Fuego!

Preparing for a site change is a strange experience. I'm not working so much - just doing art and English at the school - and I'm trying to get my things organized.

One of the most difficult things to sort out has always been my trash.

Like so many rural communities, the Cocalito doesn't have trash pickup. I went "native" when it came to things like toilet paper or old scrap paper and set it on fire in my yard. But I drew the line at plastic. I packed up my plastic trash in grocery bags to take in on trips to Sonsonate. But eventually, the trash started to take up a whole corner of my kitchen. Beyond outsourcing to the Sonsonate terminal.

In the early evening, I walked out into my yard with one bag of trash like there was nothing to it. Then I set it on fire. The thing was gone in less than 5 minutes.

So I brought out another. It was like the trash never existed. Guilty satisfaction.

The next night I looked at the remaining hill of "Super Selectos" bags stuffed with refuse and decided to make things happen. Make sacrifices happen.

It was a hard decision, but it was time. I set a bag on fire, and retreated inside to grab the other bag that would go up in flames.

It had been a point of contention in both my host families and my school. The now gnarly, torn, stained, kinda moldy "Da Vinci's Gnome" bag. It was time to let it go. It has traveled around with me since my first-ever boyfriend, Michael, gave it to me years ago. Since then it has been decorated, criticized and admired. It has hauled groceries, books, garbage and live hens. But it's era came to an end.

In the roaring, toxic flames of a farewell fire, the gnome was consumed.

New site, new bag. The women's group in Chalate do embroidery. A artesania bag will be just the thing for a new life in a new site.

In other, breaking news, I will be having surgery soon...maybe here in El Salvador. That should make for a good blog. I'll keep you posted!

Simulacro

On our way up to our second site visit, the super Silvia and I were cruising along past the great views afforded by the mountains of Chalatenango when, de repente, we are stopped by a man in uniform.

The scene was brutal and graphic. A seemingly small rockslide had taken down a tin house, and caused a tree to fall on a man, killing him and pinning his maimed body to the middle of the highway. People seemed to still be stuck inside the tin shack, and the normal array of onlookers and gawkers of all ages were clustered around the scene. TCS, a TV station, had a camera crew there, filming and interviewing.

After passing as quickly as we could cursing and swearing, Silvia and I were totally bummed. It made no sense. Besides the usual frustration one feels whenever they see how the officials handle dead bodies on the side of the road, and how people flock to these scenes with their children in tow, we were also confused about how this strange accident could have happened.

Landslides or falling rocks aren't totally uncommon for the rainy season, but it hadn't been raining. And how did that man end up under the tree in the middle of the road? What a freak situation it was.

On the way back from our site visit a few hours later, we passed the place again. Nothing was there but some blood stains and a few soldiers. Depressing.

The next morning, Silvia called to tell me that there was an article about the accident in the newspaper. It had been a simulacro. A simulation. A drill.

Excuse me?

There wasn't a single thing that warned passers-by that they were about to come across a horrific, but staged, scene and there is no reason to make a simulation so gory with maimed bodies. Isn't an imagination good enough? Doesn't everyone in El Salvador know pretty damn well by now what a dead body on the side of the road looks like?

So, well played El Salvador. Glad to know you are doing drills for the rainy season, but bummed to know that the theatrics of the scene are paramount to sparing people the roadside freakshow.

The good news, though, is that the site we visited was absolutely amazing. I can not wait to pack my bags and move along to this beautiful, focused, mountaintop community. I believe it will be absolutely worth the frustrations and anxieties of relocating and starting fresh. I think that last 8 months of my service will be what I had wanted from my first 17.

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.

Kiddos

A work in progress at this point. Good job though, 5th Grade!

GQ in Cocalito

Twenty Four

I finally turned 24.... after years and years of waiting.

Just by good chance, Dan Clarahan and I had planned on striking out east that same weekend to visit a few friends in the fresco climate of Morazan.

After a painfully long and cumbia filled cross country bus trip, we arrived at Jaime's site near Osicala and watched her girls soccer team kick some butt. Woo!

Then we hitched out of the area, and made our way up to the even colder climate of North Morazan.

The ever-gracious hosts that are Dan Hinkle and Krystal Atha threw me a rockin good birthday party at their house near Perquin in Northern Morazan. Hinkle informed me that a theme was necessary, so we picked "Pacific Northwest Hipster." Best Idea Ever.

In short, we played games, had tasty drinks, and listened to "obscure" hipster playlists. It was grand. A little later, we had somewhat better musical entertainment in the guitar abilities of Crystal's friend "Che" and somewhat worse entertainment in the Evenescence songs his San Miguel friend played on his cellphone. But all in all, A+ birthday.

Thanks for everyone who called or wished me a happy birthday. I appreciate the thought. You're all so nice. :)

Going outside? Put on your shades...

You don't wanna mess with that.

Cake Trough.

Eeek! The classic Danny-Sanny

It's a hipster party, so someone had to labor at the guitar, trying to play, and failing.

B Day Cake. Cherry with Chocolate

We are all very funny.

Kitchen Time

Awesome.

Getting some stuff going...

Aren't the precious...

Las Ninas

Dan teaching my students to avenge evil.

Anita and Delmi painting the Wooorrllddd

A Video of the Karate Class

Dan Clarahan came to teach my students some Karate, they dug it

Then we had a field day, and played duck duck goose, tug-o-war, kickball, and some other diverting activities... all good, in the hood.

It hasn't been THAT long...

My Youth Group on my front porch, eating popcorn, cereal/marshmellow treats
and watching New Moon... they picked it out, man.

Photo attack of Haydee, aka "Comadre"

"Bienvenidos a mi Bautizo" Ricardito celebrating his baptism.

Mi "Host" Family.

Mi Pareja and dancing partner, Katarine, also "Celebrating" the baptism of her brother.

The procession in La Barra.

Semana Santa is OVER. I was sick for most of it, with a fever, body ache and tummy issues. Made hearing about the DOUBLE meals my brother and nephew got to enjoy on Easter just a little more bittersweet.

On Monday I made it to the opening day of Las Fiestas Patronales in La Barra de Santiago. In the morning I went to the mass with Haydee, and we baptized my new godson, little Ricardito.

Then we spent the rest of the day just enjoying the festivities and the evening being the creepers outside of the dance, watching everyone shake their stuff.

It was pretty great.

My youth group has been working on our World Map, and it should be done sometime before the end of 2011. heh

Oh, in other news, the American Embassy in El Salvador posted their visit to my site and my project on Facebook.com You can check it out by clicking here.

FINALLY, I don't know if you remember, but I'll be turning 24 in less than a month...

and in a totally unrelated note, my address is "Cuerpo de Paz PCV Jessica Hiddleson/Colonia El Cocalito/Correos Cara Sucia/Ahuachapan/El Salvador C.A."

Just in case you were curious... :P

salu... paz.... hasta la proxima