovens, install a chimney and build a permanent roof.
The chimneys will:
A. Funnel smoke away from houses - reducing smoke related illnesses
B. Reduce the amount of wood needed to fire the pieces – the heat doesn’t
escape
C. Prevent destruction of the roof – the lamina roof is destroyed by the
fire and smoke rising from the ovens.
The permanent roofs will:
A. Protect the ovens from the nearly 6 months of rain received by El
Salvador yearly.
B. Expand the lifespan of the ovens – reducing overall costs to artisans
My goal is a little lofty – approximately $3,500 dollars. $3,500! The project cost is high due to the fact that 11 ovens will receive work – that’s a lot of bricks, metal and cement. I ask that you give what you can and maybe toss my letter to a few friends.
You should know that all donations are through an official program – meaning they are tax deductible! Not that any of you need incentive to donate.
So, if you’re all excited and can’t wait to support your friendly Peace Corps volunteer (that would be me) – check out the link below. And when you donate – please check the box that allows me to see who donated. I would like to have the opportunity to thank you.
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=519-089®ion=latinamerica
And if you don’t like the whole donating on-line thing, checks can be sent to:
Peace Corps
OPSI
1111 20th St. NW
Washington, DC 20526
Just make the check out to Peace Corps and put the project number (519-089) in the memo.
Thanks ahead of time! ¡Y que le vaya bien!
Barbara
PCV – El Salvador 2006-2008
Monday, August 06, 2007
The rest of the festvities
Wednesday night we were off to see the 1st night of bands. I forget what they call it…calabacas? That is so wrong, but anyway – it’s just a night where a company brings a bunch of different acts to sing and perform. They might include a mariachi singer, a rock band and then a woman…a naughty woman.
The first night was going great – until it started to rain. They had to put the show on hold for a few minutes while they cleared the water off the stage. I think the performers were worried about getting electrocuted. I stayed till 10:30ish – till right after the rock band played. The band was good – but you could tell the lack of audience participation was frustrating them.
That brings us to Thursday. Thursday was a blah day – no big events went down. They had a small thing called the ‘tarde alegre’ – which means the joyful afternoon. It’s just an afternoon meant for kids – clowns, piñatas and prizes. I was just thankful for the day off.
The second night started well enough – but I was just tired. So, I enjoyed the bands as they played, but the moment the drunkard started hitting on me and the other one dancing in front of me for me – I booked it home.
I’ll take this moment to relate a moment of vocabulary building that happened that night. During the festivals, women come and sell candy – it’s a type I’ve only seen down here and hard to explain. Anyway, I was with Iris, Sonia and a few others when we went to buy this candy. Me, being curious, asked what the different candies were made of. One was of molasses and peanuts, other from coco and so on. We came to one and I asked again what it was and they said it was made from zapote. Now zapote is a red fruit (never seen one, but have been told), but zapo is a frog. Well, you can see where this is leading. I stared at Sonia and said, ‘it’s made from frog – that’s horrible!’. She then proceeded to laugh and explain all over again. I don’t think I’ll be living this one down for quite a while.
Any who, that brings us to the big day – Friday. In the morning was the carrera de cintas. For those of you who can’t remember the other times I’ve written about this – it’s when they put a clothes line across a street and guys charge at in on horseback hoping to get a small stick through a loop that has been hung on the line. Anyway, I was a ‘godmother’ for this event – which means I bought a present and gave it to one of the guys who succeeded in getting the stick through the loop. Once I gave my gift and got the free food, I was outta there. They had these events at a soccer field that has no trees. You can only imagine how hot it gets.
Next up was the finally of the soccer tournament. The first fought out 3rd and 4th place and then when for the championship game. Unfortuanatly, my team lost. But it was an interesting game – the winner was determined by penalty kicks. So, I’m sure the guy that screwed it up for my team will never live it down. At the end of the games, I was drafted to help give out the prizes. I was ok giving out the cash prize, but then they gave out soccer balls as prizes. I’m not against the prize itself – but who was giving the prize. The prize came from the political party ARENA and the balls were even the political colors of ARENA. I told people that next time I wouldn’t give out a gift from ARENA. They got all mad – but I laid it down, Peace Corps has rules on being apolitical and I don’t like being associated with one party. We’ll see how it goes next time.
The grand final of the day was the dance. It started with a parade of the queens, again, then moved on to fireworks before the actual dance began. The dance was split up between two sections – one was regular disco playing techno, reggaton and the like, the other was a Latin band that would play meringue and salsa. The two sections switched on and off. I enjoyed my time but wound-up leaving at around 2 am – I got tired of dancing with guys I didn’t know and of the numerous drunkards around. Dances are good during their first few hours – but after that there are just too many drunk guys to make it enjoyable. I, thus, headed home escorted by Luis Ernesto. Yes, I do think of my safety and never walk home alone at night.
The only problem with going home was that the speaker for the disco were maybe 4 or 5 yards away from my front door. Granted, they were facing the other way, but they still managed to cause my house to shake, rattle and roll. Thankfully, they switched to the band (which was further away) and I fell dead asleep.
I believe the only reason I woke up on Saturday was my birds. They always get so annoyed when I sleep in. Saturday was a wonderful introverted day. All week I just felt like I never had any time to myself. I was going to go to a cock fight – but I didn’t want to go alone (to much of a guy event – didn’t want to go as a solo girl) and the heat. So, instead, I stayed home, read and made browning. When I finally did make it out of the house, I stumbled upon an event in the park. The culture house put on an afternoon of traditional dancing and music. It was quite nice to sit in the cool park with some friends and chill.
I guess that brings us to the final event of the great Patron Saint Festivals of Santo Domingo de Guzman – the second rodeo and dance. This rodeo was definitely a losing propect – I think maybe half as many people showed up this time around. The problem was that it wasn’t advertised well and another group was having an event for free in a nearby canton. (size order of communities with – pueblo being the largest – canton being a subset of a pueblo – casario being a subset of canton)
I was in charge of selling the higher priced beer – of which I sold a total of 35 bottles in a little over 6 hours. Go me.
The dance I can’t tell you about because I didn’t go. I had had enough and called it quits. I heard it, but decided that staying in was my best option.
And now it is Monday and time to go do some food shopping.
The first night was going great – until it started to rain. They had to put the show on hold for a few minutes while they cleared the water off the stage. I think the performers were worried about getting electrocuted. I stayed till 10:30ish – till right after the rock band played. The band was good – but you could tell the lack of audience participation was frustrating them.
That brings us to Thursday. Thursday was a blah day – no big events went down. They had a small thing called the ‘tarde alegre’ – which means the joyful afternoon. It’s just an afternoon meant for kids – clowns, piñatas and prizes. I was just thankful for the day off.
The second night started well enough – but I was just tired. So, I enjoyed the bands as they played, but the moment the drunkard started hitting on me and the other one dancing in front of me for me – I booked it home.
I’ll take this moment to relate a moment of vocabulary building that happened that night. During the festivals, women come and sell candy – it’s a type I’ve only seen down here and hard to explain. Anyway, I was with Iris, Sonia and a few others when we went to buy this candy. Me, being curious, asked what the different candies were made of. One was of molasses and peanuts, other from coco and so on. We came to one and I asked again what it was and they said it was made from zapote. Now zapote is a red fruit (never seen one, but have been told), but zapo is a frog. Well, you can see where this is leading. I stared at Sonia and said, ‘it’s made from frog – that’s horrible!’. She then proceeded to laugh and explain all over again. I don’t think I’ll be living this one down for quite a while.
Any who, that brings us to the big day – Friday. In the morning was the carrera de cintas. For those of you who can’t remember the other times I’ve written about this – it’s when they put a clothes line across a street and guys charge at in on horseback hoping to get a small stick through a loop that has been hung on the line. Anyway, I was a ‘godmother’ for this event – which means I bought a present and gave it to one of the guys who succeeded in getting the stick through the loop. Once I gave my gift and got the free food, I was outta there. They had these events at a soccer field that has no trees. You can only imagine how hot it gets.
Next up was the finally of the soccer tournament. The first fought out 3rd and 4th place and then when for the championship game. Unfortuanatly, my team lost. But it was an interesting game – the winner was determined by penalty kicks. So, I’m sure the guy that screwed it up for my team will never live it down. At the end of the games, I was drafted to help give out the prizes. I was ok giving out the cash prize, but then they gave out soccer balls as prizes. I’m not against the prize itself – but who was giving the prize. The prize came from the political party ARENA and the balls were even the political colors of ARENA. I told people that next time I wouldn’t give out a gift from ARENA. They got all mad – but I laid it down, Peace Corps has rules on being apolitical and I don’t like being associated with one party. We’ll see how it goes next time.
The grand final of the day was the dance. It started with a parade of the queens, again, then moved on to fireworks before the actual dance began. The dance was split up between two sections – one was regular disco playing techno, reggaton and the like, the other was a Latin band that would play meringue and salsa. The two sections switched on and off. I enjoyed my time but wound-up leaving at around 2 am – I got tired of dancing with guys I didn’t know and of the numerous drunkards around. Dances are good during their first few hours – but after that there are just too many drunk guys to make it enjoyable. I, thus, headed home escorted by Luis Ernesto. Yes, I do think of my safety and never walk home alone at night.
The only problem with going home was that the speaker for the disco were maybe 4 or 5 yards away from my front door. Granted, they were facing the other way, but they still managed to cause my house to shake, rattle and roll. Thankfully, they switched to the band (which was further away) and I fell dead asleep.
I believe the only reason I woke up on Saturday was my birds. They always get so annoyed when I sleep in. Saturday was a wonderful introverted day. All week I just felt like I never had any time to myself. I was going to go to a cock fight – but I didn’t want to go alone (to much of a guy event – didn’t want to go as a solo girl) and the heat. So, instead, I stayed home, read and made browning. When I finally did make it out of the house, I stumbled upon an event in the park. The culture house put on an afternoon of traditional dancing and music. It was quite nice to sit in the cool park with some friends and chill.
I guess that brings us to the final event of the great Patron Saint Festivals of Santo Domingo de Guzman – the second rodeo and dance. This rodeo was definitely a losing propect – I think maybe half as many people showed up this time around. The problem was that it wasn’t advertised well and another group was having an event for free in a nearby canton. (size order of communities with – pueblo being the largest – canton being a subset of a pueblo – casario being a subset of canton)
I was in charge of selling the higher priced beer – of which I sold a total of 35 bottles in a little over 6 hours. Go me.
The dance I can’t tell you about because I didn’t go. I had had enough and called it quits. I heard it, but decided that staying in was my best option.
And now it is Monday and time to go do some food shopping.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Where was I....
Ahh… the artisan fair and the banners. Well – I got the two banners, a little late, but I still got them. I sent a few guys to hang them up – at least they said that’s what they were going to do. Truth be told, I haven’t seen them….makes me wonder.
Any who – I had the grand inauguration of my artisan market on Monday….it was ugly. It was as if someone beat it with an ugly stick. We started about an hour and a half late, half the table of honor didn’t show up and I could count on my hands how many people were in the crowd. I think the entire thing lasted about the length of the Salvadorian anthem doubled. That anthem is incredibly long. But, such is life. I was told that I spoke well – and isn’t that all that matters?
The fair is getting better as the week goes on. I’ve had a few more vendors come and rent space…this is awesome ‘cause it allows me to recoup the money I spent on setting the thing up. We’re only charging vendors from outside the community for space – everyone within has space for free.
I guess I should write about what else is going on during our Patron Saint festivals. Sunday was the first rodeo (we have another one coming up next Sunday). I somehow got stuck dispersing food until about 3 pm….that’s when I left to go clean and set up the communal house for my grand inauguration, see above. I wish I could tell you more about the rodeo, but I didn’t get to see any of it - not even the cool horses that dance.
I don’t believe this Sunday will be any better – or only slightly better. I’ll be selling the tickets for the beer! One for them, and one for me, one for them, and one for me……
Monday was my event and in the afternoon, they had a small dance for the kids of the community. It was set-up by an AIDS group – so naturally they were giving out information about AIDS and how to prevent getting AIDS. The gringos in the church weren’t exactly thrilled about that. I won’t go into the conversations we had – but they were precious.
Tuesday was the Tropical Invasion. I know, funny having a tropical invasion in the tropics – but whatever. I didn’t actually check this out – I was too busy sleeping. Man – it was worth skipping.
That brings us to today! I got myself up at 4:30 am to go see a mariachi band sing. It was actually quite nice – there weren’t too many people and the mariachis sung well. We also had the parade with all the queens – some on horseback and some on cars.
I should explain the queens – they have queens for everything down here. The head queen is the Queen of the Patron Saint Festivals, the lower queens include the Queen of the Artisans, the Queen of the Rodeo, the Queen of the Carrera de Cintas….all that fun stuff. I should have been a queen – maybe next year…if I’m still here.
I’ll fill you in on the rest of the activities when the fun is done – quizas Monday.
Alright, time to go check my fair and dance – What are Patron Saint Festivals without a lot of dancing?!
Any who – I had the grand inauguration of my artisan market on Monday….it was ugly. It was as if someone beat it with an ugly stick. We started about an hour and a half late, half the table of honor didn’t show up and I could count on my hands how many people were in the crowd. I think the entire thing lasted about the length of the Salvadorian anthem doubled. That anthem is incredibly long. But, such is life. I was told that I spoke well – and isn’t that all that matters?
The fair is getting better as the week goes on. I’ve had a few more vendors come and rent space…this is awesome ‘cause it allows me to recoup the money I spent on setting the thing up. We’re only charging vendors from outside the community for space – everyone within has space for free.
I guess I should write about what else is going on during our Patron Saint festivals. Sunday was the first rodeo (we have another one coming up next Sunday). I somehow got stuck dispersing food until about 3 pm….that’s when I left to go clean and set up the communal house for my grand inauguration, see above. I wish I could tell you more about the rodeo, but I didn’t get to see any of it - not even the cool horses that dance.
I don’t believe this Sunday will be any better – or only slightly better. I’ll be selling the tickets for the beer! One for them, and one for me, one for them, and one for me……
Monday was my event and in the afternoon, they had a small dance for the kids of the community. It was set-up by an AIDS group – so naturally they were giving out information about AIDS and how to prevent getting AIDS. The gringos in the church weren’t exactly thrilled about that. I won’t go into the conversations we had – but they were precious.
Tuesday was the Tropical Invasion. I know, funny having a tropical invasion in the tropics – but whatever. I didn’t actually check this out – I was too busy sleeping. Man – it was worth skipping.
That brings us to today! I got myself up at 4:30 am to go see a mariachi band sing. It was actually quite nice – there weren’t too many people and the mariachis sung well. We also had the parade with all the queens – some on horseback and some on cars.
I should explain the queens – they have queens for everything down here. The head queen is the Queen of the Patron Saint Festivals, the lower queens include the Queen of the Artisans, the Queen of the Rodeo, the Queen of the Carrera de Cintas….all that fun stuff. I should have been a queen – maybe next year…if I’m still here.
I’ll fill you in on the rest of the activities when the fun is done – quizas Monday.
Alright, time to go check my fair and dance – What are Patron Saint Festivals without a lot of dancing?!
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