last week

So I made it through the fiestas patronales and our group's two day goodbye party at the beach and the trip to San Vicente to say my final goodbyes to my old host mom (remember Juanita?). Exhausted and sweaty from the 100 degree weather (March is the hottest month) I finally got back to my site for my last week...

I have been so busy this past week with selling with the jewelry group that I haven't really dealt with the reality of leaving. To be honest, I have been dreading this last week, which I have left mostly free to do my two least favorite things in the world: packing and saying goodbye.

One of the Peace Corps staff members, who herself was a volunteer eight years ago, told us that when she left her site she literally sneaked out in a pick-up at night because she couldn't deal with saying goodbye to everyone. I know that that is a horrible idea and not an appropriate way to thank the people in my community for opening their lives to me for the past two years, but now that I am actually facing the prospect of going through it, I can completely understand why she chose to leave that way.

One of the things I've been thinking about a lot recently, that I will really miss about life here, is that even after two years here, I am still experiencing new things every day. There is always something different, a new story, and a new experience to be had here. It really never gets boring. It gets frustrating, tiring, and the rest, but not boring.

One example is last week when I took my turn sleeping in the park in my jewelry group's canopy. I spent the night there on Wednesday with Cristina (my "comadre," the mother of my god-daughter) to guard our product, as every member of the group did for one night of the week. All around us slept hundreds of other vendors who had come from all over El Salvador and places as far as Guatemala and Honduras to sell at our fiestas. These people are modern day vagabonds, who travel around the country selling their wares by day and sleeping in their tents by night. It was so interesting to join their community for one day. Selling all week was quite exhausting but so encouraging. Though the jewelry group did not make nearly as much as I think they deserved, but they were happy and proud of their first big sale. Several of the members sold upwards of $50 of wares over the five days. When you think about it, $10/day is actually what I make here, and quite a good salary for someone from this town, so they were all excited. I sincerely hope they are able to continue expanding and developing as a group after I leave.

I will try and upload some pictures of our booth and my bed in the tent later, but for now the internet here is too slow. I am not complaining though because I am using the internet in my very own HOUSE! My host sisters are back here for the Semana Santa (holy week) vacation and brought one of the amazing tigo portable internet cards that you simply plug into your computer. It completely confirms my theory that wireless is the new cell phone. In the same way that most people here got cell phones before they had ever seen a landline, most people will get wireless before using cable. TV arrived to most people here about twenty years ago, cell phones about ten years ago, and now the countryside here is thisclose to having internet. Though most people don't have computers yet, they will start receiving it over their phones (as many indeed do). I have watched the change happen before my eyes in the past two years. It'll be interesting to see how it affects the community and how long it really takes to become widely adopted.