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

Photos from Field Based training at Nate's site in La Union. There's one of the San Miguel volcano from a highly contaminated geothermal lake and the other two are from a reforestation charla for 1st and second graders--reading The Lorax and planting fruit trees.

More soon..

Suchitoto!! Aka dia de vacaciones estilo gringo. Last Sunday my community group and I took a day trip to Suchitoto, a gorgeous clean colonial town sitting above a stunning lake, that I should probably be able to identify, but nope. We drank choco-coffees that topped anything I've had stateside (fresh dark roast beans and slightly textured dark chocolate). We looked at a local art exhibition, visited the luxury hotel, the 18th century church, had tacos and pina coladas for lunch... simple pleasures. Perfect day.

Having trouble loading pictures, but life is good.

We just finished our dias de immersion, aka visiting other volunteers and living with random families. I went to Dulce Nombre de Maria in Chaletenango, hung out in the countryside eating bean soup swimming in rivers, raced around the city market with Chale with Gloria, the woman I was staying with and then went up to these secluded piscinas in the mountains. It was stunning! And lies at the base of this 6 hour mountain hike to ancient Mayan cave drawings, so they are trying to turn it into a tourist hostel. Clean, full plumbing, electricty, gorgeous pools, mountain views and hammacks : $5. No other tourists.

Works for me.

Back in San Rafael Cedros for our fiestas patronales and working on the cultural identity Charla I´m supposed to give this Thursday. Yikes. Kind of exciting though...

On Sunday us trainees all climbed the San Vicente volcano. Now I like to consider myself a pretty legit former athelete and went into this fully confident that really...if most people take 8 hours, maybe I could do it in 5. no problem. maybe I could even run it. Wishful thinking. We left at 7:30 or so and didn´t hit the summit until 12ish, and I was spent, alititude giddy and cold for the first time since I got here. The "summit" if it can even be called that was not the gaping lava crater I had been imagining, but a concrete slab and small army base protecting an information center. The group sat on the slab chowing down bizzarre sandwiches while young men with machine guns patrolled every corner of the 12 by 18 foot slab. yikes. But the mountain was stunning! I mean, the first site of garbage-free forested land since I arrived in El Salvador, with views all the way to Honduras on one side and all the way to the sea on the other. Doesn´t get much better than that.

More photos!

Yesterday Joanna (another volunteer and training buddy) and I combined forces and took all the kids in our family out to the local pool for the day. Definitely felt good to be finally be taking the initiative for once. And the kids had a blast. We played some solid games of keep away, tag (mika!) and sharks and minnows, gave some relatively unsuccessful swim lessons and just hung out. One of the hardest things for me here has been feeling so incredibly dependant on my host family and PC. They are awesome and definitely would never complain, but I have all these elaborate food preperation regulations, plenty of dirty laundry (which I am finally trusted to wash on my own. thankfully) and they definitely have better things to do. Ah well. So it goes right? One of those initiation processes: spend two months as the incompetant, highly inarticulate, (but loveable!) guest and I´ll be ready to rock as a volunteer. Right =)