Just thought that since I am at the office and have internet access I would post some of the photos on my camera from the Belize trip including this gorgeous panorama. There are lots of good shots of fishing and some off road Golf Cart action though.

I am off to do a bit of translating. Then when I get back I will be working on a map for a safety and security presentation. Interesting stuff for me, but unfortunately very boring to talk about.

Back from Vacation

Yeah, that means I am back in El Salvador, and I think I need a day or two more to re-adjust after the amazing vacation I just took.

It started with renting a car and picking my brother up at the airport. Renting a car was something a little crazy for me, not that I haven't driven since I entered Peace Corps, but I hadn't driven in El Salvador yet and it was a trip. I hope he enjoyed briefly seeing my town, because it was nice to finally have someone come and see how I live and actually understand a bit of what I have been saying. As much as I try to explain it, I don't think people often really understand without actually seeing and doing.

The actual trip was fantastic and I don't think I want to describe it too much because that would take forever. Needless to say the food was one of the highlights for me because I just don't get anything that I would qualify as "cuisine" ever. Even the random down time was fantastic since I was constantly laughing at something that one of the three of us said. We played a lot of cards and just chatted quite a bit, which suited me fine because I don't get to relax with friends or family all that often. Plus relaxing is sort of the pace of life I am used to by now.

For sites, Actun Tunichil Muknar (I hope I spelled it correctly) took the cake and I want to upload photos as soon as I can. Basically it was a cave that we had to hike, swim, wade and climb to get into and once inside we saw the remains of Mayan sacrifices including human remains. That was totally my speed because not only did we see Mayan remains, but all the other outdoors stuff was an added bonus. Not that anything else we did was shabby, I mean we went snorkeling, diving, saw Tikal (the largest Mayan Pyramids in Central America) and golf carted around. I hope to have pictures up at some point.

The icing on the cake however was that my SIM card got stolen on my return trip to El Salvador. This after Samuel's phone and SIM got stolen when we were leaving. So I couldn't call home or the Peace Corps when I got in. Today I managed to talk a phone company person into getting me a SIM with the same phone number though and I am connected and ready to face the world again.

First things first I have been slowly working on that piece of art for a while now for multiple reasons. First, my computer doesn't like huge photoshop files and likes to choke on them, so I can't work on it very much at one sitting. Second it is a completely new style for me and it took some time to figure out and decide how I wanted to work with it. But after stewing over it for so long I thought I would upload it and let it see the light of day. I don't really consider it finished so there will likely be a future version fixed up and with a mild background.

About my life I have been feeling both bored on a relational level and hectic rushing around. Two more of my closest Peace Corps buddies left about 10 days ago and slowly but surely the reality that Peace Corps volunteers in a country are in a constant state of flux is getting to me. I mean of all the people I used to hang out with this time last year, one remains and because of my move she is really far away. So I have been dealing with a form of the loneliness that comes and goes here. Mostly it takes the form that when I am bored and need to talk to someone, I don't know who to call or text so I just sit around and keep my thoughts to myself. To top all of that off, my boss Bryan, who is amazing, is leaving to take a better position with Peace Corps in Belize at the end of the month. Sad for us, but amazing for the volunteers in Belize. Unfortunately I will miss his last days because of the vacation that I am going on at the end of the month.

However I have been running back and forth all over the place quite a bit lately. I have started to install and train people in other sites to use my database that I was working on so heavily and so far it has taken me to two different volunteer's sites. Both were decently near by and fun to see. I have also been putting lots of touch up work into the documentary and now another internet short that I was working on for the Municipal Development program here. These sort of became a rush issue to get them done while Bryan is still around and so that I can see Bryan before he is gone. I feel like I haven't really done any work in my town for a long time, mostly because the City Hall was closed until recently and also because I have been running around so much. I'm trying to settle down until Samuel comes so I can feel like I got lots of good community time in before I run off again. But at the same time it vacation time. It has been since last May since I really took anything that resembled a real vacation, so I am very ready for this.

New Years

In the spirit of keeping people up to date with my life and because I have been around lots of internet connected computers, I will let you know what I did for New Years.

I hopped on a bus with Kaya and went to a beach in La Libertad called El Tunco. That roughly translates to The Pig. I have heard two different stories about why it is called that, one is that a large rock in the water looks like a pig, the other is that when pigs were being created, they came to the beach to bathe and party and someone saw it. I am inclined to think both are false because I don't think pigs were "created" or that they came in from the ocean, also I think that the rock looks nothing like a pig. Anyway, a bunch of volunteers were there and we had a whole hostal reserved for ourselves. It was a bit of a mad house between my dog, the Crowe's dog and the various dogs that lived there and the multitude of volunteers. I tried letting Kaya have some freedom off the leash, but she quickly demonstrated just how much of a puppy she was, so she spent the rest of the time on the leash.

The actual party was a mixed bag of volunteers in various states of drunkeness and a few of their parents or embassy friends. I mostly abstained because I wasn't in the best shape for drinking and I had my dog with me. But I did enjoy the hijinks and the company. Plus I got a wicked sunburn, which may be worse than a hangover since it lasts a bit longer.

Merry Christmas

For Christmas this year I accepted my boss's invite to an open house type party on the 25th not because I really wanted to celebrate Christmas, but because I wanted to see all my Peace Corps buddies and so that I didn't have to be lame and lonely. The side effect of that decision was that there was no transport to/from my site on the 25th, so I had to leave and go somewhere for the 24th, which can be a little crazy here.
The decision I made was to ride my bike to my friend Sam's house in Candelaria which is about 15Km or about 10 miles. It wasn't too rough a ride, but it was windy, and with my luck the wind was blowing right in my face and slowing me down to a crawl. But I made it after a little work and got to Candelaria. I was a bit on the hungry side after that long ride and the small lunch I had to avoid a stomach ache. I had completely forgotten that dinner on the 24th is often eaten very late at night. What I was also pleasantly unaware of until getting to Sam's is that his family intended to take me to mass with them. We went a bit early, which directly contradicts everything that I have come to expect of timeliness in El Salvador. So Sam and I went over to hang out with Sarah, the former volunteer there who was visiting her old host family, and to kill the time. To my utter surprise Sarah immediately introduced me as jewish, which flung her host father into a tirade about why my "race" insists on inculcating hate in their children and murdering arabs. I just sort of smiled and waited it out. Then I went to church and played the nice catholic boy attending mass. Then they got communion all ready and my stomach decided to remind me just how hungry I was. It was screeming at me "you go get that wafer, you suck it up and get me that wafer!" Never in my life have I wanted to receive communion more than I did on Christmas Eve.
Then the morning of the 25th we hopped a ride with Sarah back to San Sal and got ready for the party at Bryan's.

Always Surprising

After five years living in a fraternity house and more than a year and a half in The Saviour I thought I had seen just about every random thing that I could see. On the 22nd I saw something that brought the two together like never before. I was invited along with some of the young people in my community to go to a pool/restaurant (think tiny water park). The first surprise, which in all honesty shouldn't have surprised me, was that a church group showed up and set up a portable mass in the middle of water park. Only here would anyone think to combine pools and mass. I felt a little guilty because I was there with my buddies and we were drinking a bit, though trying to be a bit inconspicuous. Nothing says El Salvador to me like a nice jewish boy having a beer in the middle of mass.
Then in the middle of all the madness I spied someone in a shirt that looked a little familiar. On closer inspection it said "Semper Pi". I realized rather quickly that it was an Alpha Epsilon Pi shirt that was a knock off of a US Marines shirt. I had seen that shirt before at a convention so the rest of it I could recite from memory, "The Few, The Proud, The Circumcised". I decided then and there that he had no idea what he was wearing and it was my duty to inform him. Luckily I knew the word in spanish for circumcision and was capable of fully explaining it to him. He seemed incredulous at best upon being informed that he was wearing a shirt advertising someone had sliced him up a bit. Then he one upped my by changing into an AEPi Stands With Israel shirt. Yes that is correct, the very same shirt that was sold at convention and given to all the brothers that went on birthright. I had to explain that shirt too. I had to explain that almost all my friends from college had that exact same shirt. Then the incredulous Salvadoran started asking me all about what Alpha Epsilon Pi was, which led to me explaining fraternities a bit, and realizing that the relatively simple act of explaining a circumcision led to a full scale discussion about fraternities to a Salvadoran who had never heard of either before in his life. I was in a bit over my head and I gracefully bowed out when one of my friends called to me.
The rest of the day was spent in the pool or on the water slides with my buddies and their kids. I never thought playing in a kiddy pool with a 2 year old could be so much fun, but I learn new things every day here in El Salvador.

Fiestas!

Ok so I have mentioned to a few people that my town has been in the midst of Fiestas Patronales, or the yearly patron saint festivals. The time of year depends on who the patron saint of the town is, but by some happy coincidence my new town and my old town have the same saint and therefore the same dates for fiestas.

My current town, El Porvenir, has a larger and more full schedule for the fiestas than my old town though. It all started a little while back with the election of the queen for the fiestas. I was invited to sit at the table of honor, not really knowing what to expect, but not really wanting to turn down an invite either. So I showed up on time, which was foolish because lets be honest, its El Salvador. Well to my surprise it turned out to be a full scale beauty pageant. I was a little shocked to see how young the girls looked, and really shocked when they started announcing their ages, chest sizes, waist sizes and weights. I mean I didn't need to know that the sort of cute one was 14 and only weighed 98 pounds. That was what got me, there was no second thought of parading a bunch of underage girls in front of 100s of ogling men. Needless to say things weren't all of that calibre.

Most of the activities are small parades for the various queens and such. Some are parades with kids in masks like above. Others are just people doing dances and enjoying hearing themselves on microphones.

My favorite event was a BMX bike show where people were doing flips and such. I mean these were amateur Salvadorans that they brought in. Not all of them did flips, lots just did basic jumps or took their hands off the handles. They guy pictured got major air and did a flip over another guy. I almost lost it when I noticed he was close to hitting the flags and then almost clipped the guy below him as he came down. You can see he is coming in a bit low. After that there was a skateboarding event, all part of extreme sports day. I didn't really enjoy the skateboarding as much, but I did get out of the sun for it, which was nice. Plus there was good music for the skateboarding.

One of the days was Tropical Invasion, which just meant lots of live bands, none of which were even slightly tropical. I enjoyed the first one which was a ska band of sorts. Last night there was a rock band in the park which I listened to for a while until I could hear my ears ringing from the volume and then left. They were good, but I don't understand the Salvo obsession with volume.

I bought a bike and today I am off on my bike to have a meeting about improved stoves then hand out permission slips to kids who I am taking to the camp later this month. Fun stuff.

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Last year I hung out with Stephen and Barbara and we cooked chili at Stephen's house. This year I did manage to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It is sort of a Peace Corps norm here to organize groups of Volunteers to stay with Embassy families and eat and drink and be merry. However this year there were more Volunteers than the Embassy could provide families, so Barbara and I went and stayed with another American couple who work for a Christian NGO called Samaritan's Purse. We had a good time and most importantly lots of good food. Unfortunately they had work early the following morning, so we got dropped off at the Peace Corps office a little before 7.

Since there was a game yesterday in San Miguel, I decided to relax on the 23rd in the capital and spend the evening with Kelsey to celebrate her birthday. During the day, with lots of time on my hands and most volunteers still crashing from turkey overload and the shock of staying in a nice house, I decided to go to the Anthropology Museum. I liked it. It was a little on the small side from an American or European stand point. I know that archeology was a relatively recent movement here and isn't so well followed right now, so I was prepared for a relative dearth of artifacts. Still the museum had some good stuff and information that the residents here just don't know. I was aware of a sign that said there was an archaeological site in Cara Sucia while I was living there, but the people brushed it off telling me it was nothing and that nothing ever came from it. Not true apparently, Cara Sucia was one of the earliest known cultural centers here and pre-dates the classical period with the Pipil Indians, keeping active until shortly before the colonial period. So there were some pleasant shocks, but I think they need to spend more time and energy on the cultural and historical background in the museum and cut back on the religion display (which is mostly modern christian) and the artisan display (also mostly modern) because they don't really give anything that you can't find everywhere here.

Kelsey's birthday was relaxed. We hit up Tony Roma's in typical American style and had burgers, desserts and some drinks. Mostly she wanted to just relax and hang out, so that is what we did.

Then yesterday I went to San Miguel for the monthly soccer game. Man oh man was it a scorcher. I think I very nearly got heat stroke and Ryan, another volunteer, I think did. I say I think I nearly got heat stroke because luckily we had substitutes and I could get off the field, drink some water and hang in the shade for 5 minutes or more. There was a pretty intense play where I (playing midfield) ran from a deep defensive position to push an offensive drive, but our lack of footwork caused a turnover and I had to turn an sprint back down the field. I chased my man down, got a defensive stop and cleared the ball. As soon as I could I called for a sub and got off. I managed to get all the way off the field, heave a little and then vomited a bit in the trash can. It was epic according to one of the Volunteers. So I relaxed a bit and had some water and cooled off before jumping back in to finish up the game.

After the game we hurried off to San Miguel for Carnaval, a once yearly festival that takes over the city and has music at nearly every street corner, a parade, dancing in the streets and just an all over the city good time. Erin, who organized the game, also organized a hotel in San Miguel so we were safe to go out and have a good time. I didn't stay out too late or drink too much since I didn't want to wind up severely dehydrated or worse. It was a good time, but I don't think I would do it again even if I were going to be here. Several Volunteers had attempted pickpockets. We were all prepared and didn't carry any phones, cameras, wallets or such like that so no harm no foul. Big huge festivals just aren't my scene. But I chalk it all up to getting a cultural experience and seeing more of the country.

Right now I am passing through San Salvador on my way back home to Santa Ana. I've been away from home for a few days and I want to get back to my dog and my new bike. Plus I need to get working on my part of the youth camp we are putting on in December. I am excited about that since it will be at Lago Coatepeque, a beautiful crater lake not too far from where we all live.

Getting Along

Since Juayua not much has been happening. Life has slowed down a bit in my new site and things are starting to run like they always do. Missed meetings, no transport, people not showing up on time... all the things that drive Peace Corps volunteers nuts about working in El Salvador.


I've been driving myself nuts checking on my dog constantly and worrying about leaving her for more than a few hours. Basically I'm afraid she'll chew off her little splint. Its just coban and its tough to keep a dog from chewing it off. I tried hot sauce and aloe, which worked a bit. Now I just have to deal with the funky smell of her splint every time she comes limping around.


I got away for a day to get up to a soccer at another volunteer's site in Metapan, Santa Ana. It was gorgeous, one of the most gorgeous places I have seen in this whole country. We had the privilege of playing in the shadow of a waterfall. How often do you get to play on a field on a mountain with a waterfall in the background and goats on the field? Seriously, and not only was it gorgeous, but we won for once. They didn't put in a whole new team in the second half like usual. All in all a great game and a great night spent hanging out afterwards. We stayed in two cabins overlooking the valley below. We cooked an improvised dinner of chicken fajitas, chorizo and burgers which were all amazing.

I have almost finished my municipal promotion database which I planned to have implemented by January 1st. This should give me plenty of time to troubleshoot and fix it up so other volunteers can get it installed in their municipalities too. Then I will have a great reason to go around visiting volunteers and installing databases in various places around the country. I'm actually rather excited about it.

In January I think a few of us are going to put together a thinking outside the box camp. That basically means we will take a few kids from each of out communities to a site out on a lake and give some presentations about creative thinking and problem solving. Thrown in will be some fun ice breakers and soccer games and whatnot. Should be fun.

Unexpected

Life is moving at a rapid pace for me now. Last week was a good week in general. I got a lot accomplished comparatively and there were some pleasant surprises along the way.
I'll start by talking about work. I met 3 girls, two that have previously received scholarships and are trying to renew them and one whose family is so poor that she sought me out to try to get a scholarship so she could go to tenth grade. I helped all three of them fill out their forms and made a mad dash to San Sal to turn in the two that were due yesterday, October 15th. Since I hadn't really been working on anything of that type until now it is both fulfilling and depressing to see that school is so affordable and yet families still can't rummage enough to send their kids. I'm desperately hoping that all three of these girls get their scholarships. Two are just trying to get through high school and the third is looking to get to a university, which is dreaming bigger than 90% of everyone I have met in this country. I'm crossing my fingers.
For pleasant surprises, I got a few amazing phone calls almost back to back on friday. First, to my surprise, Rebecca called me from France. It knocked me for a loop. I had talked to her not that long ago while she spent her brief stint in the US between France and Japan, but I didn't expect a call from so far. Needless to say it was like a breath of fresh air speaking to a friend from home that isn't part of my family. Then just afterwards Fabio, my host dad from training, called who I haven't seen in months. It was just nice to hear from him and it lifted my spirits even more. So by mid-day Friday I was on a bit of a high. I had a great meeting with an NGO who works on environmental concerns in my Municipio, I spoke to Rebecca, and then Fabio called.
Then the weekend came and life continued to be good. Mirna, the woman that runs the comedor that I eat in, offered me one of her tanks of propane so I don't have to cough up the extra $32 to replace the tank I left behind in my hasty move. Plus she made me the best pan relleno I have had since I was living near San Vicente. So you know, a pan relleno is like french bread stuffed with vegetables, chicken, cheese and other goodness cooked in chicken broth. That doesn't really do it justice, but it was amazing. I also purchased two artisan made tables that I should take possession of next week.
Right now I am in Juayua, a beautiful mountain community that is cool and just generally nice to be in. I am here for a regional meeting of volunteers and taking advantage of some free WiFi. Unfortunately blessings come with curses, and I decided to bring Kaya, who proceeded to either break a toe, or almost break a toe upon meeting so many cool new people. So tomorrow I will take her for a second opinion to a Vet I trust in Santa Ana. Quite frankly I think its broken, but the vet said no and gave her a cortisone shot. She is limping pretty bad though and it isn't looking any better. So much for trying to take care of her, it just isn't possible with a puppy in this country. Cross your fingers for her.

Ok, So I'm Settled I guess

Well after a little time I am what should be called settled in and getting work under way. I say should be called settled in, because as usual I am a bit slow about getting things purchased and getting my house completely set up. I still don't have a table, a place to put my cooking range or a propane tank since the move. I am experiencing the same laziness of a year ago, where it takes a bus ride to a city to purchase anything, and arguing about delivery or paying a pickup in order to get said things back to my house. So for now, no stuff, and that means I either do my work on the floor, or laying in my hammock. It also means an almost dead stop to my creative impulses a la photoshop since that for sure requires some work surface and free time at home. For now the plan is to contract someone local to hand make me a table and a little cooking stand.

However work has already taken an upswing and gone for a bit of the same. Yesterday I went and met the two girls in my town who receive scholarship money and made plans to fill out their forms for next year. Today I was supposed to go with my counterpart to a canton to help a school group form and environmental committee, but somehow when I got there, they left without saying a word to me, even after I confirmed that I would go yesterday. So ups and downs as I expected, but overall positive. I have done some work on the database I was working on before and plan to get it up and running on my counterpart's computer by the start of the year. Sometime this week the NGO that helped with a tree project and a stove project with the last volunteer is returning for a meeting, so I hope to crash it and get in on the ground floor of any work that can be done in my municipality.

I have also reaffirmed my love for hammocks in the past two weeks. In fact Kaya has sort of adapted to pushing me in her own annoying way. When I lay in my hammock for extended periods of time and start ignore her, she runs into me from below, sometimes causing me to resume swinging, other times stopping my swinging altogether. But she wants human contact and I suppose ramming speed is the best way to get it when I'm nose deep in a book and swinging away.

In other news I am thinking of getting a bike which would ease my transport problems around my area and get in a little exercise at the same time. Some time soon I will go check out bike and used bike prices. Just hope I am not my usual lazy self and wind up putting it off until it is no longer worth it.

Fresh Year, Fresh Start

In what I feel is a somewhat appropriate turn of events in my life, immediately following Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, two holidays that stress making a fresh start, I have picked up and moved to a new town in El Salvador. Most everything in my life is all upside down right now. My house is similar in size to my last one, but not as nice. I finally have water 24 hours a day, but there is no light in the bathroom and I don't think I can drink it this time around. I'm paying more for my house, but the backyard is shared and I don't really have a place to let my dog run around except on my poorly fenced in porch. In addition I don't have a backyard where she can do her stuff, so that means at least a short walk every time I come home and her constantly hanging out at the door for one reason or another. The people are friendly enough, but I am dealing with a bit of the opportunistic trying to take advantage of the new "gringo" in town.

So far though I am happy I pulled the trigger and got myself to a new town. I have been given a chance to start over that most volunteers never get and I am hoping to take full advantage of it. I am hoping to identify all those things that I did which contributed to the failures in my previous site and do whatever I can to prevent them. Already I am happy to be living so close to my counterparts. Last night I had a pleasant talk with the new mayor while walking home, something that never would have happened before because the mayor didn't live in town and furthermore, he seemed rather indifferent to me from the first day. The school has a good amount of computers, so I had a meeting to check them out this morning and see what sort of state they are in and what programs are on them. I hope to get a few more good learning programs on them and possibly shake up how they are teaching computer use a bit. In addition I would love to get internet in there.

Meanwhile I am exploring Santa Ana, the closest city, for the first time today accompanied by a few of my Volunteer friends.

I would love to write everything on my mind with regards to the time of the year and the move, but I don't know that people want to read a post loaded down with theology or that I have the cash to pay for the time that would require at the internet cafe. Suffice to say it feels good and I wanted to share.

I missed it before, but L'Shana Tova. And for today, I hope everyone has an easy fast. I'll be staying with my Peace Corps country director for Yom Kippur and attending the Temple in San Salvador.

Check out the photos I just uploaded of Engineers without Borders that came to my area and stayed at my house. Just click the Webshots gallery link on the right. -->

Night By Candlelight

So I am sure we have all been caught in power outtages before, they happen right? Well I got caught in a pretty long one, from just before 6 p.m. to around 11.

First and foremost I want to stress that cooking by candlelight is not an easy task. I had started to cook just before the sun was going down, chopping vegetables and whatnot. As it got dark I moved on to carrots, right then it started to rain fairly hard. Just as I was peeling the carrot with my rediculously sharp American knife, the power went out. So for the record, attempting to peel a carrot without any light and with a very small, very sharp knife is most likely a very bad idea. I was simply too lazy to go get my candle, expecting the power to come back on any minute. I mean usually the power goes out for 5 minutes max. Well I was wrong and I had to give up the good fight against the carrot and give in to the candle and my head lamp. Some boiling pasta and a simmering sauce later I realized that my head lamp needed new batteries and I most likely could not get them in the pouring rain and pitch black outside, if a tienda were even open.

So I sat back to enjoy my sorta cajun, sorta seafood pasta by the meager light of a candle and I sat thinking about what I would do for the night. There really ins't much to do with the power out, as you can guess, so I settled for just eating my pasta in the by candlelight, wondering why that passes for romantic.

Once the reality actually set in that the power wasn't coming back on any time soon, I busted out my lame little headlamp and decided to read until the batteries gave out, which lasted about until 9 p.m. By then the only things left in my house with power were my iPod and my computer, so I settled in my hammock and put on some tunes, reflecting on exactly why many Salvadorans get up so early. Not that I never thought of it before, but it became painfully clear that they get up early not to work early, but because they go to bed so early. After six it is pitch black, and lots of Salvadorans either don't have electricity, or never got accustomed to using it to stay up late. It is only the young kids and the drunkards that are ever out past 8 or 9 in my town anyway, that is why I am almost always back in my house by then.

So feeling well adjusted, but not exactly exhausted, I leaned over and blew out the candle a little earlier than I had planned. It was a relaxing evening, interupted only by the blast of the lights I forgot to turn off waking me up.

Now I am desperately awaiting any sort of contact from an Engineers Without Borders chapter because I need to arrange them housing and food, but I lost the dates and I know it is coming up. Additionally, I have no idea if I will be able to be around during those days or not because of the High Holidays and other administrative concerns. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they told me the 17th, I don't know why that date sticks out in my head, but it does. Also the 12th sticks out, but I am hoping it is only because it is both Rosh Hashana and Rebecca's birthday.

P.S. I put up some new stuff at DeviantArt

Opening Day

Every now and again we all get the chance to take part in a "cultural experience". I'm not talking about the Cultural Experience stuff like Fiestas that everyone recognizes as part of the culture and something to take part in, I'm talking about the everyday sort of stuff that nobody would ever know is different or special until you stop and explain it to them.

Not to long ago in Cara Sucia a new supermarket opened and I had the opportunity to be there for it's grand opening. Things were a bit crazy. I mean Car Sucia always has street vendors, but they were crowded outside the Despensa Familiar with unusual concentration and selling fewer products than usual. It was rather noisy, but I couldn't really see what was going on because of the crowd and all the vendors. I sort of pushed my way through and into the parking lot. It was then that I noticed that there two DJ's in the parking lot, along with a moon bounce and several little stands to sign people up for cell phones and whatnot. I forged on ahead and moved inside. Indoors I found another DJ in hte bag check area, where I gave over my bag in exchange for a locker key and a hand basket. I made my way through the free Salva Cola gauntlet and finally I was inside and ready to shop.

I first made my way to the bread, hoping to snag my whole wheat bread at a better price than usual. That wasn´'t happening, my way was blocked by a crowd of youngsters hoping to get a hold of some balloon animals that the Bimbo (bread company) reps were making. So I decided to move on and found my way to soups, where for all the hub-bub they only had one variety. Ok, so that was excuseable, salvadorans pretty much only eat one variety anyway. Over to the snacks now, I picked out a few I liked. I couldn't just add them to my basket though, the friendly woman had to put a labeled bag on each individual snack item to emphasize the fact that I had chosen Diana brand snack products. Finally after similar experiences in each and every aisle I decided it was time to bail. I paid, recovered my bag and got out.

In the parking lot I stopped to reflect that the old market was far better: less crowded, more variety, similar prices, and no DJ's, clowns, balloon animals, moon bounces, give aways or other distractions that really just masked the lack of products. De Todo, you will remain my market for as long as it takes.

Local Beer

It has been a tradition for me to get around to new places and try a local Beer when I am there. I just added another beer to that list. I have now had Salvavida in Honduras. It is one of their big national brands and reminds of Coors for the most part. A little bitter, not too dark and smooth enough to drink a few if you want. Nothing great though.

Honduras was pretty, at least Roatan was. It reminded more of the Carribbean than Central America because the island is home mostly to African Americans left there as a result of the slave trade generations ago, and that they speak both english and spanish natively. The beach where I was was gorgeous, soft white sand and crystal clear water that I just couldn't make cloudy by kicking up sand. I only spent a few days, but I would have spent more if I could have. It had jungle tours to try, good snorkeling, better diving, decent hotels, a cool little town at West End and all sorts of Dolphin encounters available. I think there are other places with some ofthe same sort of stuff or better, but I don't know if they have it all. I doubt I'll be back soon, but I do recommend it.

I also had the pleasure of helping to welcome a new group of Volunteers into the country and look forward to working with them. There are a number in my region and it should be interesting to be the "old" Muni group now.

New Photos

More than anything else I just wanted to draw your attention that there are new photos in my webshots gallery.

Done!

It has been a long time coming but the 3 Day Youth Camp that we were planning is finally over and I took a full day and a half to relax and just sit around in my house and feel tired. I am really glad its over, but mostly because I was getting tired of all the planning and moving of dates. It was exhausting, but worth it. I don't know that I'll being doing anything similar again during my service, but it was very rewarding to see the kids enjoying themselves and to see that they were sad to go home and leave their new friends. In spite of still being exhausted I think the camp was a bit of a pick me up because I have had the 1 year blues so to speak. Things just weren't going my way and I have not been super excited about work, but the camp gave me a bit of a recharge with regards to success and my community members.

After all this I have found a bit of new respect for my camp counselors over the years. Being the nominal "adult" in the boys cabin was a bit of a restless experience. The first night they wouldn't be quiet and I gently tried to quiet them down, but I let them have a little fun knowing that they don't get out much and that this was something special. Needless to say I didn't really sleep at all with the noise and the occasional drip from the roof on my leg or neck. The second night I did some fun hammering though because we needed to get up early and I needed my sleep after a second long day. Fun Hammering is one of the least fun activities I have had the misfortune to be a part of. I just don't enjoy telling others that they can't do what they want to do.

I have tons of photos of all the madness/work that was the Camp, but my new found internet situation means I need to pick and choose what I upload and also that I have to remember to bring it on my USB drive to the internet cafe. Today I did not remember.

That Sound

I meant to post this yesterday as part of my post, and thereby make it a little more upbeat and fun, but I needed to go and do other things. Now today I am waiting around in Sonsonate and figured internet is a good use of my cash. Anyway...

So for while there was this animal in my yard that would make the craziest squakish sound, enough to startle me at first then make me laugh as I got used to it. I'd call it something along the lines of a demented toucan in terms of sound. Well this animal mostly made the sound in response to other loud noises at night, especially if I was calling my dog or coughing.

At first I was simply content to do my best demented nocturnal toucan to try to sucket the little guy into making the sound so I could laugh at it while I brushed my teeth. With time amusement turned into curiosity and I started to wonder where it was hiding and what it was. Of course my first thought was that it was a bird because of the sound it was making. Plus time after time the noise came from the tree behind my pila. However, try as I might to target the little bugger with my headlamp, it always managed to stay hidden while blasted me with high volume screeches.

I had all but given up the game and decided that I would just have to live not knowing what or where the mystery sound maker was. Then just a few nights ago while sick and barely dragging myself out to brush my teeth and blow my nose I saw my pila frog sitting at his usual spot and looking rather content. Then Mr. Pila inflated his neck and did his best crazy toucan impression. At first I couldn't believe my eyes or ears. No frog in the history of me has ever made that sound before, certainly not with me right in front of it. Then I began to feel stupid for never having suspected the pila frog as the noise offender. He always seemed so calm and happy sitting on my pila waiting for a good swim. Slowly those thoughts began to give way to disappointment that I no longer have the mystery to keep me entertained at night. I just have to hope the pila frog sticks around and continues answering my calls.

People want to know what I have been up to and eventhough I try to update whenever something cool happens, it seems not much cool stuff is happening. After working in the capital for that week a while back my work slowed down in my site to almost a grinding halt.

When I got back to my place I went over to talk to my buddy Rudy who is the security guard at the City Hall and I was told that the plan to finally move most of the people in the City Hall to a second location in Cara Sucia was finally going through. I was a bit confused as to what that means for me and my work, but Over the course of working by myself most of the week and only stopping in occasionally I found that the City Hall has been mostly gutted and of the 45 people that were in the building, only about 6 remain there now. They also took out the wireless internet, so I'll be paying for internet from here on out it seems and won't be able to use my computer for it.

Then I hosted a trainee for their Immersion Days activity, which is basically when a trainee stays in a rural community set up by a Volunteer for 2 nights, then stays with the Volunteer to discuss the actity for one night. It went alright and the trainee enjoyed himself, but it didn´t go how I wanted, which nothing here ever does. Basically the lady he was supposed to stay with dished him off to another man to sleep and a different lady altogether to eat and had nothing to do with him. Like I said it was fine, at least she was responsible enough to make other arrangements, which I am thankful for.

After all that I took the trainee back to the Capital for a 4th of July celebration and soccer tournament thrown at the Sheraton. My reservations got all screwed up and I had to call my Mom to get them squared away, but luckily we got things worked out and it turned out to be free (or I hope so, gotta keep an eye on my credit card statement.) My team (Municipal Development) almost won the soccer tournament. It ended in a high stress shoot out and eventhough our goalie blocked two shots, we missed enough to lose after 7 shots. I didn´t spend much time at the actual 4th of July bash for some reason, but we all went out afterwards.

I wound up getting sick though and I have spent the last two days mostly holed up in my house trying not to cough or sneeze on every square inch of tile that my house is made of. I think Kaya believes I am dying.