EL SAlvador: 1 week in

I have now been in my new site in Morazan for almost a week. It is a canton called Sunsulaca. It is about twice as big as Santa Paula, very hilly, and very pretty. All in all, things are going pretty well. People are very friendly and I have some great counterparts, as well as a couple projects ready to go that the previous volunteer left for me. The only problem so far has been motivation with the looming security conference at the end of the month. With gossip spreading like wildfire across the country it is hard not to get swept up in the speculations. Will the program get shut down? Will public transportation be banned? How many people are going to COS? Our training group, which started off as 15, is already down to 10, with a few more contemplating leaving, too. I don't blame them. We've been in El Salvador 6 months tomorrow, and nothing has been as expected. From receiving the phone call 2 weeks before heading to El Sal telling us we would have to live with host families for the next two years, to the banning of the capital and the shutdown of Honduras, things have been just plain odd for us. While I'm having a hard time getting out and doing stuff in the community, I'm just trying to hold on until the conference (only 12 days...) before throwing up my hands in despair or buckling down and getting to work.

In the meantime, here are a couple pictures I took...