EL SAlvador: semana santa & etc.

We are in April! My 9th month in country and 7th month as a PCV! More than 1/4 of the way through! Craziness!!

March closed out very busily...we spent a couple of days in Tunco to say bye to Ashley and Cory, which was very fun although bittersweet. Ashley is already back in the US, Cory is vagabonding in Nicaragua at the moment. I'm a little jealous of both of them, but still happy with my decision to stay.

The Morazan volunteers put on a camp at the end of March. Camps are a pretty popular "project" amongst PCVs - usually a 2-3 night excursion to a hotel with each PCV bringing a few kids from their community. This camp we did was a combination of creativity and HIV-prevention workshops up in Perquin, a town in northern Morazan. I brought 3 kids from the 9th grade. The camp was crazy busy and hectic, but it was really fun and I think that the kids learned a lot and had a good time.

This past weekend, Eva and Tricia came up to my site and we hiked El Coroban, which is allegedly the highest "mountain" in Morazan, with some of the kids from my youth group. The hike was really tough (first exercise I've done in 9 months), but it was very beautiful at the top and a lot of fun.

Now we are in the midst of semana santa (holy week). Semana santa is a BIG deal here. There is no school and all businesses shut down so people can attend all of the religious activities. This leads naturally to me spending a lot of time lying in my hammock and unsuccessfully trying to download the latest seasons of all the TV I miss...but it's all ok because I get to have some serious face-time with my community, win them over with my willingness to attend church, and score a free ride to the beach on Wednesday! Also, I can handle anything right now because in 10 short days I will be home!!!! I'm coming home for 8 nights to spend some time recharging my batteries, eating delicious food, and seeing family, friends, and pets. I can't wait!! I may or may not have already started packing (blush blush).