I made it back to The Savior after a glorious two weeks at home! I had the best time spending Christmas with family and New Years with friends. I did everything that I wanted to do before returning, except skiing. Sadly there was no snow, and it sounds like it was unseasonably warm across the country. My vacation was exactly what I needed! I now feel refreshed and more motivated to get work done here. I brought back Christmas cut-out cookies to share with my host family and other families that have been very good to me. They loved them and have asked that I teach them how to make them.

Since the last time I posted my blog there has been some concern with security in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Some of you may have read in the news that Honduras is sending home their volunteers. Right now it isn’t certain whether PC Honduras will shut down, right now they are being reviewed and after they will determine whether it is safe for the volunteers to continue their services. As for us and Guatemala we will also be under review, however we volunteers will stay in country. Talking with the Peace Corps Security guy for this region, he says that the difference between El Salvador and Honduras is “night and day.” He said that in Honduras everyone carries guns, their police is corrupt and unreliable, and overall much more unsafe than El Salvador. Here we can rely on our police and I feel very safe here in my community.  Americans are not being targeted,their worry is that we will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The most risky areas are the capital, which we are no longer able to travel to, and buses. PC El Salvador is now requiring us to ask permission every time we leave our sites and are trying to come up with alternatives to public buses. After our review in February we will know more about what the “new” PC El Salvador will look like.

On a happier note I got a puppy! She is a girl and I have named her Canela meaning cinnamon in Spanish. I got her yesterday and the first night went better than I thought it was going to, she only cried a little. She is very skinny so I am trying to fatten her up right now. She has a lot of fleas so Mom, I would love some flea collars. My host family thinks that I am crazy for treating a dog like a child and even for just touching one. I have to keep in mind that I have to get her used to the life here so that when I finish my service here that she will be able to survive without me.

Water hasn’t run here for six days! It trickled a couple of days ago, enough time for me to get water to drink, but that’s about it. I have gotten water from my host family’swell to shower and clean some dishes but haven’t had any to was my clothes. Most people will go to the river to wash their clothes but that river is so dirty I would rather wear dirty clothes than have river water dirty clothes. Always be thankful that when you turn on your facet that you never have to wander if water will come out of it. That reminds me that while I was in the states for Christmas my family would leave on lights in rooms that nobody was in. I went around turning them all off. You always hear “save your electricity/water, it is a precious resource,” but you don’t really understand that until you live in a place where its not constant. So everyone, turn off your lights and conserve your water!

Toasting the seeds for the drink that I brough to the states

This is the tree that the seeds come from. The fruit is called cutuco (green balls).

Over Christmas we went to the Sand Dunes and the lake was fozen over. It was great to be in some cold weather.

This is what horchata (the drink that I brought to the states) looks like before we grind it all up.

The day I left for the states my bus wouldn´t start so they had to push it into the road where there is a slight hill and let it go down the hill in nuetral and start it at a run for it to work.

Sand Dunes with the family!

My new puppy Canela! She loves her box!

Me preparing the drink.