New Years in El Salvador

Friday:
So everyone in my house went to El Salvador over the weekend, so we all woke up wicked early to eat breakfast before we got picked up. We got picked up a little after 6 to find Levi already in the van. We then went around Antigua to pick up everyone else. We thought that it was going to be just the 10 of us in the van, but we found out later that there were going to be 2 other people in the van. So the van ride was extremely cozy... and not very comfortable since there was not any ac. But besides there being no ac, the van ride wasn't too bad. The total amount of time to El Tunco (the beach we stayed at) was about 5 hours. At the boarder, we all wanted to get a stamp for El Salvador, but we didn't get one because the stamp for Guatemala works for a few other countries. El Tunco is very much a surf small town. Most of the restaurants/hotels are owned by the same family, and everyone knows each other. El Salvador used the American dollar, but most stuff is a lot cheaper than in the states. So after we got there we all changed into out swimsuits, and then Amanda, Ari, and I went to grab lunch at this cute coffee shop. We then headed to the beach; the beach in El Tunco has black sand because it is volcanic sand. It was my first time going to a beach with black sand. The water was not calm by any means, and had so many waves. I don't really like salt water because it stings my eyes, but the water was refreshing none the less. It was only my second time swimming in the Pacific Ocean. After a bit we went back to our hostel, which is called Papayas lodge to chill by the pool. The lodge has hammocks, and I took full advantage of them. They were so comfortable- better than the one at home- which isnt solid so it leaves imprint when you get out of it. I even started reading a book, which is something I haven't done for leisure in about a year. We then all got ready to go out for dinner. We went to this taco place, which at first was closed, but then they opened it for us. Dinner was delicious- I got fish tacos, and they were some of the best fish tacos I had ever had. After dinner, we went to look for a place to chill for the night. While we were looking, there was a chocolate fondue pot at a restaurant and they invited us to have some for free- it was a really good dessert. We ended up at this bar called Darocas (or something like that), which when we got there was pretty chill. The beach that night had so many fireworks/firecrackers- and they went off EVERYWHERE. I do not understand why people like the ones that don't have lights so much. There were some that just made extremely loud noises. At midnight there were tons of fireworks that went off. It was great talking to other people at the beach- we met a bunch of peace-corps people and other foreigners. I wasn't able to stay awake much past 1, due to being awake since 5:30 that morning, but I would say it was a good New Years Eve.

Saturday:
I slept in until 10:30, which is the latest that I have slept in the whole time I've been here. Some of us then went to get breakfast at this place with good food but terrible service. We thought that we were going to go to another beach but we couldn't find our driver. So instead most of us spent the day laying around in hammocks, in the pool, and sleeping. Some people went to the beach, but I didn't really feel like it. For lunch I got papoosas (probably spelled wrong), which is sorta like an El Salvadoran empanada. They are my new favorite food- and there is an El Salvadoran restaurant in Worcester, so I plan on going there when I get back. I got a smoothie there to go, and so they put it in a bag, which was a new concept for me. We all rested more before getting ready for dinner. Saturday El Tunco was beyond crowded with people from around El Salvador, and so we wanted to try to avoid the crowds but trying to find a restaurant farther away from the central part of town. That ended up being a complete fail. All the restaurants that way were too crowded. Other people had that idea before we got there. So instead we went to the Taco place we went to the night before to get dinner to go. We then went back and ate it at the hostel before going out for the night. Our night didn't last very late though, as we were all still exhausted. We went to the beach for a little and then it started to drizzle so we all went back and almost promptly fell asleep.

Sunday:
So we planning on leaving around 10 so we could check out some other beaches, so we were all up by about 8, but unfortunately we couldn't find the other girls that were going to be in the car. But no worries, instead after breakfast we went to the beach to get the last possible amount of sun before we went back the not so warm Antigua. But then the sand was annoying and the beach had too many waves, so instead we went back to the hostel to go in the pool. I then went and got paposas for lunch again before we headed back to Guatemala. In the car, I find that I sleep a lot, which while is always good, is something that I sometime do not like. When I sleep I miss out of the beautiful landscape and just everything that there is to see. I miss out on so much when I drive because I have to focus on the road, but when I am the passenger I tend to always sleep- and miss so much. So we drove back to Antigua, back to the temperate weather. When we got back, Andrew, Shelby, and I met one of the new house mates a French guy. I was so exhausted from being in the sun that I was asleep relatively quickly after that. Though I was woken up at 12:30 because I got two new roommates- they are both from Montreal.

Monday:
I woke up around 7 to have breakfast with some of my new housemates. I then got ready and then went to get coffee before going to Maximo to do my Spanish homework. There are 33ish new people this week, half of which came in a group from the U of Minnesota plus 2 others from the U that aren't part of that group plus me... so in total close to half of the volunteers currently with Maximo are from or go to school in Minnesota. I talked to a bunch of them and while I dont know any of them, I have mutual friends with a lot of them, which is pretty awesome. I feel as if I am making a lot of progress in Spanish- I am learning extremely fast and able to understand more and more though I cannot speak extremely well. Today Sascha and I started to teach clothing, and talk about their New Years weekend. Unfortunately we could not get into the classroom today, so we had class outside, but the kids found tables around the school yard to still use. They are extremely resourceful. It was very cute. They all said that they ate tamales and some other stuff. When we started working on clothing, some of them knew some items of clothes, but not all of them. We had a worksheet where they had to write the item of clothing according the the picture on the sheet. We didn't have a white board, but we had a thing of poster board, so we could write the definitions on there. But we had no place to put it, so I was a human white board. Slowly but surely they are starting to understand more English. It is difficult because this is only a class during their break, and when they go back to school they will only get one hour of English per week. After class today, Sascha and I met up with Renny and Belize at this place called Cafe Sky to watch the sunset. Cafe Sky is on a rooftop, and it overlooks all of Antigua- it was extremely beautiful and calming. They then walked me home and I had dinner with Andrew and Shelby. The rest of the housemates were at Salsa. I was going to go, but some of the people that had been in Antigua for a few weeks worried that it was going to be too crowded, so we didn't go this week. So now in the house there are 3 Americans, 3 Canadians, 1 French, and 2 Aussies- quite a bit of people. I have been extremely exhausted recently, so tonight I am just taking it easy and relaxing- catching up on e-mails and talking to people. I skyped with Theresa and Stephanie a little bit ago, and will possibly talk to some other friends and/or family tonight. While it is extremely nice to not have a cell phone to use all the time- I sorta wish that I was able to contact people at home easier, but it is all part of the adventure, and overall I am loving it here!

Buenos Noches