Chompipe, Pavo, Chumpe, Turkey?

This will be a little more uplifting post than the previous one.  

During PST 2 we did some really awesome stuff too.  We learned about so many different projects that we can do in our community and how to write grants, how to do youth camps, stove projects, you name it.

We took a field trip to an awesome waterfall in Ataco, Ahuahcapan.  It was really wide and had a great swimming hole at the bottom. Very refreshing after weeks of sitting in the training center. The monkey that I am, I found a way to climb to a section on the waterfall and throw myself into the swimming hole at the bottom. It was a great opportunity to let loose and blow off some steam. We stayed in this amazing hotel that was settled in the wilderness.  They had these cabins that slept 3-5 people that were all separated with their own private path that winded further into the woods.  Don’t even get me started on the food they had there.  Best food I have had in El Salvador. So fresh and healthy. Green salad with pine nuts!!! Are you kidding me? Endless bread with home made garlic butter.  If anyone visits me, this is where we will stay to relax. 

Secluded bungalows at Jardin de Celeste...

 Water fall, i jumped from right............................................\/ here

After PST 2, the volunteers all had the chance to spend thanksgiving with an Embassy family.  I planned ahead for this one. I met Special Agent Cooke in PST 1 when he briefed us on the security of El Salvador. I knew he was a surfer because he only used surfing terms like ´stoked´ and  ´awesome´.  I befriended him and told him I am going to request his house for turkey day. I ended up going a day early to his house in order to get 2 surf sessions in.  And am so glad I did.  I had the two best surf sessions of my life.  It was another great opportunity to relax and do something I love. 

Thanksgiving was by far the biggest spread of food I have ever had on thanksgiving, and things that I have never had.  We ate around 3pm giving us enough time to take a nap, booze a little, play some poker and have a second thanksgiving feast around 10pm. And I got a leg.  The thanksgiving spread included green bean casserole with crunchy things on top, sweat potato thing with marshmallows on top, giant turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, stuffing cooked in the turkey, sautéed onions from inside the turkey, salad, various dinner rolls, wine, beer, and of course the gravy train.

After the first dinner we hung out and played Wii and wrestled with their kids.  Reminded me of all the good thanksgivings in Carlsbad wrestling around with my cousins (miss you guys).  It was a truly wonderful experience with the Cooke family. And I will definitely be hitting him up next thanksgiving, maybe even Easter, who knows?

Tyler wrestling with the ferocious Jackie (age 6 and she is bilingual)...

 Special Agent Cooke and JB (age 8 and very rowdy)...

 Sunzal, right hand point break to the beach if you make the sections...

So many things happened in the last month, really hard to capture it all in a couple posts, but those were some highs and lows I experienced.  Hopefully now that I am all settled in I can blog regularly and convey my life a little more accurately.  Take care in the states everyone.

Love you all, 

Chusito

I remember my first time...

*Disclaimer* if you have a tendency to worry about my safety and security in El Salvador, do not read on. If you were thinking about visiting me but worried about public security, do not read on. OR just accept that the world is a dangerous place and read all about my exhilarating experience.

The last month of PST 2 was packed full of firsts. First time at a waterfall in El Salvador, first time the departments of Ahuachapan and Sonsonate, first time seeing Yolanda and Loudes after PST 1, first time seeing a dead body, first time surfing in El Salvador, first time getting robbed on a bus. 

Let´s start with the good stuff, and by good stuff I mean really scary stuff.  It was almost the end of PST 2 and we were driving back to San Sal from Sonsonate.  We were in a micro van with about 8 volunteers in my group.  We hit a little bumper to bumper traffic and didn´t think much of it until someone said ¨is that a car crash? Why is someone laying in the road?¨ Right then and there I knew something was a little up. As we approached the body we had to maneuver around it because it was in the middle of the street.  As we all glanced out the window, we immediately all regretted the decision.  What we saw was our first dead body. Cause of death you wonder? Well I can assure you it wasn’t a car crash.  What I saw and what all the other volunteers witnessed was a dude lying in the street with a bullet hole in his head.  Now the part that was a little freaky was that he was still kind of alive as we passed which means that it must have happened within minutes of us arriving.  Freaky.  And the upsetting part was that the body wasn’t covered, there were no cops, no ambulance, in fact, nobody in the streets acted as if there was a dead body lying in the middle of the road.  If you weren’t to see the body you would think that it was some normal traffic and every thing was just gravy in the city we were driving through.

Naturally I was a little shaken up by this encounter, but nothing could compare to my next encounter the following week. 

I was heading out to Chinameca with 3 volunteers for a volunteer basketball game then we were heading to Carnaval that night.  We were about an 1.5 hours into our 2.5 hour bus ride. We just crossed over the Rio Lempa and our bus driver thought it would be a good idea to pick up two guys on the side of the road that had bandanas around their necks.  The two men boarded the bus and took their seats. About 5 minutes later one of them stood up and the cobrador (fare collector for the bus) told him there are seats and he could take a seat.  While this was happening the other guy jumped up (with bandana around his face now) grabbed the cobrador hostage style with a knife up around his neck.  (SIDE NOTE: while this is all happening myself and the other volunteers were chatting up a storm and laughing our heads off.  But I knew something was wrong cause my heart rate jumped through the roof and my body was overcome with a rush of warmth. I really knew something was up when I looked up and saw the other guy with a cowboy hat and a bandana on his face waving a gun in the air.) At this point we went into survival mode. We stuffed our backpacks under the seats, sat on our cell phones and the rest of our money. But as I reached in my pockets to get out some money to give I realized I didn’t have any money in my big pockets, so I had to dig through my tiny pocket where I had $50. As I was scrambling to break a few ones free the guy with the knife and the cobrador were making their way down the bus with a bag collecting from everyone on the bus.  I managed to scramble in time and pull out $1.10 (haha, I am such a cheap ass.) The guy with the knife made one pass holding the cobrador hostage, the guy with the gun stayed at the front waving his gun in the air screaming PISTO (money) Rapido!!!!  After the first pass they made another one for cell phones.  We were not about to give up our cell phones so we sat tight as they passed, but just as they reached our row the guy with the knife motioned at my friends watch and my friend quickly took it off and coughed it up.  After that they pretty much packed up the bag and jumped off the bus.  All in all they were on the bus for about 3 minutes.  I was expecting to be robbed at some point during my two years. I was starting to feel too comfortable on the buses and I think it was a good reality check and reminder that the country I live in is dangerous and preparation is always needed in order to avoid being a deer in the headlights.

Día de los Muertos

Buenos Días Tod@s

I made my way to the cemetary yesterday to check out the dead person scene in La Reina.  The cemetary is jam packed. I couldn´t walk around without walking over tombs or childrens graves.  It was really erie.  My host mom made a point to hide and come running and screaming at me at one point.  She is lucky I didn´t karate chop her.  Because the actual day celebrated is Wednesday and I went Friday I didn´t get the full experience of all the living people putting flowers on the graves.  But to my defense it was the day after my trip to the campo and I could barely move in the morning. Anyways, here are some of my favorite pics from the graveyard.

I had to climb on top of a double decker tomb to get this pic...

 Larger tomb with no flowers...

 The empty spots are waiting for bodies, but below the dirt there is probably 1 or 2 more tombs...

 Empty spot, taking reservations now...

Flower Power...

I am still alive down here!! Send me some letters.  and Happy Thanksgiving if i Dont get another post in.

Chusitooooo

Last two weeks fast forward

It has a been a jam packed week since my asamblea general.  I have been doing all sorts of great stuff. Milking cows, working in the campo, swimming in the river with the kids, playing soccer, and helping students with their upcoming English presentations.

Yesterday was my trip to the campo.  I had previously met this family, 2 boys living in the house (23 and 17 years old).  They invited me to go to their land in the mountains to work a day with them and next thing I know I am getting up at 5:00 am (that is unheard of for me).  We packed up the tools and food for the day and set off on our hour hike to their land.  We had a pack of 4 dogs that were going with us and they didn’t stop wrestling until we got back to the people.  It was absolutely beautiful in the mountains.  These guys were like mountain goats prancing up the slopes and rocks without even looking.  I felt so clumsy following them.  Once we arrived to their land I set off on another mini hike with the oldest brother Alexander to milk the cows.  Later we returned and helped repair their barbed wire fence that ran along a dried up creek.  It was a nice changed of pace hacking down trees with machetes.  They joked with me that when I go back to the states I will be walking around with a machete hacking at everything because as we hiked I would take the liberty of chopping every tiny little piece of plant.  We had a good time joking around. While in the campo we encountered these little crab like bugs that grasp onto your skin and suck your blood.  They are called garapatas and they suck.  We were covered in garapatas before noon and it took 2 showers, shaving my beard and moustache, playing soccer and swimming in the river to get them all off.  And After I went and played soccer with the oldest brother, I told them I need to train and they are taking it on as their third job to make me a better soccer player. 

I am also starting to feel like a high school student again.  The kids in the high school are really fun to hang out with and I can never sneak into the principals office without being heckled from the classrooms and whistled at.  I am super excited to go back for PST 2 and learn some valuable information regarding project ideas and how to get NGO´s involved in the various youth groups in my community.  It is about time I start doing things in the community, people are gonna start thinking i´m just vacationing in their pueblo.  That or a professional soccer player training in the community.  Either or.

Well, I am off to San Vicente this Saturday and can´t wait to see Yolanda´s grinning face when I roll up to the house.

Pe@ce

Chuuusito

The high school kids really welcome me with open arms.

Fulfill your visual appetite

B-Rabbit on the microphone. Busting rhymes for the locals...

 The hobbit...

 Looking down on my stomping ground...

 Flying kites, just another day...

 Talking with the oldest person in the pueblo...that´s alive (99 years old)...

Asamblea General of Epic Proportions (not)

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet
Make you want to move your dancing feet
To the rescue, here i am
Want you to know, y'all, where i stand

¿Como ha ido? Today was a historic day in La Reina. It was my asamblea general. The asamblea general is a necessary town hall meeting that all volunteers in el Salvador have to do. It´s an opportunity for the volunteer to butcher their national language in front of all the important people of the community. It also serves as an informative session about Peace Corps, my program and the volunteer´s role in the community. We are supposed to present our findings from the community diagnostic and talk about possible programs for the future.  I had sent out some special invitations to all the churches, the mayor’s office, the bank in town, the school and high school, the health clinic and the local oficina juridical. I also went to the high school and announced my meeting and told them to invite their parents, posted announcements in the most frequented shops and places in town, and had the church and school makes announcements. The meeting was planned for 9 am. I didn´t expect people to show until 9:30, and I´m not gonna lie, I was pretty worried when it was empty at 9:20. But the schools pulled through and sent two classes form the middle school and 1 from the high school. This made my day, seeing the kids march over in their uniforms, all the cipotes (kids) screaming “Chusito!” My nerves settled a little and was ready to take it on.  There was also a lot more village elders than I expected.

The actually presentation went fairly smoothly, of course my mouth decided to dry up as soon as I started talking. So I was forced to fight cotton mouth while I tried to roll my R´s through the presentation. I got a fuerte applause at the end and finally was able to relax a little.

I asked them to include me in their lives and invite me to do fun stuff with them. And immediately after I was swarmed by kids asking what I am doing this afternoon. I guess I´m going to the park to play with them! I am stoked, the asamblea general was a great opportunity to show them I want to be part of their lives.

The next month is gonna be jam packed!!!! I prob wont be able to post. Here is my schedule.

Halloween Weekend: fundraiser in San Salvador for WYD (volunteer committee that gives scholarships) and volunteer costume party.

Following Weekend: I leave for PST 2 which is more technical training in San Vicente for 3 weeks. We get out of PST 2 right before Thanksgiving.  The embassy employees host PCVs for a feast so I requested to stay with some friends from training with a family.

After Thanksgiving: There is the largest carnival in Central America the Saturday after thanksgiving and there is a PC soccer game vs. a local mayor’s team.

After all that traveling around I will be ready to hang out in my site for awhile and start some activities with the bichos (kids). 

Besides all that nonsense things have been pretty tranquilo here I my pueblo. The crazy storms didn´t affect the pueblo too much. We got lucky up here in Chalatenango. Can´t say the same for other parts of the country.  Hopefully the affected areas can recover quickly and return to their lives.

That’s it for now amigos. Salud pues.

Chusito

Being sick, AVC, and life in La Reina

Que ondas mundo. Its been awhile, or at least it feels like it. I think ive been slacking because I have been talking to some people through email and facebook so I forgot about the hundreds of people reading my blog.

First, I want to give a shout out to grandma goofy. Happy birthday! I hope you got my voicemail.  Secondly, thanks mom and dad for the sweet packages ive been getting. everyone else don’t be shy. Send me anything, magazines (surfer, juxtapoz, home and living, Victoria´s secret, you pick), handwritten letters! Photos, mixed cd´s, used bandaids (include a story of what it was used for), anything.

Recently i´ve been kind of sick again, I had a good run of 5 days and finally it cleared up after the All Volunteer Conference (AVC). Kind of lame I had to go through the weekend feeling like dog doo doo, but I made the most of it and had a great time.

The all volunteer conference was held in La Palma which is about an hour away from my site.  It was held at a tourist center where there were tons of cabins and a big assembly hall.  About 95+ volunteers showed up and it was so awesome to meet some other people.  My group felt a little out numbered since we are down to 13 people and one from our group didn’t show up making us a small group of 12.  Other groups are around 30, so it was time to be out going and meet new people. 

The weekend was filled with all sorts of useful information for volunteers in the middle of service, but for the new group it was kind of useless since were not starting projects right now (and we are going to be learning about all that in our second training in a month).  Also there were talks about options after service (3^rd year extensions, master´s programs, foreign service officers, working with NGO´s) the foreign service lecture was really interesting, but the fact that the application process puts the peace corps application to shame is a little discouraging. No worries though, that’s too far in the future to worry about, taking it day by day. 

The AVC started Friday and ended Sunday.  One group went into the city La Palma to check out all the artisan work and the cool pueblo with a lot of culture and another group took off to a nearby volunteer site to challenge the local team in a soccer match.  I opted for the soccer match (getting chunky, not).  It was an intense game that we were winning in the second half but the Salvadoran referee kept adding time. Every time we asked for the time left he said 15 minutes until his team was winning. Super rigged.  On the bright side it was a good opportunity to make more friends with other volunteers.  Apparently there is an epic soccer match held between JICA (Japanese peace corps) and Peace Corps in December.  You better believe im playing in that one. Throwing elbows.

the sweet dirt soccer field...

action shot...

After the soccer game I got dropped off on the side of the road to trek back to my site. I ran into a friend from La Reina on the ride back (who coincidentally was on the same bus up to La Palma on Friday) and we chatted a bit and I ended up hanging at his house for a bit.  He and his dad and brother are going to take me to their land in the mountains to work the fields one day. I’m really excited for this, everyone (Americans) I talk to say its such a great experience and they really respect you after showing what you got in the fields. I arrived sunburned and exhausted and fell asleep before 7:30. 

Don’t want to overload you guys too much in one post so ill let that settle in and post something else after this weekend.  There is the inauguration of the youth radio station (Reina Stereo) this Friday so im sure ill have a good story after that. Also its supposed to downpour for 4 days straight, the river is gonna be pumping, maybe ill take a white water trip this weekend.

Salu,

Chusito