2 weeks ago...

Thursday, May 27
I could’ve killed people today!! Seriously. Others woke up way early and for some reason feel the need and feel it’s ok to just talk SUPER loudly and excitedly while I’m trying to sleep! (with earplugs mind you).
We went to the Laundromat today! It felt so good and relieving to just drop off my clothes and know they will be ready tomorrow to pick up—nice and clean and smelling fresh!

English class was a BLAST tonight! We played Hot Potato with a huge stuffed Elmo! If a person got out, they had to say a sentence using a pronoun. They absolutely loved it and died laughing each time! They also loved Elmo as proven by their comments, “Que linda, el Elmo!....” hahaha
We then went over prepositions and I explained the ones they had questions about by doing actions. We did a fill in the blank activity and then did a partner game where I would give each partner a direction using a preposition and they would have to fulfill it. Ex: partner 1, put your pencil UNDER partner 2’s leg, etc.
Luis’s family gave us a ride to Estela’s today which was way nice, since the Pena’s weren’t there!
Oscar also came back so it was way fun to talk to him before class.
It has been perpetually raining lately.
I helped Juliann make cookies for our Balsamo fiesta tomorrow and planned out our Saturday.

Friday, May 28
We woke up way too early today! We started heading off to Balsamo—this time we were able to take the big truck. It rained all day (they gave us trash bags to wear on our journey)—we gringos are always a sight to see! We all had huge trash bags on in the back of a truck as it’s raining—I pulled my umbrella out for a bit but then resorted to sticking my head inside the trash bag instead. It was crazy because you could totally see through the bag from the inside but definitely not from the outside! It was more “comfy” this time around, riding in the truck.
We got there and waited FOREVER for things to get started. On the way there, I got stung by a bee and smacked on my face and head by a tree (Juliann ducked and forgot to warn me of the tree hanging above our heads haha). Then I picked a flower from a tree and of course mine would be vibrating because it had an angry bee inside—geez my luck!
We met adorable chicos while waiting (Juan is our absolute favorite—he’s 10)—they were fun to talk to.

We started making arroz con leche with the ladies there before the party (they cooked over firewood in a little shed thing while it rained outside—the smoke definitely made us cry!) It was way cool to see how they did things but it’s also a huge health hazard to cook like that—they’re thinking about doing adobe stoves with them but we’ll see. The arroz con leche was SUPER good though—it was the closest thing to Grandma’s that I’ve tasted yet!
They had a marimba band at the party—it was kind of cool! The songs all started sounding the same, though and each one lasted forever.


People were dancing (when we pulled them up with us) and then it was skit time! Our skit was Esposo Celoso—it was hilarious and they absolutely loved it. It was this run on comedy about a lady whose spouse is super jealous and all of these men come to her house that day selling health insurance or lawyer services or knives, etc. and finally the husband sees them—it’s way funny when played out. Their skit was so serious—we didn’t know how to react. It was played to the song “Cada Dia Oro por Ti” and it’s about this gangster son and his death revenge story (some mobsters kill his sister) and his mom is always worried for his life, etc. People were cracking up even when the people died and there was fake blood, etc. We were kind of shocked and slightly horrified (America said, “I think we’ll probably look back on this later and laugh”) haha! The babies were bawling though when people died.
Then we danced with the kids—I got Juan to come up and dance—we made a circle of kids and danced away to the marimba band!
We then played Down by the Banks with some kids—Juan kept sneaking pictures of me on his phone—it was cute.


Tons of people came to the fiesta and they weren’t all super participatory but I think they had a fun time and it prepared them and got them excited for our projects!
We rode back and went straight to Estela’s—all gross—yummy!
Dinner was DISGUSTING. It was this breaded hot dog thing stuffed with the breading and pounds of cheese—it was sick. I couldn’t eat it!
We came home and were all super exhausted so we showered and got ready for bed.
I’m excited for Ruta de Las Flores tomorrow!
Balsamo is frustrating because we’re always waiting but i’m excited for it and there are GORGEOUS views on the drive out there and I love the kids of San Lucas!

Saturday, May 29
We woke up this morning and got all ready and went to eat pupusas. We rented a micro for the day so it would be easier to go to the ruta! It was 100 bucks for the day—so a little over 8 bucks a person.
So—it started raining….a lot. Come to find out—we were in the middle of a torrential rain storm (Tropical Storm Agatha) that hit Central America! Pssshh Agatha got nothin on us. We were SOAKED all day—I’ve never been that wet from standing in the rain. I even had an umbrella but the rain was coming so fast from every direction so we had no hope. When we went to the bathroom, it was literally as if we had been swimming—that’s how soaked our clothes had gotten ½ way through the day!
We saw a way bad bus crash on the way and when we were leaving the fog was so thick we couldn’t see in front of us—but we lived through that Tropical Storm to tell the story! It wasn’t THAT bad and we actually chose to stay in the town of Juayua longer to keep shopping at artesenias.
Ataco was a cute little town that is supposedly like Antigua, Guatemala. Unfortunately, most of the towns were literally dead because of how bad the rain was. We did walk in on a Catholic wedding in a cathedral in Ataco—that was fun! Some of the group had already left the cathedral and then some of us decided to trek to a little artesenia store (most everything was recyclable—it was crazy!) When we came out of the store, our bus was nowhere to be found! We stood in the center of the town and got soaked even more, waiting for the bus to find us or vice versa—we thought the group would be ticked but it really was a misunderstanding of where everyone was! No biggie!
We then headed to Juayua—there was a food festival that was way cool and delicious! I had the best meat there I’ve ever had in a long time—this plate had a bunch of meat on it, a tortilla and some beans for $5. I then tried Atol de Elote and Chilate (Chilate is DISGUSTING.) but the Atol de elote tastes just like cream of corn soup.
We then walked around 2 hours to artesenias and I’m way excited about my purchases. (I got mom a couple things, myself a couple things, Grandma something, Dad something, the boys little something, and 3 Dvd’s—perfect quality each for a buck! This is It, The Blind Side, & Sherlock Holmes) It felt so good to finally buy some cool things for good prices! I don’t know why I feel so successful after a good shopping trip but I do haha.
Favorite glorious moment of the day = Peter finding Nacho Libre. I was talking to some people and he tapped me on the shoulder saying, “Hey—was someone looking for this?” I turned around and people swear they thought I was going to cry. I got the HUGEST grin on my face and my face was just in complete shock and glory to see Nacho Libre in front of my face. Peter was my hero for that 10 minutes of glory. He also found our favorite song from the skit in San Lucas “Cada Dia Oro por Ti”—we love it!
I wish we could have seen the view from the Ruta in the daylight because I hear it’s gorgeous but it was still fun—better than staying at home! And---we have bragging rights now that we braved a tropical storm to go sightseeing in the mountain pueblos.
There was a jar of jam in one shop that had the brand name of Zarahemla—it was way cool and the owner said it was just a name the group of people chose to put on their jam, so I’m wondering if they’re LDS—because she said that it is not a name of a place or person.
I got perfume at the store! Then had a salad from McDonald’s and made homemade popcorn for people while we watched Nacho!
It was a very successful day.

Sunday, May 30
Tormenta. That basically explains last night and this morning. It was CRAZY storming outside. I was definitely not looking forward to a breathtaking cold shower—Hallelujah—it was only semi cold!
This Mexican family spoke in church today and it was way good. Also, Kristen and I spotted the CUTEST little boy—he seriously kills Kristen each time she sees him—he is way cute with his parted and gelled hair, his cute smile, and his little Tommy Hilfiger backpack.
We want one.
There was a meeting 3rd hour about cleaning the church—it was way random that it was during church!
The Santos family had us over for dinner tonight (6 of us that they remembered—it was funny because they had told us they would call us when they wanted to invite us. At church, however, he told Tyler that tonight was the night and only 6 people—we couldn’t refuse, though so we made it work! I was excited!)
Their 18 year old son, David cooked us dinner (apparently he is the cook of the family!) He made “Mexican” tacos—basically they put meat and salsa in corn tortillas. It was good but could have used some more things (like beans or rice, guacamole or avocado, tomatoes, etc. He also plays the electric guitar way well—he taught himself and so he did a mini concert for us. It was cute to see how proud the parents are of him and how proud they are of all their kids!
We had a team meeting today and I called my fam.
I then had my individual meeting with Juliann and Tyler (they wanted to meet with everyone and talk about SMART goals, how things have gone, etc). I shared a couple SMART goals with them (write in my journal every day and try to capture moments, learn names of the students in my class and start calling them by name, bear my testimony in church next Sunday, and try to use Spanish as much as possible). They then told me that I was their favorite! Haha I was like ya right—you say that to everyone but they kind of chuckled and were actually like “mmmm nope haha we actually haven’t”. Tyler was like “you’re definitely America’s favorite. And we ….ya.” they decided they should probably stop haha but I was way flattered and it definitely made me feel good to hear that. They said they noticed I was helpful in bridging the gap between people and that I get along with everyone in the group so it’s great and that helps others get along too. I absolutely love my CD’s and my group and I really do feel blessed to get along with everyone here and be able to tag along in each little group if I so wish without feeling like I don’t totally fit in. I love it here.
I literally felt sick to my stomach tonight thinking about leaving in 2 ½ weeks. I almost started bawling and I wish I could see the projects developed and all followed through. 6 weeks went by faster than I ever thought possible. I wish with all my heart that I could stay—at least for one more wave. I kind of also wish people weren’t coming for the last week that I’m here. It will be weird but I’m vowing to make the most of the time that I have left.
I LOVE EL SALVADOR AND DON’T WANT TO LEAVE!