Epilog

As a small update…

I’m visiting my parents before moving up to NJ to find work…..any ideas?

Ohh..and I’ve talked to Iris several times and we’re planning on skyping soon.

Saludos.

The end

Wednesday (I believe we’re talking about the 13th of August) I woke up early and headed back to my pueblo. Along the way I stopped by a bakery to pick up some items. I think I got into town around 10:15am. This was the hardest day b/c it was the last day.

I’ll explain that below is a minor resumen of what went on…it’s kinda tuff to describe the last day in a place you’ve lived two years in.

I first went and dropped all my stuff off at Iris’s place and quickly caught up with her. Then to Sonia’s. I then walked around town to say good-bye and thank my landlords. From there I headed over to Vilma’s for one final good-bye.

Now, during the Festivales Patronales, I sold many of the smaller items in my house in Iris’s store as a fundraiser for the Casa de Cultura (Culture House). So, I walked over there after a tearful goodbye with Vilma to make the donation. They were very thankful.

The rest of the morning I stayed with Iris. She made me my favorite lunch (meat filled tortillas) as we watch soap operas. She also helped me repack a bunch of my stuff. Now, I was all worried that everything was over weight. So Lito went and got a cool hanging scale to check everything. He prounounced my heaviest bag to be 30…only he didn’t realize that the scale was in kilograms….not pounds. More on that later.

In the afternoon, I headed over to the town hall to say good-bye and eat cake. It was a small but nice little event. I’m still waiting to get the photos from Heidy.

Then it was off the Sonia’s place for the rest of the day. She prepared my favorite food and we drank pina coladas. They gave me a few gifts that I’ll always keep.

That night I could hardly sleep I was soo full. I mean insanely full.

Thursday morning Iris made me pancakes. We chitchatted a little and then at 9am I hopped into the town hall pick up and was off. Neither Iris nor Sonia came…they said it would be too sad and they were right.

It was a nice drive out – calm.

Getting home was a little rough. I had to pay for overweight luggage and my carry on was a little tough to get around since it weighed 40lbs. But, I somehow managed and got home around 11pm to the open arms of my awaiting parents.

And that’s the end of Peace Corps El Salvador for me.

Bay Islands

The Vacation

So, I got to the capital a little later then I wanted to. I quickly dropped off some stuff at the hostel and then ran over to have lunch with a few friends to say good-bye. That was a little quicker then I wanted it to be.

Natalie and I then ran over to a salon to get some girl things done….I leave the details out. Then we decided to go to a different salon to get our nails done. Getting to the other salon was hell. We were in the cap during the Festivales Patronales so it was pandemonium. So, the bus we thought would cut around everything, instead took us to the center of the action. We hopped off the bus and ran to the other side of the activities to get on a quicker bus. While waiting to grab another bus, a micro bus hit me with its side view mirror between the shoulder blades. Thankfully, it was only going about5mph – but still. After that, we gave up and got in a cab.

We got in the other salon just in time. I let Nat get the first seat for a pedicure and thought I would just be waiting a few minutes. Instead they called me over to do my pedicure in another part of the salon – I figured maybe they had another area…I was wrong. I got a bucket in the middle of the salon with lukewarm water. It was great.

That night we had dinner with another friend as a goodbye dinner.

Thurday morning we were off to the Bay Islands in Honduras. It was a total of about three flights to get there. The first flight was good, the second and third were in prop planes. I’ve never really been in a prop plane like those.

Anyway, we got to the island and settled in. We also picked out our dive shop. I can’t say we did too much more then diving and watching the Olympics. Ohh..we did manage to take some walks on the beach and eat cookie dough.

Joe and I complete two dives towards our Advanced Open Water certification – peak performance buoyancy and our deep dive. The buoyancy one was extremely useful – it helped us determine how much weight we should be using and how to float ‘neutrally’ (for example, if you could stay at 15ft below the surface without much work…neither sinking or rising). We decided to do the deep dive since there was a sunk ship. We went to a depth of 105ft…it was really fun.

Now, as you may have noticed, I only said Joe and I. After our third dive, Natalie’s ear was in bad shape. As we were doing our deep dive, she went to the hospital to have it checked out. Let’s just say it’s a damn good thing she didn’t do the deep dive.

After the deep dive…which I think was on Monday….we hopped on to local transportation for a cheap tour of the island. We were gone for about 4 hours and saw some really beautiful sights. Though, I will admit that during the ride I did sneak in a 20min nap. The bus route for our driver ended on the other side of the island, but since he was headed back our way we let us stay on the bus and acted as a tour guide. It was really nice of him and we paid him almost everything we had in our pockets…which may or may not of been enough to cover the ride.

That night we treated ourselves to a good Thai restaurant and enjoyed the Olympics.

Tuesday was our flight back to El Salvador. Now, they don’t mention when you enter Honduras that you’re going to have to pay $34 to leave the country. This took us all unaware and thank God I had my debit card or I might still be in Honduras.

We got back to San Salvador about 7ish and just went to the estancia to crash. It was a nice vacation and I’m glad I did it.

The end of the festivales patronales

So where did I leave off… (if you are reading this before the one below, I think you should skip down and them come back to this point…only a suggestion).

Ahh yes, Friday night activities. For a little while Friday afternoon I chilled with Vilma where they were selling (in front of the culture house). That night was the first night of bands…I gotta say I wasn’t all that impressed. The first band’s mics were all off and they sounded terrible. The only people who were able to put on a really good show were the comedians. The fun part this year was that I could actually understand them…for the most part.

Saturday…I don’t quite remember what I did on Saturday. Chances are I was finishing up the house, hanging out with my artisans and everyone else.

Sunday was the big day. In the morning I worked my way over to one of the fields for the carrera de cintas – I was a godmother. I’m pretty sure I was the oldest godmother there – most topped out at 16. Overall it was good, but it started about 3 hours late and that field was horribly hot….there aren’t any trees there anywhere.

From there I worked my way over to the church bbq. Nina Tere invited me the day before and thus I felt obliged to go. I showed up way late (see previous paragraph for reason) and thus there wasn’t really any food…but Tere got up and made me my own plate. It was good.

I quicky ate and then headed over to the other soccer field to watch the ending of the tournament. I’m pleased to announce that my team won the tournament…I think it’s b/c I was their godmother.

After the fun of the tournament, I got to relax in the house for a bit and get ready for the dance. The dance was set up in front of my house with the speakers facing Iris’s house. So, I could get through to her house for the most part, but around 6ish they closed my only pass through. Thankfully, they did allow me to use a ladder and climb through the dj booth to get to my house.

I got ready and then stepped out my front door to watch the parade with the queens go by.

The dance was gonna be great, but then it down poured. The dance was smaller then last year, but still good. The down pour knocked out the power for a little bit, a few minutes at a time.

I left the dance around 1amish, after that hour there are more drunkards then non…so it’s when I leave.

Monday was a quite day around town.

Tuesday was the final day of the festivals patronales. Iris and I went to the other neighborhood (yes, they so do the ‘other neighborhood’ thing down here) to see the palo encebado or the greased up pole. About 10 – 15 drunkards work together (I should note that they’re not drunk yet) to climb the giant greased pole to win a huge bottle of alcohol and $150. It took them a number of tries and I’m surprised nobody broke anything.

Tuesday afternoon I moved almost everything out of the house….sad.

Wednesday was when the move was finished. I left my bags with Iris and ran into the capital to start my vacation with Joe and Natalie.