Blogs from Cacaopera , Eastern, El Salvador, Central America Caribbean

So it’s been awhile since my last update...actually new years. Things have been a little hectic, and very awesome. Heres the short summary: Becky and I decided to push up our end date a few weeks so that we could spend some time traveling together in El Salvador before she went back to find work. After leaving Estancia, we traveled in El Salvador for 2 ½ weeks, and she, a few days ago, arrived in VA ready to reacclimate to US living. Here’s the scoop from our time in Estancia post New Years. It should be heavy in pics, Enjoy. The Goods 1. Cow Time 2. The Party 3. My Birthday 4. Other Highlights from Estancia 5. Making Ducle (Raw Cane Sugar) 6. Leaving 1. Cow time For the end of the year party, the NGO/clinic ... read more

VISA RUN TO MEXICO Contents 1. Visa’s and San Cristobal, Mexico 2. Indulging 3. Bugs 1. Visa’s and San Cristobal, Mexico. So our visa situation in El Salvador is this: were tourists and we have to leave the region every 3 months. The tricky part is that Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua are all on the same visa. So in order to renew our visa, we have to high tail it to Costa Rica or Mexico. For our first visa run, we chose Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas Mexico is home of the Zapatistas, a marginalized indigenous group that has been fighting for human rights for the last 10 years and gained international fame when they stormed (and took) the city of San Cristobal. But enough boring history mumbo jumbo, onto the fun. We went to San ... read more

The Floods 1. Flooding in El Salvador/FMLN 2. Hammocks 3. Becky’s Work 4. Siete Semillas (7 Seeds) 1. Flooding in El Salvador/FMLN As for me, I escaped all of the flooding, but the damage is pretty incredible. As it turns out, I didn’t even know there was a hurricane passing until I heard about the flooding and landslides (which I found out about a day and a half later). I actually was at a rally for the FMLN party (quick history cuz it sets the scene: FMLN is the far leftist political party of El Salvador which represents the poor, campesinos, and the down trodden. They were the guerilla party of the war fighting against the wealthy families who controlled the military, government, and wealth. Eventually the civil war ended with a truce and the downtrodden ... read more

My life in El Salvador So i made it to Estancia, El Salvador 3 weeks ago, without problems. This blog is a bit overdue, but i hope this suffices. Unfortunately my first entry from El Campo (the countryside) is general life stuff without too many stories. But next week ill update you all on my stories, and for a preview checkout the end. Enjoy: 1) Estancia, El Salvador 2) My Life is Sweet 3) Clinic work 4) A Day in the Life 5) Highlights: Kids, Dogs, Clothes by Hand 6) The Other Couple 7) Preview for Next Time 8) Call Me 1) Estancia, El Salvador. I live in Estancia. They speak spanish here, they dont have electricity, but some people have a water hose. Most people have dirt floors, some people have bricks or cinderblock walls, ... read more