In case of flood, do not use stairs.

10/22/11

The storm has passed and the sun has returned. From around the tenth to the twentieth we weathered a couple of major storms, with rain lasting the whole ten days and not a ray of sunshine. The news said it was the worst storm in about 50 years, killing more than thirty people here in El Salvador and leaving many more homeless. The main dangers were houses built near rivers and landslide areas. Luckily where I live has not been too deforested, so there is not much landslide danger. The Peace Corps put us on house arrest to minimize travel and dangerous situations, so that meant ten days of not going outside or really doing anything. I am taking the GRE (standardized test for admission to grad schools) next month so the rain did give me a good chance to study. Everyone was definitely going stir crazy by the end though. I have never been more delighted to wake up to sunshine finally streaming back into my life.

In other news, I received a kindle from Mom for my birthday, which I had been wanting but could not rationalized buying for myself. This little gadget can surf the internet using cell phone signal for FREE even here, and Amazon foots the bill. Being able to check email, facebook, news, and blogs from my village has been a revelation; it makes such a big difference in staying connected and not feeling like I live on a different planet than everyone else. Thanks Mom!

School was closed for the duration of the storm, and will be open only for another 2-3 weeks before the 2.5 month break. This also coincides with the coffee picking season, which means no work for me to do until February. If you remember last year, I have retired from coffee picking, luckily I don’t have to work all day in the fields to make $5. In February I plan to do a world map mural on the side of the school, give the teachers more classes on how to use our new laptop and projector set up, and make sure we get this reading pavilion thing built at the school (basically a roof and tile floor making an area for quiet reading time and outdoor classes)

Other than that, I am looking forward to a string of visitors here soon, I can’t wait to spend time showing family and friends around crazy world I find myself in. Everyone is still invited, if you don’t have plans to visit yet (I’m not sure who still reads this) you could come in early March, or anytime in May or June. Think about it. If you are coming, nice work taking the initiative, I promise it will be the experience of a lifetime!

9/19/11
Well, this last Wednesday the 17th marks one year since I arrived here in my site in Laguna Verde. While I have been in the country for 14 months, the first two were spent in training in San Vicente, a city on the other side of the country. However, my real work and home is here, so the anniversary presents an opportunity to reflect on the last year. To briefly summarize my experience thus far, I think I can confidently say that it has been satisfying in the personal aspect while less than satisfying professionally.
The personal side of the experience, things such as living in a foreign country, learning a new language, making new friends (both American and Salvadoran), and living with a host family have been very fun and rewarding. Getting to know different places in El Salvador has truly been awe-inspiring, and I feel that I have a solid understanding and appreciation the physical and cultural landscape. Learning Spanish feels very rewarding now, after the initial pain of being reduced to one word sentences and utter confusion. I still don’t understand everything said to me and still have to put thought into every sentence, but for the most part I really enjoy communicating with people here not just in Spanish put in their local dialect, complete with idioms and slang. One the most rewarding parts of my time here has been living with my host family. Living in a house of eleven people nearly everyday for a year has given me a constant source of interaction and opportunities to learn and bond with them. Although I may never be a “member of the family”, I do have a meaningful relationship with them, which keeps getting better as we share experiences and gain further insight into one another’s lives. I consider my relationship with them my most important achievement here on a personal level.
In contrast with the personal aspect, the professional aspect of my first year has not been as satisfying. I consider the girl’s camp and the stove project to be my two successful and worthwhile projects, but I was hoping for more rewarding work. My official job is Environmental Educator, but I have found that the community does not have much interest or need for such a person. Instead, I help out in the school with whatever I can (mainly applying for grant money thorough organizations that give money to Peace Corps volunteers for projects). This leaves me an abundance of free time and a lack of job satisfaction. This seems so be a common problems for volunteers, and we are told to not worry too much about it and that the cultural exchange aspect of our job is just as important. I sometimes feel like I am wasting my time, but these feelings are brief and outweighed by the personal satisfaction I experience.

So, with all that said, here is the best and worst of my first year in El Salvador:

The Best:
1. I speak Spanish now. Awesome.
2. A remote village in an obscure country now feels like home.
3. Once you figure out their language and culture, Salvadorans are very friendly and never fail to make me laugh (in a good way).
4. I have all my food cooked for me.
5. I know years from now the good things will far outweigh the bad in my memory
6. My job is to help people in whatever way I can.
7. I pretty much do whatever I want, whenever I want, and get paid for it (barely), with no virtually no oversight from a boss.
8. My fellow volunteers are some of the most motivated, good-natured, educated, and positive people I have ever worked with and befriended.
9. I can eat out, stay at hotels, and travel for dirt cheap.
10. If nothing else, Peace Corps is full of challenges, so I am constantly learning and evolving.
11. I have a new appreciation for English, good food, friends, family, the opportunities bestowed on me, American culture, and all the little luxuries we all take for granted.

The Bad.
1. Face-numbing, catatonic-state-inducing homesickness/loneliness.
2. Beans and tortillas are really getting old.
3. The environment is not a priority here.
4. Seeing people who want more out of their life unable to follow their dreams
5. The gang and crime problem
6. How American culture has replaced much of El Salvador’s and left in its wake Rambo, 50 Cent, and junk food.
7. Losing contact with most of my friends.
8. That nagging feeling that I should be doing more.
9. Always being the center of attention just because I have white skin. I miss blending in.
10. If you have to dry clothes outside and it rains everyday, you run into some problems.

My three girls and I

All the girls with thier diplomas and t-shirts

9/5/11
I am happy to report that our girls empowerment camp was a tremendous success. 19 young women ages 12-18 participated in a three-day two-night camp in one of the cultural hubs of El Salvador, Suchitoto. We stayed at the Centro del Arte para la Paz (Art Center for Peace), which is an old church renovated to host guests, youth groups and tours of the on-site museum. Over the course of three days, seven Peace Corps Volunteers (including myself) led a series of activities aimed to be both fun and educational. Topics covered included: self-defense, body image and self esteem, relationships, leadership, career planning, STD and contraception education, and yoga. The girls also participated in a tour around the city, movie night, manicures, a bonfire, a question and answer session with successful Salvadoran women, and a tour of the museum. At the end of the camp, each girls received a diploma and a t-shirt.
The whole weekend ended up being really fun and overall it was probably the most rewarding experience of my work here. At the end a few of the girls made short speeches saying how much they learned and enjoyed the camp and thanked us for putting it on. I feel like we really changed these girls’ lives for the better, at least in a small way. After seeing women being treated like second-class citizens here for so long, it felt really good to do some work to change things. Although equality here is far behind what we have achieved in the U.S., things are changing. Progress is being made, and we tried to impress upon the girls the idea that they can be the leaders in this movement, that they can spread the message of equality and empowerment of women to their peers and hopefully achieve some degree of progress. I am really proud of our work, I want to thank the other volunteers involved and especially our donors, whose generosity enabled all of this to happen. I wish everyone could have been there. Hopefully these pictures can convey some of the excitement.

8/19/11
El Salvador Birthday Round Two
I just had my 23rd birthday on the 17th, and this one was definitely better than the last. My 22nd was during Peace Corps training, and I had to spend it sitting through lectures. However, it was made better by a birthday card signed by 30 of my fellow trainees and a surprise birthday cake from my original host family.
This time, my friend Sarah and I decide to try to climb the tallest volcano in western El Salvador, Santa Ana. It is a moderate hike with police escort to the top, where I have heard there is still a gurgling pit in the crater, along with incredible views in all directions. It is made even more exciting by the fact that it erupted only six years ago, killing two people.
However, when we arrived we were told we needed a bigger group to go, but we could join the group of 60 high schoolers who were there on a field trip that day, who planned to hike the adjacent peak, Volcán Izalco. This volcano is not as tall and has not erupted lately, but has the traditional volcano shape of a steep cone with a crater on top, while Santa Ana is more of a ridge. I have read that Izalco is the youngest (most recently formed) volcano in the Americas. It has a very dramatic appearance since it has almost no vegetation on the sides, just loose rock.
Both hikes leave from Cerro Verde, an older volcano between the other two. To summit Izalco one must walk down Cerro Verde and then up Izalco, then come back the same way, making for a very strenuous hike. Going up Izalco is a very steep grade on loose rock and sand, plus at over a mile high I definitely noticed the air being thinner. Sarah flew up the slope while I slowly huffed and puffed my way up, pausing every few minutes to catch my breath. My struggle was downgraded by having 15 year old girls passing my on the way up. It was just more proof that Salvadorans have more strength and endurance that I ever will.
The top was worth all the effort though. Steam billowed out of vents, and the views were incredible. We saw the dried lava rocks at the bottom, where the last eruption had eaten into the vegetation. We walked around the rim of the crater and then headed down, which involved sliding down loose rock and sand.
We got to the bottom already exhausted but still had to climb back up Cerro Verde. This involved some 1400 stairs winding up the mountain, which nearly destroyed me. We soon deteriorated to climbing about 100 stairs and then resting for a few minutes. When we finally got back, I promptly downed two Gatorades and passed out.
We finished off the day with steak for dinner, a swim in the lake and some wine drinking. It turned out to be really nice birthday, but the next day turned out to be a challenge.
The next day we headed back to our nearby city, Sonsonate, to try to receive the money donated to girls camp and put it into a bank account. This turned into a multi-hour ordeal of visiting western union offices and banks with red tape blockades at every turn. After that, I headed home, picking up a cake I planned to share with my host family to celebrate my birthday. The bus drops me off about an hour walk from my house, which is a solid uphill climb. Usually I don’t mind it too much, but this time I had a heavy backpack, a cake, and legs that felt like jelly from the day before. To make things worse, the sky opened up and poured nearly the whole way. All I could do was try to cover my cake, phone and wallet in plastic and trudge on. I finally got home soaked and exhausted.
I was soon informed that my host dad’s father had just died, and that I should come to the vela. When someone dies in this culture, the whole community gathers with their surviving family and stays late into the night, praying, singing, eating and drinking coffee. This is supposed to show support and keep the family too busy to be sad. Grieving is very communal here, which I think is a good way of dealing with death. I have been to these gatherings (velas) before, and should have known better, but I went anyway. We left around 7pm, and I was told we would be back around 10. We ended up getting back around 1AM, making about 5 hours of sitting around doing nothing trying not to pass out. I was stuck for a good portion of that time with the an old man explaining bible verses to me on my right while simultaneously a gay teenager hit on me from the left. Not my idea of a good time. I was definitely happy to leave, and that was the last vela I will attend for a long time. I am used to these kinds of things happening though, and I can now take everything in stride. Its just another day in E Salvador.

Families, real and host



First papusas



At the ruins


6/28/11 Visitors!
I had my first visitors from the states last week, my dad and his girlfriend stayed with me for ten days and had just about the most ideal vacation possible in El Salvador. Here is the breakdown of what we did.
Monday, June 13- arrived at airport. They met some trouble as they had no destination address to tell the immigration desk. Apparently “some village somewhere” is not good enough, but rather than have two angry Americans on their hands, the officials had to let them through. Then we ran into some difficulty renting the car, as they tried to charge us more than we had reserved it for. After some good old American ranting and raving we got a good price and a larger car. Luckily we had air-conditioning since the airport is in one of the hottest areas I have ever been in. After stopping at a roadside coconut stand and then making a few wrong turns, we headed for the beach. We arrived at playa El Tunco (pig beach), the touristy surf-bum beach town. We checked into the hotel and immediately downed some beers and got a chance to relax and catch up. Later I introduced my dad to some local flavor in a hot sauce I call “green napalm”. I think he’s off hot sauce for a while.
Tuesday June 14- Left the beach after an uncomfortable night with no A/C. Spotted what we decided was a ring-tailed lemur (maybe) darting across the road. Went grocery shopping at the mall in the city of Sonsonate. Finally got up in the mountains and out of the heat to my town of Apaneca, where we bought some local gourmet coffee and headed to my village, Laguna Verde. Got them moved into the local guesthouse. (I am really lucky to have this place nearby. It is a full house with 4 bedrooms and a kitchen and everything you need. It is well landscaped with flowers and such, and sits on the lip of a huge crater with awesome views overlooking Ahuachapan city and into Guatemala. It is ridiculously cheap for what it is, only $10 per person.)
Wednesday June 15- Decided to lay low for the day, played some cards in the gorgeous setting of the guesthouse. Walked down to the Laguna, checked out the coffee fields and local flowers. Did a general community tour and introduced them to my host family.
Thursday June 16- I had read about a mega-resort on the beach about two hours away, so we decided to spend a night in luxury. (All you can eat and drink. Case closed.) We headed down there and decide to kill some time exploring a small fishing village that was nearby. It turned out to be a Salvadoran tourist beach with restaurants right on the age of the surf zone. We drank some beers and were serenaded by a mariachi band, which pleased my dad to no end. Then we headed to the resort. This place was ridiculous. It had an endless amount of pools, a saltwater pool that stuck out into the ocean and was covered during high tide, beach chairs everywhere and all the beer and mixed drinks you could handle. Paradise. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly that night, and headed back to the guesthouse the next day.
Friday June 17- We got back from the resort late in the afternoon… I can’t really remember what we did…
Saturday June 18- We started off with a tour of a local coffee processing plant, where they wash, shell, ferment, dry, de-husk, sort, roast and grind coffee that is picked in nearby fields. I think my guests really enjoyed it, and I liked the opportunity to show off my Spanish skills translating what the tour guide said. They picked up some local gourmet and a burlap coffee sack to hang on the wall. We then explored the town of Ataco, an artsy tourist area for picking up souvenirs and seeing art. Next we went to Juyjua (Why-you-uh), where they have a food festival every weekend. We ate some incredible pork ribs, saw some antiques, bought some Mayan artifacts (legal??? Maybe.) and visited a reptile zoo.
Sunday June 19- I wanted to exposed m visitors more to my host family, since they are who I am closest to here in my village. This was tough to do since they had about 5 common words in which to communicate. So we extended an invitation to join us in exploring some local Native American ruins. The two girlfriends of two of the brothers decided to go with us, Soyla age 14 and Rosa, age 22. It is hard to explain how great having a car here is, as a daylong bus adventure turns into a climate controlled joy-ride that takes a third of the time and stress. So we arrived at the ruins and got to check out the large structure that has been excavated. (Search for Tazumal ruins, el Salvador if you are curious) We also checked out some sort of native ceremony that was going on, but we soon left since it felt inappropriate to gawk. They was also a museum to explore, with some amazing pottery and sculptures that had been excavated from the site.
Monday June 20- We had a relaxing day, spent mostly around the guesthouse. We also visited the local hot springs, which a located near the country’s geothermal power plant. After having to walk the last bit because the road deteriorated, we enjoyed a nice soak in the hot pool.
Tuesday June 21-Headed to the big city, San Salvador. First we stopped off for lunch at a restaurant overlooking Lago Coatepeque, a large crater lake that is amazingly beautiful. There we ate the national dish, papusas, which are beans, cheese and meat or vegetables inside a fried tortilla shell. The city proved quite a driving challenge for my dad, but he did a great job. (I had to explain the two main rules of Salvadoran driving: DON’T PANIC and the signs and rules arenot laws, only suggestions.) We parked the car at the hotel and took a cab to the modern art museum, which proved interesting but a bit abstract for the likes of my dad I.
Wednesday June 22- Drove up to the San Salvador volcano, which tours above the city. It has a huge crater from when it last erupted in 1912 or so. At the bottom of the crater is a perfectly formed dirt mini-crater, it is really an amazing sight. We also saw some excellent views of the sprawling city. On our way to the into the city we hit an open manhole in the middle of an intersection, which miraculously did not break any part of the car. This confirmed that driving in San Salvador is at best extremely stressful and at worst borderline-suicidal. Next we went to the national archeology museum, which had exhibits of the history of the country, with exhibits of the all the major crops that have been farmed here of particular interest. Next we went to a tourist market to get some souvenirs, including a hammock, shirts, and aprons.
Thursday June 23- Time to say goodbye. Back to the airport and back to normal life for me.
It was great to finally share this place and my life here with loved ones, it makes me feel less alone since someone knows what I am doing and where I am. I had fun traveling around and being an interpreter and translator too. I don’t feel sad since they left, since they had a great time and the whole trip seemed just about perfect.
I hope this story serves as bait to get some more people to come down here and visit me. There is a lot of fun stuff to do, it is fairly cheap, and you will have your own personal tour guide and translator, not to mention a connection to a beautiful rural community. This is a rare travel opportunity for everyone, so think about buying that ticket; I promise we’ll have a blast.
P.S. I am still looking for donations for the girls camp, if you’ve been financially blessed lately share the love and change the lives of some young girls. Shoot me an email if you are interested.

June 3, 2011
Good news! I received my first grant! All thanks and praises be to the Santa Barbara Peace Corps Association, who funded my project to build a small pavilion at the school. Basically, the school director approached me with the idea a few months back about building a pavilion over the old disused school latrines. This will just be a simple floor and roof held up by supports, no walls. This will be a good spot to have class outdoors when the weather is nice and to send kids to do some quiet reading. Although this is not a big project, it will be nice to leave a physical structure at the school and know I have made a lasting impact, albeit a small one. Construction should begin in a week or two.
Last week I helped facilitate a visit of four engineers from Engineers Without Borders in a neighboring volunteer’s site. They wanted to teach a few lessons in the school about volcanoes, so I helped translate and manage the kids. We made model volcanoes with the older ones and just helped the younger ones draw volcanoes. I had such I good time that I am going to help a different group of engineers next week. It is nice to see other places in the country and work with enthusiastic gringos who want to do good put need some linguistic and cultural assistance. (My gringo enthusiasm is not what it once was)
The soccer teams I was coaching have kind of fallen apart, both because of people not showing up and some of the kids not behaving and generally pissing me off. The fact that the rainy season has arrived doesn’t help either. I might just call it a season and try again when the dry season comes.
I am really excited to host my dad and Marietta who are coming down here the 13th for a ten day visit. I haven’t had any visitors yet and it will be great to show someone where I live and what I do. Also, we are going to rent a car, which opens up a new world of possibilities here; we should get to see some of the great sites this country has to offer.
On a sad note, one of the two dogs my host family owns died the other day. The family had three dogs to begin with, Uno, Dos and Tres. Tres was the mother (go figure) but if you remember, was lost for a while and we later found her head in the woods. Well Dos just met his end too. It was really bizarre because I was having a dream that the dog was eating from the table and I kicked it, but harder than I meant to. This broke its neck, and it started stumbling around and yelping. I knew it was dying and could not believe what I had just done. Then I awoke to people yelling outside, and when I got to up and went to look the dog was moaning and twitching, just about to die. I guess the noise it was making seemed into my dream; it was really creepy. One of our neighbors had gotten tired of him barking all night and had fed him poison, which I think also happened to his mother. It was sad since I had made friends with Dos, he was a really sweet and playful dog, one that seemed to almost be human. Now we are down to just Uno.

May 25, 2011
As you may remember, I live in the coffee growing mountains of Western El Salvador. Most of the land around here is coffee fields, all of which export coffee to the major coffee corporations around the world, including Starbucks. Therefore you would expect the coffee that my host family makes by shelling, drying and roasting the coffee the old fashion way to be absolutely delicious. You would be wrong. The coffee they serve is watery and ranges in taste from smoky to kind of like caramel on good days. Nothing like you want and expect coffee to taste like. I had assumed that this was either because they use only the leftovers from the coffee they export or the cowboy style they use to prepare it. Nonetheless, I drank it with three meals a day and got used to it. The other day I finally learned what is going on with this stuff. My host family let it slip that they use half coffee and half corn to make it. That’s right. CORN. I was outraged, to say the least. It was like a cruel joke. They said it was too bitter without corn. “Are you all insane?!?” I demanded. I have since calmed down a bit but have decided to make get a coffee pot and make my own. I still can’t believe they took the thing they do best, producing world class coffee, and completely ruin it with corn. Unbelievable!
Yesterday I had some gringo visitors here in my site. Matt and Liz were working for an NGO trying to quantify carbon emission reduction from using the fuel efficient stoves that I sold a few months ago. They came out with the bosses of the stove company to ask people questions about their stoves and take pictures. I found a house we could visit that said they used the stove everyday. When it came time for the woman to demonstrate how she makes tortillas on it, we could not get the fire to light for about 15 minutes, all the while the stove billowed smoke everywhere. So much for efficiency. Apparently we were using pieces of wood that were to big. Finally got it going, and we cooked some delicious tortillas and ate them with cheese. All the while Matt and Liz snapped pictures with what must have been thousand dollar cameras. It is always strange to see stone age methods juxtaposed with modern technology. I see this kind of thing daily, such as women pausing their daily grinding of corn on a rock slab to answer their Blackberry. What a crazy world we live in.

Also, I am still looking for donations for the women´ empowerment camp, check out the last post if you missed it.

May 10
I’ve been busy lately, although my standard of busy has fallen drastically. I attended a training session that lasted four days last week. This was my last mandatory Peace Corps training session, and it took place at the national agricultural university. The focus was on helping local people to start small businesses. These are important since most Peace Corps projects have a tendency to fall apart after the volunteer leaves, unless people are making money, in which case there is a good chance of it being sustained. We were taught how to make soap, shampoo, hair gel, disinfectant, marmalade, and dried fruits. These are relatively simple group activities which can bring a small income. However, some of the profit margins seem razor thin, demand for some of the products is doubtful, and some ingredients are only available in the San Salvador, (three hours away) adding transport costs that can further diminish profit margins. That being said, some volunteers have been successful in forming a reliable small business group and making profits, especially with shampoo. I am interested in doing this, as it sounds like a good way to interact and connect with people and teach them about business. My challenge is that no community group exists, and starting one is a rather intimidating task, in that one must have the right amount of people who will actually show up regularly, and not making the whole community bitter if we make a profit and they aren’t included. I am going to try marmalade, hair gel and shampoo first, and see what happens. It’s funny how a big part of my job is taking things I know almost nothing about (business, making products like these) and showing enough confidence to lead other in doing them. We will see what happens.
Another project I am really excited about and need YOUR help with is a women’s empowerment camp that me and a few other volunteers are putting on in July. We are each bringing three girls between 13 and 18 years old to a three day camp where we will do fun activities and workshops on themes aimed to keep girls in school, help them find jobs, and generally inspire them to follow their dreams and aim high in life. This is especially important in Latin culture since women are much less encouraged to pursue careers and a lot of them end up having kids and leaving school early and becoming housewives. The lessons we will focus on include self defense, self esteem, how to pursue careers, sex education, empowerment, and interaction with successful Salvadoran women like policewomen, lawyers, doctors, nurses mayors, ect.
Here is where everyone who is reading this can help. We need money for transport, lodging, food, supplies, and all other costs. We are each raising $350, and our primary source is friends and family back home. I believe this is one of the most direct and intimate donation opportunities you will encounter, as I will be able to provide a personal connection from these girls to you via text, pictures, and storytelling, whereas aid agencies can distance the donor from the beneficiaries. So if you have been blessed financially and want to help inspire these girls to rise above cultural barriers and follow their dreams, now is your chance. Please let me know in a comment here or an email to forest.carter@gmail.com if you would like to donate and how much, and I will let you know soon how to send it. (We are still working that part out). I will gladly email pictures, answer questions, and take suggestions from everyone involved.
Thank you, and please pass the message on to anyone you know who may be interested.

4/22/2011
I admit it, I’m losing steam on this blog. I do want to keep it going though, as I believe a have a fairly large audience and is a good way to promote the Peace Corps third goal of promoting understanding among Americans of other cultures. It does get harder to write since everyday things seem more routine and less new, and weeks go by without much happening that is really newsworthy.
However, I did have my first major illness in my time here. The fact that it took this long is a small miracle that I was very much appreciating, but illness is inevitable, especially in a foreign land. I had a low fever for a couple days and took fever reduces to keep it down, but then one night I woke up and was completely out of it. I took my temperature twice and it showed 104. That being the highest the thermometer goes, I decided I needed some help. I called the Peace Corps office who sent a car for me, and headed to the doctor in San Salvador, who examined me and told me to stay in the city for a couple of days and take medical tests. His guess was that I had Dengue fever. I waited around in a hotel for two days, took more tests, and was diagnosed with stomach amoebas, a type of parasite transmitted in contaminated food or water. After an antibiotic regime, I am thankfully feeling back to normal. It is scary how out of my mind I got when feverish, I was incapable of logical thought.
In other news, it is Holy Week, which is a major celebration here, most people get off work and travel around the country to beaches and other touristy spots. We have been getting lots of tourists here to enjoy the lagoon, most of them are Salvadoran from the cities. School is out this week, so there is not much work to be done for your friendly neighborhood gringo. Our school recently had a projector donated, so now we are trying to find a way to buy a laptop so presentations can be made to classes, which would go a long way in our fledgling computer education department.

March 26
Earthquakes! I can’t remember ever feeling any earthquakes in my 10 years in California, but here they having been averaging about one a month. Yesterday was the biggest yet, a series of five medium size tremors in the morning and a sixth in the afternoon. In the morning I was helping run P.E. classes with the younger kids when the field started shaking. It was interesting to actually hear them coming and be able to tell what direction they came from. I realized that we were in the safest place in the community, as nothing could fall on us and a landslide was unlikely. The soccer games stopped and everyone gathered together as four more tremors arrived. Some of the kids started crying and the school director explained to them that the quakes were caused by the “moon changing”. I tried to explain the tectonic plates theory, but no one really understood. School was dismissed early and everyone went home. I don’t think where I live is too dangerous in regard to earthquakes since the roof is tin and the walls are brick, which I think can withstand most earthquakes. The whole community is built on the side of a mountain, so a landslide may be possible. I wonder if there will be any bigger ones while I am here.
March 27 update: Channel four news came up here to interview people about the quakes, since the epicenter was here in the community. I showed my smiling gringo face and was interviewed, I think I managed to state that I felt them and that earthquakes can be dangers (thanks for that valuable information). I’m going to try to catch myself on the news tomorrow. TV interviews in Spanish are not easy.
Lately I have gotten back into coaching kids soccer after a few of the kids begged me to do it again. I had gotten mad at the last practice back in November since the kids were disrespecting me and being lazy about playing and generally being little punks. It is going better now since I made it clear that is they don’t respect me then we won’t practice. We have a girls team and two boys teams, 4-6 grade and 6-9th grade. They basically just scrimmage while I referee. Hopefully in a few weeks I can organize some away games against neighboring schools.

Here is what the stoves looks like, complete with Salvadoran tortillas!


Here is me and my buddy Facho loading stoves into his pickup to bring to Laguna Verde

March 4
Alright, its been almost a month so its definitely high time for another post. I have been dabbling in a few different projects lately, here is the round-up-
Trash collection service – So I was getting increasingly fed up with smelling burning plastic and seeing ditches and gullies filled with trash, so I charged into the mayors office (which is in the nearest town, Apaneca, about a 45 minute walk from Laguna Verde, my village). He was surprisingly compliant and understanding, and sat through my speech in particularly bad Spanish (some days my brain and mouth just will not cooperate). Laguna Verde had a trash service in the past, but people filled trash bags with dirt, sand, rocks, dead animals, and other ridiculous things which angered the mayor’s office since they pay by the pound to put the trash in a landfill. This is where I come in, I plan to visit everyone I can with a picture-laden brochures (not everyone can read) and explain why and how to use the trash pick-up service. We are now trying to agree upon a time and day for the truck to come, so hopefully this whole operation will start soon.
Recycling- A freelance pickup has been making the rounds in the community to buy recycling such as metal, plastic and paper from people, haul it to the city and sell it for a profit. Gotta love entrepreneurs! I sold them 53 pounds of plastic that I had inherited from the previous volunteer for a cool $3.75. Not a lot, but a good start. They also let me know that they pay well for paper, so I got motivated to try to start a program in the school. I’m starting small, a box in each room to collect cans, bottles and paper that I store in my house until I can sell it. The money will go to painting a mural of a world map on the side of the school. I briefly explained it to all the classes but output has been slow, a couple of cans and pieces of paper in the first week. I need to go back and do some more motivational speaking to get the kids into it. There is a lot of motivational speaking involved in being a PCV, which is something I previously did not have much experience in. I believed that if what you are talking about is important and compelling enough to warrant enthusiasm, you shouldn’t have to trick people with fancy speeches, it should speak for itself. I now understand the importance of speech and in setting a positive attitude in your audience. Enthusiasm and motivation are critical to start new enterprises, and both are highly contagious.
Outdoor classroom- My school director approached me and proposed building a reading area behind the school over some old latrines. Basically he wants a foundation, floor and roof, but no walls. This would serve as a place for reading, meetings, music practice, and other uses. This would be nice since there are not always classrooms available for these things and would be much nicer to be outside in the beautiful weather. We only need $225 to build this thing, so I will be writing some grants to try to get us the funds.
Environmental Lessons. PCVs have compiled a book of these in Spanish that are to be given to various grade levels in a participatory way that promotes learning through doing. I have been preparing and assisting in giving these lessons. First we made a worm compost bin with the 5th grade and then did an activity to learn about how water cycles through the environment with the 6th grade. The kids really like these and it is nice to have a written plan to follow. I will continue to do a couple of these per month throughout the school year.
Also, Obama is coming to El Salvador! He is visiting a few Latin American counties and is going to stop here for a day to talk to the Salvadoran president. Get ready for broad, positive, nonspecific heart-warming messages like : “The US is determined to fight poverty alongside allies like El Salvador” ect. Although good for general propaganda purposes, nothing much seems to come of visits like these. However, I may journey to the capitol to see the man and hear a speech.
Other than that, I’m just living life in a bizarre parallel universe. Staying healthy and happy are full time jobs here, but I have been blessed with both lately. Please leave a comment with questions or, well, comments. Sometimes I wonder who is out there reading on the other side…

Coffee tasting


Drying coffee at the factory, some of which was grown on the volcano in the background.


Murals for development project in the next town over, Ataco.

2/9/11
Hallelujah! The stove project has been financed in full. A generous local donation finally came through; effectively subsidizing the 45 orders I have for stoves. (In case you forgot, these are concrete cooking stoves that use wood and are superior to traditional open fires because they use less wood and produce less smoke. Google Stove Team International for more info) This alleviated much of my worries about having to use a huge chunk of my own savings and/or sending out an embarrassing mass email to friends and family. Thanks to those who offered to donate, your support means a lot. On Saturday we are going to collect the stove from the factory and bring them to the community, and I will try to track down everyone who ordered a stove. Hopefully the ten dollar down payment they paid will bring them to me. Peace Corps project number one nearly complete!
Next? I’m thinking of trying to talk to the mayor about a regular trash pick-up service. This may not be hard, the hard part is to get people to bag up their garbage and bring it to the street at the appointed time. This will probably involve me going door to door with pamphlets and explaining why it’s bad to burn plastic and throw trash down the mountain. Could be a smashing success or a hilarious failure, but there is only one way to find out.
Also, the school environmental club. I can’t decide if I should start it now or wait until I can spend more time in the classroom with the kids to build trust. I’ve been helping out with small tasks in the school (the custodial arts) to build my relationship with the teachers and students. I also taught an improvised math lesson, which went fairly well. Actually making kids learn and knowing for sure that everyone understands is a lot harder than it looks.
Skateboarding did not last long around here. The kids loved it and I was having fun teaching them, but some people got worried about the kids getting hurt. I personally think the soccer kids play here is more dangerous, but people fear the unknown. The boards are now enjoying retirement in my room.
I got to visit two coffee factories recently to see how coffee is washed, shelled, fermented, dried, ground and roasted. One of the tours ended with a coffee tasting, which was fun. It´s amazing how many different tastes coffee can have.

Multicolored chickens. Not sure why.










This is what happens when you bomb hills on a cheap bike when the road is covered with an inch of dust. Dont worry, it will heal.










Skateboarding hits Laguna Verde











1/27/10
I’m back! (in El Salvador) I spent a week back in Arcata with my friends and family. It was the best vacation I could ask for. I got to see my mom and sister, play ultimate and disc golf, hiked in the redwoods, went to the beach, went biking and skating and even sledding, pretty much covering everything I wanted to do. I also got to bring back some goodies, such as energy bars, chocolate, waterproof shoes, a solar shower, my ukulele and three skateboards. The trip back was 26 hours of attempted sleep in terrible seats, so it feels nice to be back here to my second home. I took a nap as soon as I arrived, and opened my eyes to see that a mouse had made a nest in some pants I had left on the bed. I threw the pants on the floor and went right back to sleep. This kind of stuff doesn’t faze me anymore.
I officially introduced skateboarding here; everyone wanted a turn, which resulted in much falling and hilarity. The younger kids learned pretty fast, while the older ones seemed to fall more. I don’t really have a good reason for bringing skateboards, besides giving the kids something new to try and to share one of my passions with them. I’ll keep everyone posted on their progress.
School starts on Monday, and I am going to help the teachers out wherever I can and give some environmental lessons. I hope to start the environmental club within the first month, although I am worried about if I will be able to make it interesting and fun enough to draw interest and continued attendance.

Some friends after a late night soccr game











Friendly PCV basketball game. The guy with his arm around me is my boss, Rolando











My host brother and new best friend, Edwardo, and his little sister mary

Jan 5.
Happy New Year to everyone, 2011 arrived here in the midst of dangerous fireworks, tamales and drunks. Everyone lit off the dynamite sticks all day and night. These things are just a bunch of black powder and newspaper packed together and sold to eight year olds for a quarter. This leads to an entire country covered in newspaper and a ringing in my ears. At midnight I went to a spot on the mountain that overlooks the nearby midsize city of Ahuachapán, where the city was boiling over with fireworks. There were about 5 explosions per second coming from all over the city in different colors. All the country side all the way into Guatemala was also shooting them off, making an incredible exploding panorama.
I have confession to make. The title of this blog has proven very inaccurate. The one piece of mango I have tried here was absolutely terrible and I probably done a total of one hour of teaching because school has been out since November. So a much more accurate title would be eatin’ tortillas and sittin’ on my ass, but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Lately I’ve been continuing to sell the fuel efficient stoves, I’m up to 23, but coming up with the money to subsidize the price is not looking good, so I may have to pass the hat so to speak here in a few weeks to see if we can raise this money to get the stoves to the community. More info to follow. I have also been teaming up with the local health promoter to help him with his job and do house visits. Most communities here have a health promoter who does house visits to give vaccines, medicine, advice, chlorine to purify water, and other general health work. The guy we have here is around 30 and is becoming a good friend of mine. His Spanish is much clearer than most people’s too, which really helps us get along. I go to people’s houses and just kind of hang around while he does his job, but it is a good way for me to visit with people and learn more about the community.


1/9/10
I just finished reading Salem’s Lot by Stephen king, and today something happened that is straight out of a Stephen King novel. The family I live with, the Garcias, had three dogs up until about a month ago. One mama dog and her two male offspring, named tigre uno, tigre dos, and tigre tres, with the mother inexplicably being tigre tres. About a month ago I left for a couple days and when I got back the family told me that someone had fed the mama dog poison through the front gate and killed her. Actually, I found out that she was only missing, and this was their leading theory about what happened. No one had seen or heard from the dog in a month until someone found her head in a nearby grove of trees. We all went to verify this, and sure enough, the head of tigre tres. I can’t imagine who would cut off a dogs head, especially around here. It was a spooky sight, and got me thinking about the dark side of El Salvador that I have heard much about and felt its presence since I got here. Here is a list of reasons why I think this place has a dark side:
1. El Salvador has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
2. Of the three people I have heard of dying since I’ve been here, all three were murders.
3. People are generally paranoid of bad people lurking about.
4. People are quick to blame any strange noises or occurrences on anonymous evildoers.
5. Ghosts and spirits are widely believed in.
This is all made doubly strange since on the surface everyone seems so friendly and generally happy. I guess I’m starting to see deeper into the culture, below the superficial appearance.