Matt and Anna in El Salvador

 In the past week, the seasons here in El Salvador changed quickly.  A week ago, we were waiting out a nearly 2 week storm, during which it rained nearly every day and every night.  There was no hope of drying any clothes.  Everything started to smell like mildew…and then one day it stopped.  In the past few days, the weather went from tons of rain, to hot and sunny, and now it has settled into what we think is the best “season” here in El Salvador.  During October and November, strong, dry, cool winds start blowing.  It is a refreshing break from both the cool rain and the hot sun.  Another change is the end of the school year.  Classes will be ending next week, and we have been slowly ending the courses that we have been offering in the school and the library, which will close at the end of the school year.  So, after a few very busy months, we finally have a little bit of free time.  We don’t really have anything new and exciting to report, but the projects we have been working on have been keeping us quite busy and feeling really happy with our work.  Here are some of the main projects we’ve been working on. 

Leadership Camp- “Liderazgo en Accion” - This happened way back in August, and was a HUGE success.  Matt solicited money from USAID to help pay for this camp.  We (along with 12 other volunteers that live near us) brought together 35 youth (13 - 18 years old) from all of the different communities we work in for a 3 day cam15 de septiembre (Independence Day)p at a nearby beach.  We are very fortunate and have access to a retreat center that the government of El Salvador runs.  We met up on a Friday, and between all of the volunteers, we gave charlas (chats / lessons) on the topics of Leadership Styles, Teamwork, and Conflict Resolution.  Overall, the camp was a HUGE success.  The youth that participated absolutely LOVED it.  It was a great opportunity for them to get to know youth from other parts of the country.  For many of the them, it was the first time that had seen and swam in the ocean.  We were particularly impressed by the youth we brought from our community.  They were so excited, that they left the camp with the idea of recreating the camp for their peers, here in our community.  It was a great idea, but the end of the school year snuck up on all of us.  We all got too busy, and our plans fell through.

 Charla

Yoga on the Beach

Spiderweb

The whole crew

Story Hour at the library- This course has proven to be one of Anna’s favorite activities here in El Salvador.  Each week, she plans a class with the librarian (Gloria) that includes a story and either an arts and craft project or a game.  When we began the course, in May, Gloria was not convinced that kids would actually enjoy sitting and having stories read to them.  This course has completely changed her mind.  She has gradually taken an increasingly active role in planning the classes, even to the point of planning and giving the class when we can’t be there.  Gloria really took on the planning of the final class.  We threw a mini party, complete with a snack, games, and a souvenir bookmark for each participant.  Through this work, and through activities with the youth group we participate in (Tigre que Vuela) Gloria has become one of Anna’s closer friends here in El Salvador.

 Musical Chairs

Dancing

Morning Class

Simon Says

Afternoon Class

English Classes- This is a project we have had going for over a year.  We offer English classes to students in 1st through 6th grade.  Our classes are offered outside of the school schedule, so kids that go to school in the morning, come to English in the afternoon.  (Kids only go to school half of the day.)  The past two months, we have been teaching a course called “English through Singing.”  We are using songs written by someone teaching English in Japan.  They are very funny and high energy.  The kids that come to the classes have really enjoyed it.  Attendance has dropped significantly, but there are still 20 or 30 kids that come to our classes each week. 

Singing and Coloring

15 de septiembre - Independence Day– You know this holiday is coming because the school band (mostly brass and percussion) starts practicing every day from 5pm to 8pm.  We live half a block from the school, so it gives our evening a nice soundtrack.  As our town is fairly large, we have not one, but THREE parades to celebrate independence.  One for the younger kids to march, and one for the older kids to march.  To the beat of the band, we make our way through the main streets of town.  Honestly, it is a hot, sweaty, sunny, and rather tedious tradition, but a tradition nonetheless.  The best part of the parade are the kids that dress up.  First of all, there are cachiporistas (dancers, cheerleaders).  Then, there are nurses and doctors.  The nurses often pass out water to kids marching in the parade.  Kids also dress up in traditional dress and perform traditional dances.  The youngest kids (kindergarten through 3rd grade) don’t actually have a band, but some kids dress up as if they were in a band, and have toy instruments.  Here are some photos.

Matt and Girl in Traditional Dress

Matt with Doctor

Anna with Nurse

Cachiporista

Mini band

Marching

Girls Group and Boy’s Group- We are both continuing with our respective youth groups.  Matt is having great success playing sports and cooking.  Anna’s girls are enjoying cooking, arts and crafts, and playing frisbee.  Anna had a great time with a Beauty Salon activity.  We made a facial scrub and a facial mask using natural ingredients.  Currently, Anna is working on some pinatas with her girls. 

Pizza and Garlic Bread

Beauty Salon

Matt gets in on the fun

So, it has been an embarrassingly long time since we last posted an update.  So….here we go…..

 In all honesty, our lives have been very routine (but certainly not boring) since Colin’s visit.  We have spent most of our time in our community, continuing the fabulous activities that we have going in our community.  We finished our third round of English classes.  Attendance has dropped significantly, but those that still attend are really excited about starting again.  We are planning a new course based entirely on songs.  An English teacher in Japan created some fabulous CDs with songs for teaching English.  We have been continuing with the Story hour in the library of the youth group we work with.  Kids LOVE this!!  We alternate playing games in the park and doing arts and craft activities.  And finally, we have been doing a lot of computer and internet work having to do with a Leadership camp that we are going to do later in August and an application to solicit money to build a teaching kitchen in the school.  All of these projects have been EXTREMELY fulfilling….especially as we are putting the finishing touches on many of them! 

In addition to working on these very concrete projects, we have been doing more house visits that ever before…….which feels great.  We are really beginning to love going and sitting with people, chatting mostly about the weather (how hot is has been….how much it rained….and how it needs to rain more), how long we have been in El Salvador, how much longer we will be here, and the projects that we are working on.  These visits often last 2 or 3 hours. 

And finally, as we are approaching the 1 year anniversary of our Swearing-In (the day we officially became volunteers) we have been doing a lot of reflecting on how far we have come in one year and a lot of thinking about the coming year and all that it will hold (finishing up Peace Corps in style, returning to the States, grad school, etc).  We’ve actually been putting off writing this blog because we can’t really find the structure or words to really explain everything that is going on in our heads.  I’m pretty sure we won’t get it all out today in this blog, but we will keep trying. 

Let’s start with today (that would be Aug 9).   Today we received two very important phone calls.  This morning around 11, Joe (Anna’s brother) called to let us know that Rachel (his wife, our sister-in-law) was in the hospital, and that our niece would probably be born shortly.  WOW.  Amid the obvious joy (and wishing that we could be there with them), we couldn’t help but step back and think of ALL that has happened in the past year.  Not only did Joe and Rachel get married…but they have a little girl! 

The second phone call was from our friend William.  We got to know William in January, when he approached us about helping him with his English.  Since then, we have gotten together at least twice a month to practice English and visit.  We have gotten to know his extended family, and consider him one of our closest friends here in El Salvador.  A few months ago, he asked us to be the godparents of the child that his wife was pregnant with.  After much consideration and clarification with him, we joyfully agreed.  (Clarification meaning that we wanted to know what was expected of us, and if we could meet those expectations.)   William called early this afternoon, to tell us that our god daughter was the previous day.  Which allows us the mythical titles of godmother and godfather. (Matt is already referred to  among the old ladies in our community as Don Mateo, and that’s already gone to his head. Being an actual Godfather will be interesting.)

So, we continue to struggle with the questions that have been churning in our heads for the past month……..

Have we made any difference this year?  Have we really impacted people in our community?

Is it really worth being so far from friends and family in the states for such a long time? 

How are we going to make it through another year?

How are we going to be ready to return to the States in just a year?

How have we really changed during this past year?  How?

How hard will it be to say goodbye to all of our friends here?  How hard will the transition back to the States be?

Where is “home”?  Will we want to (or be able to) live abroad in the future?

What are the most important values we are learning here, and how can we be sure to take them back to the States with us?

When we will come back to visit? 

 We don’t have good answers to all of these questions yet.  And we probably won’t answer them in the near future….but as our time in El Salvador continues, we do get more and more comfortable with who we are, uniting the many fragments of our identities….as volunteers, people, citizens of the world, and now aunt/uncle and god parents.  We do love our work.  And we do love our community.  We also miss our friends and family.  We are extremely happy with the work we are doing and the ways in which we are growing, but we are also looking forward returning to the states next July/August.  As Matt would say, our problems are “happy problems to have.”  We love so many people around the world, that we will forever be missing someone……………

To avoid ending on such a sappy note…….here are some Blog  Attractions…….

* “Liderazgo en Accion” - our leadership camp in El Tamarindo

* Photos of our new god daughter  (Sandra)

And here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to.

Painting (English Classroom / Kitchen)

La Martha

Pancakes with the Boys

Paper Airplanes

Hello All,

I’m Colin and I was invited to make a blog entry after taking a weeklong trip down to El Salvador to visit Matt and Anna and their friends.  I just finished my first year of medical school and had not seen the two of them since their wedding, so this was an exciting opportunity to check in. 

In the event that you want a third party to confirm the previous blog entries, let me tell you, they are doing excellently.  In just one year, I can see that their community is stronger because of their presence.  The two of them are a dynamic team and clearly a formidable power in the Peace Corps world.  They also happen to be great tour guides.  Let me give you a quick description of how my trip went. 

I met Matt and Anna along with two other volunteers Mike and Rachel and Rachel’s brother George in the airport.  We hopped onto a “mirco” and drove an hour into the town of Sunzal where our hotel was.  We spent the next two days hanging out at the hotel, eating the local cuisine, and surfing some amazing waves. Matt and I got out there and mixed it up with waves that were a lot larger than we were, which is big considering we’re both well over 6 ft. tall.  The conditions were ideal; 80+ degree water and air with little wind all day long, big, yawning, powerful waves breaking in deep water, and less than a dozen folks out at any time. So yeah, the surf was epic and according to one website, during the time we were there it ranked with some of the best surf in the whole world.  We had a great time. 

After getting our fill of surf and relaxation, we went back into the capital and split up with the group.  Matt and Anna and I then bussed it out to their site in the east part of the country.  The bus ride was almost as exciting as the surf.  We charged full speed at oncoming traffic and I found myself reciting some of the stickers on the bus walls to myself.  My favorite was a combination of “God is great” and “Let God guide my path.”  Fortunately, that was all the insurance we needed and despite some close calls on the road, we never hit anything. 

At Matt and Anna’s site, we quickly adjusted to a slower pace of life.  We wandered around the town saying hello to friends and eating pupusas.  It was great.  As I said earlier, they are doing well.  Their community loves them and they work non-stop for their community.  It was inspiring to watch them work on small projects like chatting with little kids in English and larger projects like setting up a grant to provide infrastructure to help the community with sustainable business ideas.

I was sad to leave their site and El Salvador, but despite my quick trip, I got a taste of how much good they are doing.  It is impressive to think of how much things have improved given El Salvador’s recent history of war and continuing struggles with street violence.  For example, I met one gentleman who had been shot in the face by a young gang member.  However, he wasn’t discouraged by it and was instead thankful to God that he continued to live.  That hope and resiliency embodies the spirit that I found time and again around the country: things may be difficult, but change is possible.  I am thankful that Matt and Anna are there to help guide that change and I can’t wait to see how their next year goes.

Colin

Last week, our good friend Colin came for a visit.  We (Matt and I), accompanied by one of our best Peace Corps friends Rachel and her brother, George, got up bright an early to catch our 4:00am microbus to the beach.  On the way, we stopped to pick up another great PC friend, Mike.  We made it to the airport in plenty of time to meet Colin’s flight.  By 9am, we were arriving at Playa el Tunco to begin our beach adventures.

 Within minutes, Matt and Colin were off to rent surfboards.  They got incredibly lucky with the waves.  Colin was lucky to ride them, and Matt was lucky to survive them!  We later found out that the beach we stayed at ranked among the top 5 places to surf worldwide (according to magicseaweed.com) while we were there.  The Waves

Anna, Rachel, and Mike caught up on some good chatting and reading, while George held down the couch and cable TV (grieving the abrupt loss of a toenail to those killer waves). 

We stayed at the beach for two nights.  The second day, we had plenty to celebrate as it was Colin’s 25th birthday!  Colin’s Birthday Cake  We also got to know a really cool Aussie, Ben, and a One Eyed Dog.

Wednesday, we got very lucky and got a ride into San Salvador.  Colin in the back of a pick-up.  We are so glad Colin got this very Salvadoran opportunity.  We then trucked it all the way back to our site in La Union. 

In our site, we did a lot of chatting with families and eating pupusas. One night, Colin helped teach some guitar techniques to some of our friends here in the community, such as artificial harmonics. (Hair Metal)  We got up early the next morning, and Colin helped us out with some recycling, and hung out with some youngun’s on the basketball court.    Basketball All-Star. He also got a chance to go to the market with us, and to explore the many treasures to be found there.

 We ended Colin’s last night in the community by eating more pupusas, and finally giving him his birthday present…the opportunity to prune a mango tree with a machete.

 We returned to San Salvador and dined exquisitely on food prepared by a little local place called Tony Roma’s.  We thought we’d transition him back into life in the US by eating fries and a burger as big as a coconut. 

Before sending Colin to the airport in a taxi, we gave him an assignment to write a blog post.  He cheerfuly agreed, and we’ll post it ASAP.

His visit was fantastic, and a real treat for the folks in our community. They have been asking about Matt’s brother, and when he will return to our community. We hope it will be soon!

 Sorry for the delay in blog-posting.  This one we wrote a while ago, but never managed to post.   

Por fin (finally) we got a break in the heat.  Two weeks ago, the heat (102 to 104) broke and the rain started.  And it has continued to rain nearly everyday for the past two weeks!  We are really looking forward to next few weeks as El Salvador stops looking like the wastelands from the Lion King and more like a tropical rain forest. 

Anna has started several new projects in the past few weeks.  She started a Women’s Wednesday - El Salvador Chapter.  The group is formed on the basis of being a women’s only group for women of all ages (so far women from 2 to 35 years old have shown up), and they have to decide what they want to do each Wednesday.  Anna role is to make the activities happen.  The first week, we brainstormed a long list of activities they would like to do, including making pizza, making pupusas, arts and crafts, and sports.  The second meeting, we made lizard keychains, thanks to beads that Nancy and Eileen got for us last November.  Everybody had a great time!  Next week we are going to play Ultimate Frisbee, and the following week we will make pizza!  (Update: Ultimate Frisbee and Pizza were HUGE hits, as was friendship bracelet making)

Pizza!

Making Lizard Keychains

Anther new project is a story hour at the library run by the youth group we participate in (”Tigre que Vuela” - the Flying Tiger).  Our first story hour happened a week ago, and we read the book “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie” and made mouse masks from styrofoam plates.  The kids had a blast, and it attracted a big group of kids to the library that had never been there before. (Update - The second story hour, we read Sleeping Beauty and the 7 dwarfs.   Matt then led a FANTASTIC round of Giants, Wizards, and Elves)

Story Hour in the Library

Giants, Wizards, and Elves

In addition to these new projects, we are continuing with previous projects.  Our English Club is continuing, and is gradually dwindling down to the group of kids most interested in learning English.  While our numbers of students is declining, we are feeling much more satisfied with the progress that the students are making.  Matt has been working hard to get a 3 day Leadership Camp going for all of the volunteers in our Department (state).  He just finished up an application for funding to help out with food, and we are putting together the final details of transportation.  Hopefully, this camp will happen sometime in July or August. 

Among other news, the new Ciber Cafe (internet cafe) is up and running in our house!  It provides a nice background hum of video game music to our daily routine. 

More to come, very soon

 As I ran down the hill from the pueblo where I live, I couldn’t shake this poem.  The idea that yes, the lamb and the tiger coexist in the same universe is neither revolutionary, nor a great source of concern. But there I was, nearly sprinting downhill, windmilling arms and legs as fast as they would support me until the hill leveled out a bit, and I the sprint caught up with me.  Breathing hard, and running slowly, I replayed the events of the previous hour, examining them for things I could have done better, and for solutions to the problem I would eventually return to.

Anna and I were working on a document for a committee meeting that we have in a couple of days, and (because I’m involved) we are still left with some last-minute revisions. Though since our marriage, my idea of last minute has become more figurative, and less frighteningly literal…though that’s not going to make any of the (few) gray hairs of my parents or teachers go away.  The sounds in the house were normal, the clicking of some keys on the computer, adjusting Likert-scale questions to fit our proposed model for a Monitoring and Evaluation manual for our Youth Development program, as well as hammering and sawing of the men in the next room, constructing an internet cafe in our host family’s living room. (Like you do.)

 We were startled out of the hum of production by strange screams from across the street. There were dogs barking, and a lot more baying, and yelping than usual. After several clumsy efforts to unlock our burglar bars, I got to the street to see the family dog, busy attacking a small dog from across the street.  The baying had stopped, but the barking of other dogs continued, as several neighbors attempted to pull the dogs apart.  The woman who owns the small dog was holding on to it, virtually tugging it toward her, and I grabbed Kitty, the family dog, and began punching her in the back of the neck to get her to let go. (My hand still hurts from this.)

Not until another woman from across the street, who has been in this situation before, sadly with our family dog, dumped a large bowl of water on Kitty’s face did she let go.  I grabbed Kitty, carried her back into the house, and shut the back door, still wearing small patches of another dog’s blood.

I’ve seen countless documentaries of animals living out instinctual desires, but this had a sinister and sickening quality to it. This dog, a pit-bull, is a tiger that man has created, carefully selecting and breeding this dog over many years until it is genetically programmed to do three things rapidly, with machine-like efficiency.

 Trap. Grab by the neck. Shake. 

Fortunately, the shaking did not happen, and the dog across the street has received shots of antibiotics and stitches. It may make it.  I hope it does.

However, I feel pretty shaken up. If not only by what happened, but by how lucky I’ve been not to have had to see death, or a good running start at it, happen so quickly and violently.  It became very clear, very quickly, that this was not a normal of fun event for anyone present, but the surprise was ours and went unshared.

We constantly encounter tales of loss here in our community.  A child who died of cholera, a brother shot in the back by his own army unit, confused for a guerillero, or the deaths of five dogs in the jaws of our family’s pet.  I’m grateful not to have experienced such loss in life, and though I know that loss is inevitable, I’m glad to not have much practice. 

I was try to think of solutions. There are none to come home to.

 That said, things have calmed down significantly around the house. Kitty avoids me, which I’m okay with, and my legs hurt from running too fast today, but I was at least able to put up a personal record time on this route. Here’s hoping for a less exciting day tomorrow.

Sorry for the sad post.

We LOVE getting mail. That is something we cannot emphasize enough. The anticipation of visiting our post office is pleasant, fun, and exciting when we have a few minutes before our bus arrives. The post office is conveniently near the bus stop…the only hiccup being that it is located on the other side of the fish market.  It is a long, hot, smelling block and we often walk past shrimp, lobsters of various sizes, crabs, small fish, large fish, dried fish, and the occasional (peeled) iguana. 

This past week, we had a particularly marvelous visit to the post office.  Usually, when we go to the post office we just poke our heads in to see if anything arrived for us.  But, on this particular day we were picking up a package (thanks Grandma Loraine!) and mailing a small package AND some post cards.  With our limited experience with the post office, we went into this event (and let me tell you, it is an EVENT) with plenty of time to complete these three tasks and ready to practice our new Peace Corps skill of being patient. 

First off, we had to wait a little before somebody could attend us.  During this time, one of the post office employees came over to where we were waiting and asked Anna to kiss her baby.  So Anna kissed her baby. 

After a few minutes, one of the very kind post office employees asked what we needed, and we told her.  First, she dove straight into prepping our package.  Nobody in El Salvador actually packs their own packages before going to the post office…..it is Full Service.  So, we hand her what we want to mail, and she gets to work.  She carefully cuts down an old vitamin box to perfectly fit what we are mailing.  It took about 3 tries to get it close to the right size.  (Think: Cut the box.  Fold the box.  Shake the box.  Repeat. Repeat Again. Repeat Again.)  Then, she stuffed as little shredded newspaper as possible into the box to prevent it from moving around too much.  After all, every newspaper shred is added weight.  After that, the box is carefully and thoroughly taped up, wrapped in brown paper, and taped again.  We then got to address the package.  Then is was time to weigh the packages and dispense stamps. 

 A little note about stamps.  For all practical purposes, El Salvador uses exclusively the US dollar.  However, officially, you can use Colones (the old currency) or Dollars.  At the post office, they have stamps based on Dollars, and stamps based on Colones.  So, you have your $1.00 (8.80 colones) stamps and $0.25 (2.20 colones) stamps, but there are also stamps based on colones.  Those are your C10.00 ($1.14) stamps, your C5.00 ($0.57) stamps and your C1.00 ($0.11) stamps.  So, you often get a funny assortment of stamps that add up to whatever amount of postage that you actually need to mail something.

 Next, we took care of the postcards.  This is where the postage gets really fun.  It costs about 45 cents to mail one to the states.  For each postcard, we have to put on 3 stamps.  Now, there isn’t a lot of space on postcards, so you have to get clever with those stamps.  But….we aren’t given stamps yet……we still have more important post office business to do…..

OK….we have our package ready to mail, the post cards are weighed out, now all that’s left is to get the package from Grandma.  So, they hand us the package…..and pull out the big REGISTRO DE CORREOS.  This is a book that contains the names, identification information, and signatures of everybody that has every received a package from this post office.  So we give them our ID, they write the information down, and we sign for the package.  But there is more……..to receive packages from the US, we have to pay $2.50 to supplement the postage paid in the US.  And because we are technically paying for postage, they actually give us stamps, glue them on while we wait.  And cancel those very stamps right there in front of us.

But, now the kind lady at the post office rings us up, we pay, and finally we get our stamps.  We get a stack of about 24 stamps for the two packages and 5 post cards.  That’s 3 stamps per post card, 4 stamps for the package we received, and 5 for the package we are mailing to the states.  Each stamp has to be glued (because it is too hot and sticky in El Sal for lick-and-stick stamps) carefully onto each postcard, envelope, package, etc.  Fortunately, the post office is well stocked with old hair-dye bottles filled with glue.  So we glue…..and then most of the stamps are canceled, and we are off!  It took us nearly an hour…..but we accomplished all of our postal needs. 

The Post office is not an efficient place, but the tranquility of it (for lack of hustle) is something that can be inspiring.  Like we’ve already said, we LOVE mail and hope that this cathartic entry does not dissuade you from sending us anything. Popular things to send from El Salvador include pirated Lacoste clothing, pirated movies, and vitamins…just to get the creative juices flowing. 

 We’re happy also to send gifts from The Savior, but please note that peeled iguanas will probably not make the trip.

Our success with Salvadoran youth is never ending!  This past week, we changed our English Club schedule, turning 10 smallish classes into 6 medium sized classes.  During a normal week, about 58 children walk past our door (just under a block from the school) and ask “Wednesday at 2:00, right?”  or “Tuesday at 10:00, right?”  So, this past week, at least 93 kids walked past to confirm the schedule.  But one of these students made a much stronger impression that the rest……..JOSE!!!!

On Monday afternoon, Jose stoped me in the school to confirm the new time for English class. 

• Anna: Hi Jose.
• Jose: Hi Anita. Wednesday at 10:30, right?
• Anna: No, that was your old class time.  Now, you come Tuesdays at 10:00.  Every Tuesday.  At 10:00 - en punto! (on the dot)
• Jose: OK.  10:30.
• Anna: No, Tuesday at 10:00.
• Jose: Thirty?
• Anna: No, 10:00 - EN PUNTO.  You will finish at 11:00 - en punto.
• Jose: On Wednesday?
• Anna: On Tuesday.  At 10:00, not 10:30.  Tuesday, at 10:00.
• Jose: Tuesday at 10:00.
• Anna: Exactly!
• Jose:  OK - bye!
• Anna: See you tomorrow. At 10!

Amazingly, he actually made it to class.  Another proud, proud Peace Corps Day.

So far, Holy  Week, or Semana Santa has been a blast. We are enjoying what we would describe as a much needed break from the challenges of English Classes, Recycling, and Soccer Practice.  The schools are closed for the week, and we’ve already had some adventures to share with you.  This week is a conglomerate of cultural experience, rich both in Religiosity, and in recreation. So far, we’ve seen more recreation…but Good Friday is on its way, and our lord Jesus Christ has been running laps around the main streets of town all month long. (In Effigy, on the shoulders of some faithfully devoted townfolk.)   We are part of a youth group that has committed to the task of handing out bags of water for those who will be carrying crosses for this upcomming Good Friday. We’re hoping ot have photos up as soon as we can.

Semana Santa usually coincides with the hottest weather of the year. If you look up the weather for La Union, El Salvador on CNN’s website, you’ll find that our temps are in the mid to high 30’s.  For our readers in the States, this may seem normal, until you convert the temps into Farenheit. We’ve been sweating through two weeks of temps in the 100’s.  These high temps, and vacation days give rise to ideas of excursions to cooler places like mountaintops, lakes, swimming pools, and beaches.  It’s Wednesday, and we’ve been on top of the volcano near our house, been to a small beach named, Small Beaches and spent an afternoon watching kids gleefully run amok in our local swimming pool.

Our youth group, as we mentioned earlier, is commited this week to the humanitarian mission of handing out water for processional penitents. There will be an anticipated 600 people processing around the town carrying wooden crosses.  The group has also kept us busy with the task of climbing our beloved volcano.  We had the good fortune that some friends of ours, Jeff and Katie were able to bring some kids down from their community to accompany us and our group. Approach to El Volcan de Conchagua 

The hike took us along pastures, and up rocky slopes toward other small communities located on the skirts of the volcano.  Along the way, we encountered a public water fountain constructed by a previous PC volunteer. Apparently that volunteer’s name is Preston, and only a day before, someone in our community asked if we knew him.  This is not at all uncommon, in that people assume that we all must know each other. Our community has had several volunteers before us, and though we have not actually met any of them, we feel as though we know them, through the stories of community members. Often people ask if we know Jordan, Reno, Josephina, or Carrie. We have found ourselves recently replying “almost” instead of the simple “no” because they live on here in our community through story.  Anyway, the water fountain looked good. Nice work Preston. Community Water Fountain 

The path up toward the summit of the Volcano led us through the vestiges of a Coffee Hacienda. The former owner of the hacienda owned most of the volcano itself, and dedicated the land to the production of coffee. Before Agrarian Reform in the late 60’s and early 70’s, the volcano was a coffee producing powerhouse, albeit owned only by two people in total.  The Ag. reform movement redistributed land back to the people who worked it, hoping to foster the development of co-ops. Apparently it did not, with poorly trained directors of the CoOp pocketing money for themselves, and later with  massive destruction to crops due to intense fighting during the civil war. The hacienda we passed was abandoned and tagged with graffiti, and coffee harvesting on our volcano ceased to be cost effective.  While not actually producing coffee, local NGO has maintained the local roads, and has dedicated the area as a nature preserve. There are even cabins on top where one can pay to stay the night. A great way to escape the brutal heat down below.

We realize that we have had to reconsider what it means to be on a hike.  Before Peace Corps, we would think of a hike as an opportunity to put on the trail runners, load up on peanut butter, crackers, granola, and debate the merits of wool versus synthetic fabrics in their ability to transfer moisture. Of course, the responsible hiker would have only the basics. (Map, compass, water, first aid supplies, food, warm layers, digital camera and maybe a hacky-sack if they’re feeling saucy.)  We’ve found that our list needs some serious revising.

 In order to prepare adequately for a hike on our volcano, it is recommended that one bring at least several of the following.

Food…Fried Chicken, Shrimp, Or rice and Bean Sandwiches, several bags of Chips, and hard candy.

Water…At least three pint sized bags of it.

Machete…because you never know, and you may need to peel a mango.El Machetero

Towel or Hammock…for the requisite 1 hour nap.

Music Player…This can be a phone that plays music, a portable CD player with either headphones OR speakers,  or your favorite Mp3 player.

Soccer Ball….because there is a small soccer field on top of the Volcano.

Small Towel to wipe away sweat.

A long stick…to help you knock mangoes out of trees along the way.

Footwear: Anything from a hiking boot on down to ballet slippers.

Group Shot With Machete

The hike was fantastic. We ate mangoes, we played soccer in the pine grove on top of the volcano, and took a luxurious nap after eating lunch.  Anna and I were busy wolfing down PB and J sandwiches, but also had the opportunity to have a grilled shrimp, given to us by one of our friends.  The breeze on top was truly refreshing, though the beating I took at soccer was not. It did not make it any easer for me to stumble my way down the volcano, and I definitely felt sore from a botched attempt at a slide-tackle. Did I mention there were Pine Trees? Being there in a pine grove produced sounds and smells that could make one homesick…but rockin’ jams cranking on portable speakers from none other than the Bee Gees kept us firmly grounded in Salvadoran reality.  Something just simply isn’t worth doing if it can’t be done with lots of background noise. Had we done this hike earlier in our service, we would have probably been spun up in a WASPish hissy fit, but we would have missed the powerful symbolism of listening to “Stayin Alive” on a strenuous hike. Toes were tapped, and a few index fingers pointed skyward I’m told.

Shame about the view eh? Gulf of Fonseca

More to come in a couple of days…

There is a great group of 15 or so kids that live on our block.  We are friends with all of them, but one in particular stands out from the rest.  Jose.  Jose is a very small for his age 8 year old.  He has big brown eyes and a HUGE Jack-O-Lantern smile.  Jose and his older sister live with who we assume is an aunt.  They don’t know their father, and rarely see their mother.  Unfortunately, they are one example of the disintegration of families in El Salvador.  When we arrived last August, Jose was among the first to really engage us in conversation.  At least what Jose considered conversation. 

Jose: Hi Anna.

Anna: Hi Jose.

Jose: Hi Mateo.

Matt: Hi Jose.

Jose: What are you doing?

Matt: Reading.  What are you doing?

Jose: Will you teach me English?

Anna: Yes, we are going to give classes in the school.

Jose: But right now, will you teach me?

Matt: What do you want to learn?

Jose: How do you say Jose in English?

Anna: Joe.

Jose: How do you say  El Salvador in English.

Matt: It’s the same – El Salvador.

Jose: And perro?

Anna: Dog.

Jose: And Jose?

Anna:  We just told you – Joe.

Jose: What?

Anna: Joe. 

Jose: Ok – Bye!

We actually had this same conversation about 4 times.  One day we decided that he really didn’t listen to our answers at all, and would try only answering questions with Yes, No, and the number 4.  This was our conversation.

Jose: Hi Anna.

Anna: Hi Jose.

Jose: Hi Mateo.

Matt: Hi Jose.

Jose: What are you doing?

Matt: Yes.

Jose: Will you teach me English?

Anna: Yes.

Jose: But right now will you teach me?

Matt: Yes.

Jose: How do you say Jose in English?

Anna: Four.

Jose: How do you say El Salvador in English.

Matt: No.

Jose: And perro?

Anna:  Yes.

Jose: And Jose?

Anna:  Four.

Jose: What?

Anna: Four. 

Jose: Ok – Bye!

This continued until we started our English Club back up for this new school year.  Jose was SO excited to start learning English!  Admittedly, we are a little nervous.  Sitting still is very difficult for Jose.  But, he has shown up regularly, and has quickly become one of our favorites.  We don’t admit it to the kids, but we have favorites.  For the first class, we taught how to say “What is your name?” and “My name is________.”  Most kids were able to sketch out a rough “Wat  eeees   joour   naem?” With the answer  “ Maie naem ees ______.”

Jose’s rendition was something like…… “(squeek) mahiiieee (hum) eeeee, Jose.”  Pronunciation comes naturally to some kids….and it’s harder for others.  As the weeks progressed, Jose too improved.  “Meeee   hameee  eeee, Jose.”

During Week two, we focused largely on basic salutations. “Good Afternoon” “Hello.” “How are you?” Jose (while not the only one to do this, is by far the most consistent) has taken recently to simply parroting what we say. This is probably because we repeat everything at least nine times in class.

Anna: Good Afternoon.

Jose: Good Afternoon.

Anna: What is your name?

Jose: Wat eeees joour naem?

We have made a breakthrough however. 

 After 6 months of telling him that Jose in English is “Joe,” it finally stuck.  When we ask Jose how he would say his name in English, he can loudly and clearly say “JOE!” And now our conversations go something like this…..

Matt: Good Afternoon.

Jose: Good Afternoon.

Matt: How are you?

Jose: How are you?

Anna: No, that is a question.  What is the answer?  (whispering to Jose – “I am fine.”)

Jose: Oh. Yes.

Matt: How are you?

Jose: How are you?

Anna: What is your name?

Jose: Wat eeees joour naem?

Anna: How do you say Jose in English?

Jose: JOE!!!!!!!! 

This was one of our proudest moments as Peace Corps volunteers.