I got a site, hey hey hey hey

After spending two months in El Salvador I´m beginning to rethink the way we party in the States. When we´re celebrating something in the US we throw a party that lasts all day, sometimes all night, usually with plenty of food, music and more than plenty to drink. Here, when they throw a party it literally lasts all night - and then all the next week thereafter. The party "kicks off" officially each day with fireworks and a music band blaring Ranchero music - at 3:30am. The sporadic fireworks and strange combination of reggetone, country and mariachi music lasts from 3:30 until about 6:00am, when people take a breather and the second round of festivities begins for the day. This seems to consist of what we might consider to be a fair back home - people come to St. Domingo and set up makeshift stores, where they sell everything from fried platanos to coconut candy to pirated copies of DVD´s and CD´s all day long. Often times there is a dance which takes place in the middle of a closed off street, and always kids can be seen riding the ferris wheel that has been erected in the park. On Saturday night the town kicked off their fiesta week with "el palo" - this one, I haven´t quite gotten over yet. They cut down a small tree and smooth out the trunk. The pole, which stands about three stories tall, is then lathered down with grease and fat and positions in the concrete in the street so that it stands straight upright. At the very top of the pole, someone has put a $100 bill. The whole town then gathers around and watches as 10 to 15 determined men strip down and attempt to climb the poll to reach the money at the top. I´ve never seen anything like it - after about seven failed attempts and many collapsed pyramids one lucky lightweight was able to top the pyramid and reach the prize. The 13 year old girl who was elected "St. Domingo fiesta queen" then presented the money to all the greased up guys to split. Events like this and the whole party scene will last for eight days in total here in town, starting each day with fireworks before sunrise and ending each night past midnight with regge dances where the base will shake a house from a half mile down the road. What I have trouble believing is how the Salvadorans manage to do all this without one drop of alcohol - public drinking is about the only thing that´s not included in the partying. I may not have slept for four days but I do have a newfound respect for Salvadoran celebrations - they´re hard core, even if they are crazy.

We´ve been lucky the past few weeks - aside from training activities we´ve gotten the chance to visit some of the most beautiful places El Salvador has to offer. Two weekends ago the trainees had the chance to visit Isla Teslajera, an island off the Pacific coastline. We had the beach completely to ourselves, just us gringos, aside from sharing the walk from our bungalos to the beach with a herd of cows. The water was absolutely beautiful - I couldn´t have asked for a better first trip to the Pacific ocean. This past weekend we took a trip to the San Vicente volcano - and climbed it. It took about four and a half hours to reach the top and it was probably one of the most physically strenuous experiences of my life, but the view from the top made it all worth it. I have pictures of everything but I´m in the midst of a battle of sorts with the internet cafe computer to download them, so hopefully soon I´ll have a link up and running on the blog for a photo album.

As for the most exciting news to date - I received a site assignment today. I´ll be spending the next two years in the eastern part of the country, in the town of Chapeltique, in the department of San Miguel. Check it out on a map if you´re so inclined - all I know about it so far is that it´s pretty hot there, I´ll fairly closeby to a few of my trainee friends and to other volunteers already situated in San Miguel, and there´s a huge potential to do a lot of productive work in the town, but none of it is really with the mayor (the person I´m supposed to work with as a municipal development volunteer). The Muni APCV told me that at his initial visit to the town, the mayor was fairly disinterested but on the other hand many community leaders such as church, school and health clinic employees showed up and requested the help of a volunteer. We´re going to visit our sites next Monday for four days to familiarize ourselves with the area and attempt to find housing, so I´ll have more concrete information after next week. As of right now, with the limited information I´m aware of, I have to say that I´m pleased with my assignment - my site is a medium sized town close by to other volunteers and major cities as well as directly on a major bus route, and it seems as though there is the potential to do quite a bit of community development work there.

That´s about it for now - I´m happy for all the trainees in my group for reaching the point of receiving site assignments - two more weeks and we´re finally beginning our service! I hope everyone at home is doing well and enjoying summer thus far - a special thanks to Lisa and Sarah for the amazing care package (I especially love the underwear you bought me) and to Erin Latina, Alli, Kathryn and Grandma for the letters, and to everyone who has emailed as of late. Lis, I´m glad to hear the girls did their jobs and got you plastered for your bachelorette party - wish I could have been there to sing karaoke with you guys! Joe, I hope you´re having a blast galavanting across Africa, and Aaron, I´m still praying for a cold front to pass by your way. I´m proud of you guys, keep up the good work. To everyone else at home, I miss you and continue to think of you. Take care for now!