The Weekend:

Saturday was a pretty chill day because all we had to do was meet at the training center for half the day to talk with a group of currently serving volunteers, who are nearing their one-year anniversary. It was good to be able to ask them a million questions and get answers, which isn’t always the case with Peace Corps. And although not everything was comforting to hear it gives us a better idea of what to expect after training.

The tower in the photo is in the center of San Vicente. They were supposed to build it in another town, but they didn’t have room, so this is San Vicente’s name to fame.

The rest of the day, Kevin, Ginger and I just hung out in San Vicente – we needed some down time to just do whatever. Ginger and I did some shopping – she bought sandals and I bought some CD’s: reggaeton mix, Spanish hits 2006, and Kumbia Allstarz vs. Kumbia Kings. All for $3.50 – I love ripped off CD’s!!!


Sunday we went back to San Sebastian to eat and visit some of Luis’ family (Luis is Idalia’s). Idalia, Luis, Leslie, Iris, Ginger and I went. First we ate at this tiny place that only served fried yucca and fried plantains in this sweet, honey-like sauce with this hot beverage to drink that didn’t really taste like much, but it was really yummy. It’s so hilarious to drive around with Luis because he literally knows everyone in San Sebastian and Santo Domingo so as we’re driving down the street he stops to talk to someone about every other minute. He reminds me of my Uncle Tim for several reasons: 1) he knows everyone, 2) he always pays and is always taking all us ladies out, 3) he drives a truck, and 4) he looks like someone who’d be a longshoreman in Pedro.


After eating, we went to visit Luis’s mom, who has all these crazy kinds of birds that I’ve never seen before. Two huge ducks, or maybe they were geese, but they made the most awful noises. And then these other birds that looked kind of like turkeys, but they had some other name. It was a fun afternoon outing!

So for homework we had to go out into the community and do what are called “house visits.” Basically it’s to meet the people of La Virgen and to ask them questions and observe the health and sanitation the different households. Also, we had to ask people about the origin and history of La Virgen. I really didn’t want to do this, because it just seemed so awkward to walk up to random people’s houses and start talking to them. So luckily Idalia went with Kevin and I and would introduce us to the families and then we had out interviews, which worked out perfect.

There are some really awesomely nice people in this canton! Some seemed a little shy or like they didn’t want to talk to me, but Fidelina, her husband Carlos and their son Misael were great to talk with. Fidelina was so cute, she all gave me a hug at the end of the interview. But Misael fought in the civil war on the side of the military, or ejercito. I just wish I could understand more Spanish, because I was trying to ask him questions about it but was having a difficult time understanding all that he was saying. I’m seriously thinking about going back to talk with him more about the war.

Everyone has their story about the war and most people are willing to talk about it. The grandma in my host family was telling me how dead bodies would just line the street and you would always see decapitated bodies lying on the side of the road. She had two cousins and an entire extended family of hers get killed. People tried not to say anything to anyone because if the military or the guerilla got word of something about your family they would come and kill everyone. So basically civilians were getting killed from the left and the right, with practically nowhere to hide.

In 2001 there were two huge earthquakes within a month of each other, the bigger of the two being 7.9!!! That’s insane, and the epicenter was really close to here, so more or less everyone’s house in this community fell down. Consuelo was telling my Spanish teacher and I that part of a wall of the house fell on her legs and she had to spend a month in the hospital. But there was a tremendous breadth of organizations that came into help including USAID, The Samaritans, and the Red Cross. Three of four of my family’s houses fell down and were rebuild with the help of USAID.