Blind Date

I had my first site visit today to check out my possible future home in El Salvador.

Going back a little. Things have been rough for a long time in El Cocalito. But recently things came to an unfortunate and seemingly hopless dead end. So some executive decisions were made and I will be changing sites in mid-July after the necessary site development and closing up of my current project in El Cocalito.

This has been a hard decision, but I really feel that despite the somewhat short amount of time I have left in country, the decision to move will at least present the opportunity to do some real work. In El Cocalito, the doors are all closed, and the problems there aren't the kinds of problems a PCV can solve.

I haven't told anyone in my site that I will be moving soon (don't tell them, please, kind reader). That is a hurtle I am not sure about how to jump. 

So the next month will be about getting myself, my things and my head in the right place to make this transition, and once I get there, the other half of a site change kicks into gear. House visits, introductions, tepid coffee and figuring out the hours of the local pupuseria, 2.0. I would like to think I will kill it (even more) the second time around. Though, I have to admit, the local dialect situation is a whirlwind. Sure, you might be a fluent spanish speaker in Ahuachapan/Sonsonate, but you get yourself to some middle of nowhere canton in the mountains of Cabanas, and you might as well be in Brazil.

Tomorrow is part two of the preliminaries, and another site visit, this time in Chalatenango.

Cross your fingers for me.