PST2

So, for the last 2 weeks my entire training group has been in San Vicente for PST2 (Pre Service Training, take 2). For me, this was not a huge change, since I go to San V almost every week, but it has been great to all be together, and to finally learn the technical stuff we will need to be effective volunteers in our sites, such as how to write grants, make pinatas, and get eco-friendly stoves for our communities! 

For PST2, Peace Corps decided that I could not stay in Santa Paula, although it is only 20 minutes from San Vicente. Instead, they decided to move me to Apastepeque, aka my pueblo, which is 5 minutes from Santa Paula. So 2 Sundays ago I had to pack up my stuff, say goodbye to Manchita, and head 5 minutes down the road for 3 weeks of training. To get to Apastepeque, I decided to hitch a ride with the softball team which had ordered a pickup to take them to the tourny in Apast for the day. We all squeezed onto the pickup, with me and my luggage barely fitting, and headed to the field to watch the softball game. Santa Paula won (obviously) and instead of allowing me to walk from the field to my new host family house (about a 5 minute walk), they decided to drive me in the pickup. So we all loaded back into the pickup, me really not fitting this time, as we had acquired some new riders at the field, and set off in the alleged direction of my host family's house. We arrived shortly thereafter at a house in the town. Upon knocking on the door, we learned that a different Nina Rina, not my new host mom, lived in the house, and that this Rina had no idea who "Maestra Rina" was. So we set off aimlessly again, until luckily a member of my team spotted someone she knew on the road, and through a shouted conversation discovered where my new home was. So I was delivered to the door of my new host family by about 25 Salvadorans in the back of a pick up truck... what an arrival. 

Everything in Apastepeque has been good, and training has been very informative. This past week we went on an extended "field trip" which involved trips to San Salvador as well as Ahuachapan, which is the department in the far west corner of El Salvador. We spent a night at a beautiful hotel in the touristy town of Ataco, where we ate spinach lasagna, roast chicken and pancakes, and took a hike to an incredible waterfall where we got to swim and play. 

que chivo

the drive home...my San V volcano, aka Chichontepec

One sobering part of this week was my first firsthand experience with the violence of El Salvador. On Wednesday we were heading from Ahuachapan back into San Salvador when we hit a lot of traffic. Eventually, we passed the point of traffic, which was a man lying in the middle of the road with a bullet hole in his forehead, gasping for breath. He was barely alive and there was no one around him or helping him. Our car, like all the others, just drove past and left him there. I am well aware of the 15 murder/day statistic here in El Salvador, but for me seeing this up-close and personal was really shocking and sad. According to the older volunteers, the sight of dead bodies is something we'll become a little hardened to over time, but right now I think that all of us who were in the car are pretty shaken up by what we saw.

Anyway, back on another positive note...this week we have Spanish lessons to get us back in the swing of things, and then on Thursday we all head to the capital to spend Thanksgiving with Embassy host families! The families from the US Embassy open up their homes every year and host groups of PCVs so that we can eat turkey, gravy, and stuffing (and drink good wine, have hot showers, and use washing machines...) so that will be great! Then on Friday we have our swearing in party, which is a party for all volunteers to welcome us as the new group to El Sal. So this week should be busy, but very fun and filled with gringos! Back to Santa Paula next Sunday to get back to work!