Sweaty in El Salvador

So I have officially arrived in the country of El Salvador and began the whirlwind that is the first few days of in-country training. We took a red eye flight from LAX, arrived at the only airport in the country, which is located just outside San Salvador (the capital city), at 5am, took about two hours making it through customs and out of the airport, then took a bus to San Vicente, where the Peace Corps training center is located.

Peace Corps selected San Vicente as the location of the training center because it is one of the safer cities in the country and is located almost directly in the middle of El Salvador. It is one of the larger cities in the country outside of San Salvador, with a population of around 40,000.

Upon arrival we were fed breakfast, then began quite a bit of paperwork and other introductory speeches. We met the Peace Corps Country Director, the Assistant Country Directors, the Medical Officers, and the Security Officers. I also met the person who will become my boss, or "jefe" as he called himself, when I am done with training. He is in charge of both the Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Education programs, so will play a critical role in assigning my site placement, training me in technical areas, and helping me develop sustainable and helpful projects. He seems like a really great guy, is a native Salvadoran, and has a Master's and PhD from Mississippi State in Environmental Studies.

After many more meetings, we ate lunch, then were led on a tour around the city by two current volunteers who had a lot to tell us about their experience and were extremely helpful. Both had finished their original 27-month commitments, but had extended another year, and were now serving as regional directors of other volunteers. I took these pictures of San Vicente from a tower they brought us to the top of in the middle of the city's main park.

The pictures don't really do justice to just how different life here in San Vicente really is. The levels of poverty are very stark and you quickly realize how much more raw life is without the comforts of America. Instead of manipulating the environment with large air conditioned buildings and refrigerators, life here really is shaped by the weather and geography, which is especially difficult since it is the middle of the rainy season.

Life is also extremely inexpensive here when compared to America. Carrying $20 bills around, basically in anywhere outside of San Salvador, is useless, as no one will want to give you change. The entire economy basically is derived by transactions with $1 and $5 dollar bills. While it certainly makes life easy, it also makes me wonder what I will end up doing with the $50 bills I brought with me. Basically, bills above $20s are not even legal tender, as no one wants them and no one wants to give you change for them. For instance, if you spent $3 on lunch anywhere outside of San Salvador, you would be mocked and laughed at. Pupusas, the staple of the Salvadoran diet, and definitely a full meal with just two or three, are only about $.30 each.

For now I have to go, I have a real early morning tomorrow, but hopefully I will get a chance to write some more in the next day or two. For the first few days we are at a relatively nice hotel, which has wireless internet and A/C (I've never been more thankful, as I think I have already sweated out at least 5 gallons of water in the first day I was here...and everyone else kept insisting it was one of the coolest days they've had in weeks!). However, on Friday we will be moving in with our first host family, and the chance of even having running water (and certainly internet) are slim to none. I will have to go to internet cafes to communicate and, especially during training, we have almost no free time. However, for now I'm just trying to enjoy the relative comforts I have and really take in as much as I can these first few days in El Salvador.

This is a picture of my hotel room, which I am sharing with my friend Adam, who is from Minnesota and is also a Environmental Education volunteer in my training group. It definitely is funny how quickly I would consider such a small room a comfort, but I guess in El Salvador you quickly realize how many things you can take for granted in the US certainly aren't very common here.