Festivus

No matter how much time I spend in this country there are still things I forget. Like the other day I was visiting with a woman in my community and I forgot to ask her to put bien poquito sugar in my lukewarm coffee. I ended up with a cup of joe that could make a horse diabetic. I also always seem to forget that my host dad wraps a huge chain around our front gate every night, so if I try to catch the early bus out of town I have to climb over our 4 ft high barbed wire fence. It's usually a close call if I make the bus on time and with the bottom of my capris intact.

And last week I forgot that the country would effectively shut down to celebrate Fiestas Agostinas, the fiestas patronales de San Salvador. The saint day for a guy named Salvador is kinda a big deal when you live in a country called El Salvador, capital city San Salvador. It's a national, religious, and popular celebration.

I actually went to the overcrowded, soggy national fair last year when I was in training. Me and my San Antonio PCVs went with a host family. I remember feeling like I was going to puke in the crowd, it was way too overwhelming! Maria and Kai rode on a death trap carnie ride then we were treated to pupusas. It started raining on the ride home so we pulled a giant black tarp over our heads in the back of the pick up truck. Intoxicated by the rain and danger of speeding on an open highway in the bed of a rusty truck, we started singing at the top of our lungs. It was one of those simple and wonderfully fun moments I've shared here.

This year I celebrated the fiestas up in Perquin at their take on the holiday, the festival de invierno. I traveled up with a few friends from my community. We ate carnie food and pupusas (duh), enjoyed Andean music which reminded me of Peru, and even stopped by the war museum. I had been putting off going to the museum because, honestly, there's nothing I could learn there that I haven't already heard about from a community member. But my friends insisted it'd be cooler at the museum, so we went. I paid a literal gringo tax (double the price of entry for nationals) and I actually enjoyed seeing some of the propaganda that came from the US.

Eric, in his best skinnies, sitting in a pilot's chair. 

They insisted that I sit there too, and then we got in trouble.... 

At the radio booth. This part was actually pretty cool because I love radio! 

Exit through the gift shop. 

It was a great day! This time next year I'll be saying my goodbyes and eating as much elote loco as I can!