Soy LOCO por las cornballs!

November 28
Thanksgiving Day was yesterday and I spent it in Victoria. My sitemate, a friend of hers from a site about an hour and a half away, and I all cooked together throughout the day and then enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving meal. It was actually a lot of fun, staggering the different dishes we were cooking, hanging out with Sara’s host family and explaining the tradition to them. And it somehow managed to take all day—there were cookies (oatmeal peanut butter!) in the morning until Elizabeth, Sara’s friend, arrived and then we moved on to the pumpkin pie and simultaneously the chicken dish (it was a non-traditional meal). By the time it was over there were also deviled eggs (I don’t think I’m a huge fan), stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dinner rolls. And of course tonight we’re going to eat leftovers…excellent!

December 3
It’s Wednesday now and I’m in the middle of a new water project. This week I am spending in another municipio checking out the water situation in four aldeas because Engineers Without Borders is interested in the area. I am the closest wat/san volunteer so they have a gringo down here acting as a link between the organization and PCVs, among other things, so I’m checking out the deal. This is not at all unlike what I have been doing for about eighteen or so months here in Victoria, only now it is in a new location. I go visit the pueblo, talk to the local leaders, take an elevation point or two near the highest houses, and then walk to the location of the water source they want to use for the proposed system to check it out. First village we did on Monday and it was a breeze. But then yesterday was village number two and I have to say that of the fifteen or so aldeas I have before, yesterday was the most difficult. Without question. Part of it is that I still have not fully recovered from the bronchitis I have had since I came back from the States. But aside from that the mountain we were hiking on was a complete nightmare—it was only mud, mud, and more mud. And mud can be fun, I’ll admit that. But not this mud. This is the mud that’s making your hike so much more difficult when you are descending several hundred meters, making you slip like you’re wearing rollerblades…the mud that never lets you relax and just walk normally because you have to stare intently at every spot on the ground. But then there are the patches of mud like a bog, where there is nowhere else to put your foot, and trying to get your boot to come out of the mud still on your foot is an act that requires serious concentration.

The only time we were not putting our feet in mud was when we were crossing the river on little sticks people had set up between rocks. Normally this is a river one can just walk across but we’re still in the rainy season so it is way too strong to do that now. This scene was made all the worse by the fact that we were in a rain cloud the entire day. There was no sun, only rain. After we had hiked down (a generous profe gave us a ride in his truck UP the mountain on a road) for three hours, we found out that our plan to continue hiking down and thus out of the mountain would be impossible because the path further down had been washed out. So we then had no choice but to retrace our steps and hike back up three hours to where the truck had dropped us off. I returned to Victoria that night well after nightfall, completely covered in mud, still wet and very cold. I know it’s a boo-hoo story, but it was brutal.

December 6
Saturday now, the weekend is just beginning! Last night was a pretty cool event—the high school, or colegio, was having its graduation ceremony and dance. Last year at this time I had not done any work anywhere in the village proper of Victoria and did not have strong ties to many people here and knew nothing about town events. As a result, I do not think I even knew when or where the high school graduation happened last year. This year not so…I was an invited guest! It was a low key affair but the hall where they held the ceremony was packed and the local TV cameraman was there filming everything; it was pretty fun. I went with a friend’s family, took pictures of the students graduating, sat through some long speeches, and generally had a good time. Afterwards there was a dance for the new grads and it was funny because a lot of the parents were there as well—perhaps to make sure everyone behaved! Anyway, a unique event and definitely fun.

December 9
Last night the town began La Posada again! I think I mentioned it last year, but I didn’t catch on until the 20th or so of December. Beginning early in the month, every night everyone is welcome to gather in the town park at a certain hour. From there we all walk as a group through the town, singing Christmas carols and with a boy and girl out in front, going to a different house each night. Once we arrive at the house we re-enact María and José looking for a room at the inn. There’s a little back and forth song, first the people outside then the people inside responding in song. It is a great Christmas tradition!