The ferria (carnival/fair) has been in my pueblo for the past 2 weeks. It was supposed to be only one weekend but they showed up early to set up and claim the prime real estate in front of my house. I was trying to find the word for carnies in spanish but it doesn't translate. They have a ferris wheel, merry go round, and one of those pendulum boat thingy's that swings back and forth. The merry go round and boat pendulum are man powered, meaning a guy stands there and pushes the merry go round or swings the boat back and forth until it is vertical. Tough job.
The ferris wheel at night...
So I finally received my site on Thursday and it is not what I was expecting when I accepted my invite to the Peace Corps. This is not a bad thing. My site is called Municipality La Reina, Chalatenango. It has 10, 000 inhabitants spread out in 7 cantones and 40 caserios. My main point of contact is the director of the Casa de Cultura. Pretty much a house of culture that has the history of the town, a mini library and holds workshops for the town. My other contact is my new host mom's son, who is an English teacher. La Reina has a Kindergarten, a school from 3rd to 9th and also an Instituto (high school). I guess there are grocery stores, banks, internet cafes and restaurants. Not the image I had heading down here, but that's OK! Because it is such a big site I am a bit intimidated, but they would not have placed me there if they didn't think I could handle that. I feel like I have the attitude for it and all the other trainees tell me that if anyone can take on the bigger site I could. They are so nice.
close up of my site...
That is a spark notes of what I have been up to. I will be meeting my counterparts next Saturday in San Salvador then heading out to my site for 2 months and returning to San Esteban for 2 weeks of more training before going back to my site for the duration of my service.
My experience so far has been soo positive and enriching. The local people are extremely welcoming, it's kind of crazy how open they are to foreigners. I would never be able to knock on a random door in the US, introduce myself and expect to be invited inside for coffee and pastries. But that is what it is like here. Every day is new, challenging and filled with something that makes me laugh. I think as long as that trends keeps surfacing in my daily routine I wont have any problem making it through the 2 years. And plus, the country is just breathtaking. Every morning when I ride down the hill on a pickup I just look out at the massive volcano and get a big grin on my face. The person next to me gets a little creeped but I am used to it being a gringo.
All you jokers out there, thanks for reading my post. Salud!
Jesus is watching you...
Jesus is watching you...
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