April 5th - 13th, 2007: The Saintly Seven (otherwise known as Holy or Easter Week)

Every time a big annual event comes around it blows my mind just a little bit more when I remember that I have already been there and am the consummate veteran now. Besides an arrive late and leave early Easter Mass (I find them much more enjoyable when they only last 40 min or so) the main religious event in which I participated was the Stations of the Cross on friday. The hordes gathered in San Pedro (remember that this holiday is bigger then christmas, with even the sweatshops giving people a four day weekend (as opposed to the usual one-day) to re-enact Christ's carrying of the cross and subsequent crucifixion. Many of the stations were decorated with traditional "alfombras" (rugs) made out of colored salt. These works of art were purposely walked over and destroyed once prayer had finished at its station. Being a wily veteran I knew that I was incapable of walking so slowly that I only covered a dozen block in 2 and a half hours so I stayed out of the actual procession, ducking in and out of the sidelines, cutting ahead, chilling in the shade, back to watch again and then to get some ice cream, etc..

River Rats

With all the family in town (all 11 kids, 7 grandchildren and spouses that is) something had to be done to keep everyone occupied. So as per tradition they went down their spot along a creek in one of the ravines that splices LC. The kids splashed and played in the water while the adults got down to serious work; diverting the creek out of its bed, stranding all the aquatic life. The crabs, shrimp, and minnows are all collected to make everyone's favorite soup (it is my belief that the exo and internal skeletons of the caught animals were far more voluminous then the sum total of the "meat").

!KROW

With the big vacation, schools closed and "work" otherwise ground to a halt. So I filled my extra time working on some independent projects. The main one that is ready to show off is the website for the Scholarship Students. Although still missing, some photos and other minor details the website has been launched in its final form at www.sanpedrononualcoscholarships.org (the spanish version awaits translation by Rolando, but I don't imagine to many of you, dear reader, are awaiting that. Additionally we had a month delayed VAC meeting on Monday with the new director and in the new office for the first time. Afterwards I had to spend another night in SS as it took until evening to go through and fix up the volunteer lounge, which had previously been just a chaotic pile of many out of date resource books mixed with the always important leisure reading. Also while in SS I worked on planning the conference for the central region and met with the head of the stove NGO. Progress on the stove front continues to move forward. Last week the model stove was lit for the first time and operated beautifully, cooking tortillas with only a handful of sticks. On Friday we went and priced the different materials that will need to be purchased and on the 22nd we'll be meeting with, elaborating the project to, and signing up all the interested parties ... On Wednesday my counterparts at CENTA suddenly sprung an invitation to a vegetable training on me. (where was this last year when I had nothing to do all the time, instead they have stuff they want me to do now that I am actually kind of busy). Also invited where several farmers and a handful of kids from the 5th/6th grade. It was interesting though definitely a bit much for the kids. Then of course we had to wait over an hour after we finished so some high-ups could show up and give speeches that weren't directed at anyone there, at least they gave us a good snack afterwards.