I have a back up of stories and pictures to share with you all! I am going to split them up into two posts, for your reading enjoyment of course. Get excited there are some good ones this time. haha
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| Sara on the way up to her site |
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| An example of the fuel efficient stoves |
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| They grow a lot of cabbage in her community |
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| So high up we are in the clouds! |
A few weeks ago I went to visit a fellow volunteer, Sara. She lives in the department of Chalatanago, near the town of La Palma. Sara lives at the highest point in El Salvador. Which is fitting because she is over 6 feet tall. Salvadorians always say 'La mas alta en la mas alta', which translates to 'the highest at the highest'. haha Sara has a new puppy, named Osa, she is adorable and we played with her a lot. Sara found Osa down by the river that runs through her town. Someone had just thrown her away, and Sara came upon her and rescued her. (Pay attention, this is a reoccurring theme). Sara is working on a fuel efficient stove project with her community, so we walked around to a bunch of the houses that have the new stoves so I could get a better feel for how the project works. I am also working on getting this project to my community. All in all it was a good trip. Her site is much cooler than mine is. We heated up water for our bucket baths, which is something that I have never once considered doing for my bucket baths at home. It is just too hot where I am.
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| What is wrong with this picture? |
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| At an overlook in the clouds |
Three weeks ago the fiestas partonales began in my community. At last year's events, I had budgeted poorly. (
You can revisit that here...) Needless to say it was not nearly as fun as I know it could have been. The main goal of the fiestas is to raise money for the church, so almost everything cost money. Games, food, raffles and church services make up the week. There are pupusas, pasteles (a very close relative to
enchiladas) and bagged cucumber and watermelon for sale every night. Along with an hour long church service, the week nights are pretty calm. People from neighboring communities are bussed in for the evening and it is generally a good time.
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| Trying to win a madrina's kiss |
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| Waiting for their turn |
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| This was one of the madrinas... | | | |
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The last day of the fiestas is the biggest deal. There are a ton of games, more people are bussed in and there is an event called Carrera de Cinta. This is how it is set up. There are a bunch of men that show up on horses and the goal is to get a small stick (that they are holding) through a small quarter sized ring hanging off of a piece of tape hanging on a line. The riders must gallop at full speed and try to get their stick through the ring. Now the prize for doing this is you get a kiss, gift and sash from a 'madrina', which translates to godmother but in this sense it is more like a fairy godmother. Most of the girls were in their late teens, but there were some like the little gem to the left. Looks like stage moms are cross cultural. Another of the events is called the Arco de Noe, Noah's Ark. There is a huge pile of goodies ranging from bags of corn and beans to chickens, to candy and instant coffee, it is all laid out on a table. The way it works is you pay a quarter and pick a slip of paper out of a bucket. On the slip of paper is your prize. Everybody is a winner! Pretty straight forward. It is terribly addicting, and I ended up spending like $3 there over the course of the day. I mostly won these terrible candies that I dislike, but on my last go I ended up winning a watermelon.
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| Band that played good music, too bad nobody wanted to dance |
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| Ring toss |
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| Another volunteer, Alex, who lives near by came to my towns fiestas |
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| My host mom, slacking off |
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| My Salvadorian family |
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| I won a watermelon at El Arco de Noe |
Three weeks ago the fiestas partonales began in my community. At last year's events, I had budgeted poorly. (You can revisit that here...) Needless to say it was not nearly as fun as I know it could have been. The main goal of the fiestas is to raise money for the church, so almost everything cost money. Games, food, raffles and church services make up the week. There are pupusas, pasteles (a very close relative to enchiladas) and bagged cucumber and watermelon for sale every night. Along with an hour long church service, the week nights are pretty calm. People from neighboring communities are bussed in for the evening and it is generally a good time. 
The last day of the fiestas is the biggest deal. There are a ton of games, more people are bussed in and there is an event called Carrera de Cinta. This is how it is set up. There are a bunch of men that show up on horses and the goal is to get a small stick (that they are holding) through a small quarter sized ring hanging off of a piece of tape hanging on a line. The riders must gallop at full speed and try to get their stick through the ring. Now the prize for doing this is you get a kiss, gift and sash from a 'madrina', which translates to godmother but in this sense it is more like a fairy godmother. Most of the girls were in their late teens, but there were some like the little gem to the left. Looks like stage moms are cross cultural. Another of the events is called the Arco de Noe, Noah's Ark. There is a huge pile of goodies ranging from bags of corn and beans to chickens, to candy and instant coffee, it is all laid out on a table. The way it works is you pay a quarter and pick a slip of paper out of a bucket. On the slip of paper is your prize. Everybody is a winner! Pretty straight forward. It is terribly addicting, and I ended up spending like $3 there over the course of the day. I mostly won these terrible candies that I dislike, but on my last go I ended up winning a watermelon. 
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