The volcano, the lake and the beach!

One of the cornerstones of Peace Corps is being out of your site (and consequently feeling guilty about it, but really loving it). I am recently returned from a week out of site – half of which was travel for pleasure and half of which was Peace Corps mandated training. Last Friday a few friends and I boarded the lovely Peace Corps shuttle and headed out west to Santa Ana. We stayed the night in a campground with cabins shaped like igloos (!), which, appropriately, were freezing cold. There were no towels, hot water, or blankets despite a phone call I had made to the caretaker the day before confirming that they had all those things. However, we toughed it out with what few blankets and towels we had (wrapped around our bodies for warmth) and spent our first freezing cold night here in El Salvador. AND I got to cross sleeping in an igloo of my El Salvador bucket list! The next morning we got up bright and early and headed up the Santa Ana volcano. There are various active volcanoes in El Salvador, but Santa Ana is the most recently active (erupting in 2005 and killing 2 wayward hikers). It is also the easiest volcano to hike – it only takes about an hour and a half each way. When we got to the top we were disappointed to find ourselves in a cloud aka without view. However, the brilliantly blue sulfur lake we could peer into in the volcano’s crater more than compensated that. We ooh-ed and ah-ed and took millions of pictures, then high-tailed it out of there to head to Lago de Coatepeque.

igloos and volcanoes! 

volunteers in front of the crater lake

Lago de Coatepeque is a crater lake a few miles from the volcano. It is giant, ringed by mountains, and pristine. There are rambling hostels that extend out over the water by means of extensive docks, and it is just an all-over awesome place to visit. One of my friends said, and I agree, that Lago de Coatepeque is the only traditional touristy place in El Salvador that we have been to that hasn’t been a disappointment. We spent 2 nights at the lake hanging out, swimming, and relaxing. Liz made an appearance after a month of vagabonding in Central America (she COSed in April), and it was great to see her.

Lago de Coatepeque

Tricia and I getting our float on 

After a couple relaxing days at the beach we packed up and headed to the beach for a Peace Corps mandated IST (In Service Training). Each PC program has an IST once a year, so this was our first. The numbers were low since so many PCVs have left in the past few months, but those of us that remain discussed resource sharing, current and future projects, grants, & etc. It was nice to get to know some of the volunteers from other groups, and it was great to be staying at a nice hotel right on the beach. Only in El Salvador can you do work on the beach, and I love it.

These next few months will be extremely busy, both with things going on in site and Peace Corps activities. Time should fly at least til my birthday in July and our year-in country!!