Jules + El Salvador = Awesome

Tell me this doesn’t sound like a Hollywood movie pitch: The hip, urban, New York ad executive comes to a third world country. She eats, drinks, sleeps local culture... and survives to tell about it!

So as you know, HC didn’t end up chilling down in ES with GC. She came, she saw, she conquered. But didn't end up helicoptering into my site, which is literally what was planned. If you're confused, don't worry, I didn't really tell many people about it. But just know that it would have been an amazing 15 minutes of fame... that ultimately petered out.

However, a month later, I got the next best thing - Jules! That’s right, add Jules to the “I actually came to El Salvador” club.



It was a crazy week. Because of the Fourth of July festivities and some community projects I had lined up, I had to give her a whirlwind tour of the country and PC life.

We kicked it off with a few days in the capital for the Fourth. Ah, the Fourth. Sort of an extra special day for those living outside the states. Quick sidenote, among other events and debauchery for the weekend, part of the excitement is for the annual inter-program soccer tournament, in which Rural Health would defend its title and right to hold the PC Cup for another year (double sidenote: just like the Patriots and my own fantasy football career, we pulled it off). Two years in a row. Victory is so, so sweet.



Anyway, while I was off playing, Jules was doing what she does best - networking! I was always glad to glance towards the sidelines and see her mixing it up with my friends. But at one point, it dawned on me that I may have been giving her a distorted impression of what PC life is all about (gringos converging on the capital, eating taiwanese food, going out dancing). But I think her time in my community quickly erased any notions of a posh PC existence...

So, off to my community or as it's called here, the campo. For a New Yorker and someone who admitted in confidence once she got here that she'd only been camping once in her life, Jules did great. She took bucket showers, ate beans and tortillas, interacted with my neighbors and local kids who sometimes, I fear, think they actually live in my house, and she got a good taste of campo life.

Here's Jules teaching a few bichas how to paint happy little trees



In addition to giving her best impersonation of Bill Cosby's Picture Pages on my front porch, Jules also helped me out with the graduation of my latest computer class. Man, I had a really good group this time around. I almost didn't want to let them go. As usual, for their last day we held a typing and math competition and I let them eat cake. Good times.









She also had the chance to take part in a huge event for my tiny little community - a two-day soccer tournament we've been planning for the past few months.







After that, it was my turn for a little R and R. We took off for a few days at the beach. Oh beach, how I adore you. There's nothing like drinking a few beers and relaxing in the sand to get your mind back on track...









After we got our fill of maritime adventure, we headed up to Juayua for a few days to visit Lauren and see a little of coffee country.





Lauren just recently was awarded a SPA grant (small project assistance) from USAID and is in the middle of a series of nutrition and health workshops for the women in her community. She also was able to build/buy two super efficient wood burning ovens for a nutrition center and her local school. Very cool. These ovens are made by the same organization that produces the wood stoves I've been promoting in my community and are pretty damn amazing.

My role for the two-day event was to teach 60 women my mom's famous banana bread recipe, which by now is spreading like wildfire. We divided them up into groups and got to work mixing up batches, as well as mixing in a bunch of info about basic nutrition and variety in their families' diets. Hey mom, bet you never thought your famous recipe would become world famous!

Most of the nutritional information we were teaching might seem pretty basic to your average american. You guys probably could tell me what the food pyramid is and what makes up a healthy diet. Or what a healthy amount of fat and sugar we're supposed to have in our diets. But when you live in a tin shack on top of a mountain, and have spent most of your life without electricity eating a combination of the same four dishes day in and day out, these messages aren't so old.

In addition to the baking classes, a fellow volunteer named Heather led self-defense classes, which I've got to say leads for one of the funnier images I've seen over the past year and a half. Here we are, in Lauren's über religious site, teaching the women to scream and punch and throw flying elbows. It was probably the loudest they've ever raised their voices.







And then off to the waterfalls...

Jules was visibly not psyched to hike in flip flops



But I think in the end, she'd be the first to say it was worth it



I think if one looks hard enough, you might find an analogy or two about El Salvador in that...