saliendo como indio

Yesterday was the saint's day of saint Guadelupe, the patron saint of Mexico. I'm not entirely sure why, but in my town this is celebrated by dresssing up like an indigenous person and doing a procession around the town. It was pretty fun and the outfits were so sweet, though I have to admit I skipped out on the mass afterwards. The priest in my town is young and super conservative, and I really can't stand what he says a lot of the time. He rails against things like dancing and birth control, this in one of the poorest counties in the country where people regularly have 11 kids and can´t feed them all! Anyways, besides that little rant, I hope you enjoy the pictures! These are the only ones I have with me on my memory stick at the moment, but will add more later...

justin's visit to el salvador

My old friend Justin came to visit over thanksgiving weekend. it was so fun to have him here. He was a great sport about taking the long, crowded, hot bus rides all over the country, though he did remark that it was rather different than flying business class on Virgin Atlantic. Indeed both have their advantages - I'm sure Virgin Atlantic doesn't have a million different fruit vendors offering sliced jicama, watermelon, or jocotes - all for a quarter (or "cora" as they say). In any case, it was great to show him a little of my life here. He saved thanksgiving dinner by bringing pecan pie and pumpkin and pie crusts, which were delicious. The meal was quite a success, with various volunteers bringing their own specialties. Justin also co-facilitated my art class with me. All the little girls fell in love with him and wrote him various love letters as he patiently explained to them the difference between "chino" (which he is not) and "filipino" (which he is). We also managed to squeeze in some time at the beach for surfing and relaxing. All in all, a wonderful 5 days!

san miguel university visit

The weekend before last, I went to San Miguel, the 3rd biggest city in El Salvador, and the main hub of the "oriente," with my friend Cecy and Norma (pictured above). Cecy is my host sister and Norma is probably my closest friend in the town. The purpose of the trip was to visit the university there. Cecy has decided to study tourism and was ready to to register when we got there. Norma has dreams of studying nursing, but unfortunately her parents are not excited of the idea of her continuing her education and will not support her. Lucky for her, she was good friends with the previous volunteer in the site, who has wonderfully agreed to finance her education. The total cost of a private university here runs between $50-100/month, so it actually isn't so much for us coming the U.S., but it is a lot for here. Cecy is able to afford because of the help of a very generous uncle, who lives in the U.S. working and works in a car wash. He is extremely conscientious, however, and has managed to save enough money on a small salary to build a beautiful, big house here, and to pay for his nieces schooling. I love hearing stories about emigrants from this community like him who are truly taking advantage of the opportunity to make a difference in the community and help develop this country.
In any case, I was happy to encourage her to come to San Miguel with us and see the university to get a sense of what it would be like. It was Norma's first night out of our town, away from her family. I took the two of them to the movies too, which was so sweet as neither one had ever been to the movie theater before, even though it's only 3 hours away. It was a really wonderful stay and I am so excited for the two of them to embark on these new adventures and hope the best for them.