Limpieza de la cancha de futbol con el grupo de jovenes! To dissuade potential accusations of violating child labor laws: Jaime, who just turned 7 on Jan 1st! is merely posing with the machete...although she definitely helped with the cleanup. Not as many people showed up as we had hoped, but we got the job done in time to actually play some soccer on the now jungla-free field.

belated Merry Christmas!!

Christmas photos at last! My first Christmas in El Carrizal, and I was granted the honor of representing my canton as a madrina de Niño Dios--direct translation: Jesus's godmother. This entailed a procession from our canton to town--Fatima and I walking ahead and taking turns carrying the heavy clay replica of Niño Dios followed by a lively mariache band and some families and friends from town. Once in town we met up with the other madrinas, ate pan dulce and drank coffee and before being led in full procession with the madrinas from Santa Maria Ostuma through town, again followed by the mariache band and led by adolescents setting off homemade fireworks, (tightly rapped newspaper rolls with gunpowder inside...) The procession was gorgeous! The whole town came out to watch. Following the procession we entered the church for a four hour long cumpleanos/vigilia for dios--4 hours of the same lively song and unplanned speeches and a midnight mass, which ended with the adoration de dios. The madrinas stood at the front of the church holding the clay niño dioses while the congregation stood in line to pray and kiss the forehead of the Niño.

Hoping everyone had a wonderful New Years!

Photos of the Clausura (graduation) of my Curso de Ingles, of the Catholic youth party, of pinata making and my counterpart, Emma and her kids, Kenddy and Adrian and in the other: Adrian, Kenddy, Brenda, Fatima and Nery (my cousins!)

I accidentally mixed up the numbers and loaded a photo of Sarai, from my family in Palacios as well. Having trouble with the program...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

Photos of my host family: my brother Walter (who is visiting for the day), Inez and Daniel holding el nino Jesus. The others are of the piscina where they raise fish and apparently swim! The other is of the land which another NGO is donating to the community to start a forming cooperative with the jovenes or possibly with kids from the school. Its already got a drip irrigation system, and yes, its practically on the side of a mountain...

Swearing-in with Ag4/EE 2006 and my host family!

Post PCV T-day soccer game! ...Whipped by the staff and locals.

But somehow a perfect Thanksgiving thanks to great food, good wine and some amazing people. =)

Pictures from the Campamiento Ambiental with the other EE aspirantes. And a trainee field trip to Mayan ruins.

Sitting at the table of honor at the Carrizal clausura (grad) ceremony just after my summer break English camp was announced (say what?) and my improv graduation/introduction speech.

Let's just say I'm in for it.

So three weeks left of training, and I finally finally know where I'll be crashing for the next two years. Site Assignment: Canton-El Carrizol right above Santa Maria Ostuma in La Paz. All I've heard so far is that (1) it is steep and beautiful (2) famous for pinapples and (3) disorganized. As far as work goes, there are enthusiastic kids ready for anything--sports, environmental activities, cooking.. and the Alcaldia (local govt) of the town which already has a municipal volunteer is hoping to start a garbage management program in my village. I have my actual site visit next Monday-Thursday, so I'll have more sense of what all this means, what my house might look like etc. yikes... =)

Pictures from last weekend's trip to Playa El Tunco, a gorgeous relatively empty black-sand beach near La Libertad. The weekend was classic beach vacation--thatched roof, surf culture, Bob Marley- "Legends" on repeat, fresh fish and plenty of beer. It was a blast, and a good reminder of just how accessible that beach culture really is. Surfing anyone?

Edenilson's 6th birthday!! In photo: (back) Estellie, Mayra, Evelyn, Raoul, Sarai, Kevin y Jonathon (front) Anderson, Edenilson and Franklin. Did I mention, I love my family!

Mayra's floral masterpieces--the hoop is made up of crepe paper flowers dipped in hot wax and the other arrangement is made of flowers and plants growing in the yard.

Created to honor ancestors on the Day of the Dead.

More pics from Field-Based Training...you can see parts of Honduras and Nicaragua across the Pacific