Santa Paula

So I have officially been in my site, Santa Paula, since Saturday. Last Friday we moved out of our training communities and into a hotel in San Vicente. Early early Saturday morning we all headed into San Salvador to a hotel for our “Counterpart Day”, which is when 2 counterparts/community guides from each community come and we get to meet them and have a mini conference type thing. Only 1 of my counteparts came, Don Rodil, the director of the school in Santa Paula. As I am the 4^th volunteer to come to Santa Paula he really knows the ropes. Thank goodness! After a pretty boring morning of meetings we headed out to the community. Luckily, PC offered to drop most of my baggage off in Santa Paula for me (since I’m so close to the office) so Don Rodil and I only had to travel with my computer bag and a mini suitcase (in case PC didn’t drop my luggage off on time).  Don Rodil and I boarded a city bus and ended up at one of the bus terminals in San Sal. This is where my adventure began. As we are being bombarded with taxistas offering us rides, Don Rodil somehow figures out that the bus pulling out of the station is going to pass by Santa Paula. The cobrador (man who collects money on the bus), grabs my suitcase out of Don Rodil’s hands and starts chasing the bus, banging on it for them to stop. As it is a coach bus, he then opens the under compartment and tosses my suitcase in, amongst some leaking cans of gas. The bus starts to pull away, so I nimbly (or not so nimbly with laptop bag and mosquito net in arms) leap onto the bus and secure a window seat. As we are pulling out of the station, Don Rodil says, “It’s good that you have a window seat.” “Why?” I ask innocently. “So you can see if anyone tries to steal your bag.” Oh…great. The next hour was passed in an interesting state that varied between sheer exhaustion and constant vigilance. But, luckily, no one stole my bag and I arrived in Santa Paula with all of my luggage accounted for.

These past couple of days have been a whirlwind. My arrival is overlapping with Alayna’s departure from Santa Paula, so she is introducing me to everyone while saying goodbye to them. I imagine it is really hard for her having me come in as she is having to say goodbye to her home. However, all in all I am thrilled with the parts of the community I have gotten to know. There is a vibrant women’s softball team that I have tentatively (pending ability) been invited to join. ON Saturday we watched a friendly game, and then on Sunday we traveled to the pueblo of Apastepeque to watch the team in an all-municipality tournament. Today I went to the escuela to meet the teachers. There are 12, including Don Rodil, and everyone seems really nice and committed to their job. Unfortunately, last night someone broke into the school (which is right on the Panamerican Highway) and stole a photocopier and all of the food from the snackbar. The community itself is safe, but its proximity to the highway makes the school an easy target I guess.

As for living situation, I am living with a very nice host family. I have my own room that is in a little house separated from the family’s main house. The bathroom, bathing area, water, and kitchen are all in the main house. My host mom is an amazing cook, which makes me very happy! At the moment I am just trying to make my room as homey as possible for the next 2 years. This means buying some drawers for my clothes, hanging pictures from home, and what have you. Yesterday I spent 2 hours in the San Vicente market looking for various furnishings. The only thing I could not find anywhere was a lamp! Looks like I’ll be using flashlights till I can get to San Sal. A cat at my house had kittens about a week ago, and one of these has already been offered to me. Yippee!

Anyway, I will be able to post more once I have had more time to settle in and process everything that is going on, but in general all is good and exciting here!