Got My Site...

Nov. 10, 2006

Hi All,

It´s been a little while since my last email, as I´ve been off the grid and working mainly in my host community. I´ve been spending my days speaking spanish, hanging out with my host family, and doing a variety of projects in the community. The latest project, which we still have yet to finish, is painting a giant world map on the wall of the local school. The kids are all involved in the painting and drawing process, and hopefully they´ll get a little geography lesson in the process.

Last weekend, about 20 of us volunteers splurged and went over to the beach in La Libertad. We spent about 24 hours lounging around on the black sand beach, under coconut palms, sleeping in hammocks, eating great food and (gasp) drinking a few beers. It felt a world away from our normal Peace Corps routine, and it was a much needed break.

This time, I don´t have any stories about chicken unmentionables, but I did want to write to tell you all a little bit about where I´ll be for the next 2 years. I found out on Tuesday that I´ll be stationed in a little country town of 700 people called El Pital, near La Magdalena, near Chalchuapa, in the department of Santa Ana. I´ll be doing a variety of things, from facilitating projects with the local community development committee, obtaining computers and building a computer lab, starting up a youth group, and teaching English on the side. I´m very happy about the variety of possibilities in this site. It´s also very rural - about 10 km from the nearest paved road - which makes me happy too. However, I hear there are chinches there (little bugs that burrow into your skin and poison your blood), so I´ll have to be extra diligent with my bug-machete.

Despite everything strange about my host family, I´ve grown to be quite close to all of them. I´m really going to miss the craziness of that house, and the friendships I´ve formed with them all. I also just learned that 6 year-old Ingrid, one of the three orphan kids, will be adopted by her cousins in the US, separating her from her 2 brothers for a long time, possibly for good. It will no doubt provide her with a better life, and far more opportunities than the dismal ones she has here, but it makes a family that has lived through so much even sadder. Hopefully, it will be for the best.

Anyway, that´s all the time I have for now. I´ll try to write as often as possible, and in the meantime, know that I´m thinking of you all and enjoying your replies and comments.

Adios,

Benjamín