Casí...

On the bad days, it felt like these two years would never end; on the good days, I never wanted them to. Now that they nearly have passed, though, it seems like the remaining days and weeks are flying faster than ever. Sure, I’ve repeated that sentiment about a million times, that I can’t believe I had arrived at such a point so quickly, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

For the most part, I’ve managed to keep rather busy and very content reveling in wrapping up projects here at the ENA, giving trainings on topics I am passionate about, making far too many spreadsheets (I love them!), planning for the NYIT/PFCAC trip, and desfrutar-ing the company of friends. Never again will I live as I have been, have the freedoms that I do now, nor be surrounded by the amazing people that share this experience with me. At this point, it’s all about making these last six weeks count…

The Shack in the Mountains

Now, I’ve lived pretty much in every region of El Salvador from the west, to the east, ending up in the central part of the nation, and have taken the opportunity to travel most other areas of Central America’s pulgarcito. From the cafetales of Ataco to the beaches of La Libertad and La Union, I can unequivocally say that my favorite place in this tiny country lays in the mountains of northern Morazán.

The cool, pine scented air hitting you as soon as you hop off the bed of a pick-up, the mountain view that spans from the Salvadoran-Honduran boarder to the Pacific coastline and the fact that you actually need a blanket to sleep at night makes it as close to el cielo as you can get. Not to mention, two of my dearest friends, Daniel and Krystal, call that blissful place home.

My first trip to NoMo was back in March for my dear friend and now RPCV Emily’s despedida, or going away party. The theme was Riverside Whiskey Tango, and let me tell you, we fully embodied the theme.

Whiskey Tango. Note the camo.

Since, I have made the daunting seven-hour trek back up the mountains three times: once for translating with PFCAC (more on them later) and twice to give trainings on tourism based marketing with KC, as well as to celebrate Daniel’s birthday. Each trip always proves to be super productive, and more fun than the last.

Daniel and KC’s home, affectionately know as The Shack, is what Peace Corps Barbie’s dream house would be if she existed. The lovely two bedroom, one bath, USAID-style cement block ranch, complete with futon and Christmas lights a la dorm room chic, is honestly the chillest crib in all of PCES. When there, we always make out of this world food in very creative ways with limited cooking instruments, experiment in the fine science of mixology and get a better ab workout in from laughing too hard than Shawn T’s 16-minute abs.

For Daniel’s birthday, I got crafty in the kitchen with a lovely prosciutto bruschetta and gnocchi dinner. KC and I also whipped together a funfetti confetti masterpiece of a tier cake for Señor Pato’s big day.

Getting my Martha on.

Noms.

Birthday Boy. Photos borrowed from Daniel's blog.

Tag Team’s Back Again…

As I wrote of a few months back, Krystal, AKA KC, and I made a pretty excellent work team at the Sheraton with her tourism class. For whatever reason, she and I jive very well, so when she invited me back up to the mountains to help in giving a small business charla focusing on marketing for businesses in her tourism association, I was more than game.

I arrived up in NoMo the day before the charla and KC and I worked together to put together a concise, focused PPT on the Five P’s of business: product, place, people, price and promotion. Throughout the whole lecture I was so impressed by Krystal’s business people. They were engaged, participative and excited. KC and I did pretty well together, too, she pointing out things I missed or would never have thought of.

Photo by KC.

After the first lecture, we assigned some homework to answer a series of questions about the five p’s and how they relate to their businesses. Last week, we met up again and KC and I held hour-long mini-consult/strategy sessions for each business. The sessions, though taxing, were amazing. All the participants came ready and excited to work. Talk about dream counterparts…

The Last Stop

The reality that I am really nearly finished with Peace Corps service is forever on my mind. Two weeks ago I attended my Close of Service (COS) conference, learned all the hurdles I have to jump before I’m allowed to depart the country and started saying my goodbyes. It was sort of surreal being back with my entire training class, now down to 27 from 33 volunteers, realizing that the conference may in fact be the last time my whole group is together, and the last time I may ever see a few of these people.

Last week I spent four days in the capital, running across town to countless medical and dental appointments for my COS medical exam. Thankfully, I passed with flying colors and so long as no parasites plague my intestines in the next six weeks, I am medically cleared to head home.

Now all that’s left to do is write up my final reports, collect a series of signatures from my bosses, pack my bags and say goodbye. That, and see one final project to fruition.

In my last entry, I mentioned being invited by Daniel and KC to help coordinate a three-week long medical research trip with NYIT and PFCAC. Well, the three of us, or as Dr. Zehra calls us her Three Musketeers, have been hard at work ironing out all the details for the twenty trip participants.

As part of this trip the docs will be giving a two-day conference titled, “What’s the Emergency?” to 50 PCVs and their health promoter counterparts with the intent of educating participants on the prevention and identification of medical emergencies. By focusing on education and prevention rather than merely treatment, the docs and we PCVs hope to help improve the lives of our community members.

For more information on the workshop, please visit our Causes Facebook page at http://www.causes.com/causes/621182-help-support-community-health-training-in-el-salvador. Also for more information of PFCAC, head to www.pfcac.org.

As always, thanks for your love and support throughout the course of these two years. I am positive I couldn’t have done it without out you.