Flying Solo in the Capital

The time is flying! I have been much happier the past few days.... getting more settled in and feeling more comfortable as the people in my community get to know me better. Plus, I went to the capital yesterday and found nutella and pretzels that I brought back with me! How could a girl not be happy when she’s got nutella!? YUM! I actually found it at Hiper Paiz... the Latin American Wal-Mart. I went into San Salvador early in the morning with my friend Jamie, and where the bus lets off, there is the Hiper Paiz. We had to take advantage of our time there.... And as we walked up to the doors of the store we were grinning ear to ear.... I know, it’s sick.... But we were SO happy to be going in there. It had felt like so long since we have seen civilization. And there we were in a store that felt just like home. I never thought I’d be so happy to see a Wal-Mart. I bought myself a soft fluffy pillow to replace the rock hard one i’ve been using. It was totally worth dragging around with me all day! And the only other stuff I bought was American food that you can’t find outside of the capital. I found nature’s valley granola bars, quaker oatmeal, and the nutella. I was shocked they don’t have peanut butter. I have been looking for peanut butter everywhere... have yet to see it. The store definitely didn’t have all things that a Wal-Mart at home does... but it had a lot.


I was very proud that I made it safely around San Sal yesterday without getting lost at all! I had to get on at least 10 different buses yesterday... and I didn’t see a single scary looking G or creepy clowns on my bus. The bus back to San Vicente was even air conditioned and nice like a greyhound. We did spend a little too much time at the Hiper Paiz shopping though, so I was a few minutes late for my doctor appointment- the reason I was going to the capital in the first place. But all was fine with that. We did hit a bump in the road however when it came to the post office, where Jamie was picking up a package sent from home. It was sent to San Vicente but for some reason they sent it to the capital to be searched. So she had to find the post office in the capital and when she went there she ended up waiting for 2 hours to get her box... It was really confusing about why they were making her sit and wait when the box was just sitting right there on the other side of the counter. Finally she got it after much frustration, turns out the computer system was down or something and they had to wait for it to come back up before she would be authorized to take it. But man, those 2 hours blew our chances of finding and eating at the Thai rastaurant we had heard was around there somewhere. So we ended up going to Tony Roma’s, having a few beverages and appetizers- buffalo wings, potato skins, mozzerella sticks! oh my! So yea- y’all back home don’t need to worry about me starving down here or missing american food... i can get it all in just an hour’s bus ride. Going to the capital feels like going to a different world. It’s like a mini-vacation. Like being at home. It’s great! Ooooh American commercialism. Other things in the capital- KFC, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, Quizno’s, McDonalds, Burger King, Sushi, Subway, TGI Friday’s...I’m probably missing a few but that should give u a good idea of how it is. What’s funny is a lot of those places I never eat at at home... but here it’s like a real treat to get a fast food burger. Next time I go to the capital though I’m just going to stay the night... It was crazy running around trying to get everything done to get back on time.


Anyway, we rushed back to San Vi where my host dad was waiting for us at the bus stop to take us back home. Jamie came back to my site with me for the night. We had a good time just the two of us. We were sitting outside the door of my house chilling with the cows right next to us... And Jamie decided she wanted to go pet them or something. So I grab my camera and I’m taking pictures of her hanging out with the cows in the dark field... and when we were done with the little photo session she stepped right in the cow patty that had been laid out in front of her. At least she didn’t sit in the cow patty! It was pretty hilarious... I had to bring water from the house for her to wash off the poo... and in doing so my dog got set off and was barking so loud and the whole entire neighborhood’s dogs started barking... probably waking up all the neighbors. It’s so quiet in the campo at night... It feels like you can hear everything. But the field that my house sits on is really nice and pretty, especially at night. You can see thousands of fireflies flying close to the ground lighting up, and the cows are calm and laying down, and sky is clear with bright stars and there’s a cool breeze... It’s muy tranquilo. I love it. And when I’m sitting out there soaking it all in... it’s moments like that where I feel so happy with being here and there’s no where else I’d rather be.


Allright- Well I have to go to the school now. I’m meeting with a group of girls to learn a dance. I have my general meeting with the town on Tuesday to explain who I am and what I plan to do here... Well I thought I would spice things up a little by surprising my audience with a folkloric dance... done by your’s truly. I think they’ll get a kick out of it. I’m going to where the traditional dress too! :)