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Day 1, feels sooo good.

Day 1 here in Nicaragua. Met up with a friends dad that retired down here and has a 5 star surf getaway (www.ventanaalasolas.com).  He picked me up in Managua and we set off for the beach. What a nice surprise, unfortunately he has a couple coming in for a week so I only was able to mooch one night off of him. So worth it though. We have a private cook making salmon burgers tonight. Already surfed a couple hours before sunset. Here are a few photos of the place. Enjoy.

Nice pool, with a nicer view...

 Only about 1/4 of the property...

 The sun rises on the east coast...

 ...And sets on the best coast, WEST SIDE

New adventure in a different country...

O how the tables have turned.

 So the security assessment has come to an end and so has my stint as a peace corps volunteer.  After living with my friend for the past month I have come to the decision to take the early Close of Service.  As well as a dozen or so other volunteers.  I can’t really say I made the decision based on one thing but rather a handful of things.  For starters, being moved from my site really made me think about having to start all over again in a new community and do everything again.  Not knowing if it would be a good site, if I would find the same friendships I did in La Reina, the same cooperation or the same sense of community. Another factor I thought about that weighed heavier on my decision is the new rules and regulations that they have implemented.  To recap:

They are moving the peace corps office and training center to different locations outside of the capital and san Vicente (no visits to Yolanda).  No bus travel will be permitted outside of local buses in your direct community and department.  All travel must be approved by you supervisor, including the dates and the destination.  No volunteer gatherings larger than 7 people.  Volunteers must abide by the peace corps provided shuttle systems to travel across the country or to a bordering department or volunteer site. Shuttles don’t run every day with limited schedule.

There are a handful of other specific rules that I failed to read in the e-mail.  But you get the idea.  Basically volunteers are confined to their site and peace corps transport. 

I don’t want to go into too much explaining for my reasons, all in all I felt like if I stayed I would be complaining the whole time about the restrictions and the decisions made without consulting the volunteers.  I joined the peace corps for the all-encompassing experience of working and living in a foreign country, traveling like the locals do and visiting the historic places within that country.

It was a very difficult decision, but in light of recent events in my old site and all the changes I felt it was the best decision.  I am currently in the peace corps office jumping through all the hoops to end my service. My last day is tomorrow and I plan on heading down to the beach, buying a surfboard and hanging out for 4 days or so then taking a bus to Nicaragua until my money runs out.

I wont be blogging as much but I will try to post some pictures and descriptions as I make my way around. Thanks everyone for your support and I hope everyone is fantastic. 

here are some last pictures from El Salvador for you to enjoy.,,

Art class in El Borbollon, San Miguel

This is Chavo, he is not as nice as he looks...

Playa Las Flores, to myself...

Driftwood chess pieces, handcarved by the flying dutchmen I met in Las Flores...

Security or Being Grounded?

long time no see. a lot of nonsense has happened since the last time we talked. The Giants won the super bowl, El Salvador beat USA in beach soccer, Whitney Houston died and Peace Corps El Salvador is caving in on itself.  There is a lot of information to cover so I will try to be clear and concise.

First: Peace Corps came out with the news that they would not be sending more volunteers to El Salvador.
Second: All Volunteers were put on a travel restriction, meaning:A.. no going to the capital, San Salvador. B.. no taking our personal health days.  C.. required to call supervisors anytime we leave our immediate community (sound like high school?)
Third: All Peace Corps Volunteers in the world were notified that they will not be allowed to travel to Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador or Honduras while they are sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Pertains mostly to Latin American Volunteers.
Fourth:  Two groups of volunteers will have their close-of-service date moved up.  One group will only be moved up 3 months while the other group is being moved up 6 months.
Fifth: Well, that pretty much sums up most of it.  We had a All Volunteer Conference where they told us there will be a security assessment for El Salvador where a Security Team from Peace Corps Washington will assess the situation and propose a transportation and volunteer grouping plan to ensure our safety and security and take away any chance to get to know the country that we are serving in.

My training group of 15 is now down to 10 people.  The number may drop down more after the security assessment is finished and people are forced to move sites to join the volunteer groupings.  Speaking of site change...I am currently in the middle of having my site changed.  It was a really difficult decision, but after much thought I found it to be the best option in lieu of recent incidents in my pueblo and surrounding area.  I felt like if I am going to be staying in El Salvador it would be nice to be able to walk around my hometown not being nervous.  There was always new people coming through the pueblo and although i had a tight group of friends and was well known through the pueblo I still felt singled out by people passing through.  I spent the weekend saying goodbye to the families and friends that I connected with more.  I was put on the edge of tears multiple times. In front of the high school kids, my best friend, and various families that cried when saying goodbye.  I really hope i made the right decision and I hope that I will be able to visit in the future and show them that I really did value their friendship.

For now, I will be living with my friend Tyler (another volunteer in San Miguel) for about a month and a half until the security assessment is over and I am given a new site.  I will have to put together a short term work plan with he school.  I have some art classes in mind and maybe work with a youth group and have them do some activities.  Nothing serious since I wont be there too long.

Time to enjoy my own company on Valentines day.  I hope I pay for dinner for myself.  I am kind of nervous for my date.

Peace Out Party People

Cory

Coming down from vacation

Back in La Reina after a week vacation that took me to unknown parts of the country (without my camera, sorry)  It started out in Playa Tunco with my friend Tyler.  Tyler and I planned on a week of vacation at the beach to hang out and meet people traveling through the tourist beach of El Salvador.  Well poor Tyler got dengue the second day and got himself a one way ticket to the capital for a week, pobresito.  All my volunteer friends were leaving the beach, but left me with a backpacker from Austria who just finished a semester abroad in Nicaragua and was spending time in El Salvador.  Some volunteers talked us into going on a adventure in Tacuba, Ahuachupan.  Apparently there is a waterfall jumping tour in Parque El Imposible.  So Lisi and I jumped on the next bus out there.  Arriving at night we were excited for the next day.  Our tour group consisted of a Salvadoran and his boyfriend from Cuba who live in Canada.  Two of their Salvadoran friends. Lisi, myself and Jan the 19 year old German boy.  The tour started with a bone rattling pick-up ride into the heart of El Imposible.  We began hiking down into the valley until coming on the first waterfall, a bit small but had a really cool setting.  All in all we came across 7 waterfalls.  The last two being the biggest upwards of 40ft.  I would have liked to find something a little larger, but I still enjoyed it.  At the end we had to hike back out of the valley and take the same rattling pick-up ride back to the hostel.  The hostel is called Mom and Pop's and is run by a family.  Really delicious food and a cool little town.

Lisi and I took off the next morning to meet some of my friends back at the beach for the New Year celebration.  We added on two more backpackers to our group, Matt from England (a independent pharmacist who played pro soccer in England) and Elsa (a former physical therapist from Holland that quit to travel).  We arrived at the beach and got our room squared away and enjoyed a nice relaxing day at the beach and brought in the New Year with an international crowd.

I really enjoyed hanging out with all these people from different countries.  At one point in Mom and Pop's I was sitting in a room with 7 people from 7 different countries.  It really sparked my travel bug, making it even harder to ease myself back to the reality of my 2 year commitment.  In the end it was a great experience to hear their travel stories and open my eyes to more traveling after my Peace Corps experience.  I was really impressed with everyone's stories, but it was cool to see how impressed they were with my experience.  Everyone commented on how well you get to know a country when you live there for a long time.

For now I have my January and February filled with some activities and hope that they plan out.  More news and pictures to come.

Happy New Year to everyone.