I'll start with:
#1-las fiestas patronales de San Francisco de Asis (or in english the celebration of the patron saint of San Francisco de Asis). So basically last weekend, I took the bus to El Pital on Saturday around 1pm to be a part of the "fiestas" from the beginning which started with the election of the queen of San Francisco de Asis. San Fracisco de Asis is a big deal to the church in El Pital because the church is named after him. The election started with a parade of the 5 queen delegates (between the age or 4 and 8). Three cars were nicely decorated with balloons and streamers and then the little girls were placed on the hoods of the cars to be paraded around the town. After the parade we started the election process. I had the pleasure of being a judge, which meant I got to count the money put forth towards one of the girls. My little girl was named Carolina, and guess what she won! (I can't wait to post these pictures but I took the pictures with the Rev. Irma's camera since I forgot mine so I'm still waiting to get the pics). In between the ballots, the women from JUL shared information on violence prevention and several of the kids performed skits and dances. After the elections and the crowning of the queen, there were fireworks and pupusus (yum). They had fireworks that went up into the sky and also a "bull of fireworks" which was held by one of the young men and as he ran around fireworks shot off in little spirals (it was kind of crazy).
On to the next day. I woke up at 4:40Am, in time to leave Irma's house at 5AM to go to an early mass at El Pital and eat "shuco", a traditional soup/drink made out of corn (it's very similar to grits). After mass I got the pleasure to help (or it might be better just to say learn because I'm not sure how much of a help I was) make tamales. I got to be part of the process from the beginning to the end. We started with the corn kernels, which we took to the "molido" (the mill) to turn the kernels into "masa" (which is basically ground up corn with some ground up vegetables and water). Then we added chicken stock, butter, and oil to the batch and brought everything to a boil. The next step is to actually form the tamales, putting a little bit of the "masa" into a banana leaf, adding a little potato and chicken, and then rolling the banana leaf up. Then the rolled up banana leafs are put back into water to boil and then the next step is to eat the tamales. It was such a treat to be able to learn from the great cooks of El Pital and just to get a chance to chill and talk with them about daily life. During the cooking process there was also games and a pinata for the kids and more decorating of the church to prepare for a second mass at 2pm that the bishop was coming to. I unfortunately had to leave before the second mass but the women sent some of the tamales home with me, so I got to try my handy work when I got home.
#2- Dia de Muertos- The second traditional activity that I got to participate in just a few days latter was to join my Spanish teacher (Lisandra) at her family home in the "Departamento Cabanas" and in the town "Guacotecti" or in short "Guaco" to celebrate the day of the dead on Nov. 2. "Guaco" is out in el campo, so it's away from the pollution and busyness of the city and it was super nice to just be out in the country side (I was actually able to see stars). The basic agenda of "el dia de muertos" was lunch, a walk to the river, a visit to the cemetery to lay down flowers, a trip to the park, and then back home for dinner and desert. Through out the day we (Rachelle- a friend from CIS, and I) were also playing with the many cousins in Lisandra's family. Our playing ranged from playing basketball, swinging, hide and seek, to musical chairs with me signing songs from Sound of Music and "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Rachelle also brought paper and color pencils with her so I came home with some beautiful artwork to put on my walls. Our journey ended with waking up at 4:00AM on Thursday so that we could get back to the city in time for work at 7:30AM. I have to say taking the bus, is always a journey in it self; for instance the buses that go back and forth from San Salvador to "Guaco" sit three on one side and two on the other and they definitely pack you in tight. I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to experience "el dia de muertos" in El Salvador and I deff recommend checking out my pics, which i have already uploaded to my YASC album.
So I think that's it for now; I hope everyone is doing well back in the states and I hope all of you other missionaries/YASCers are healthy and happy!
Sounds like you are having a blast! I'm super jealous of your adventures!
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