Remember when you
turned 18 and you could sign up for the army (aka get yourself killed but still
could not order a beer?), you could vote (woot woot!), buy various adult videos
or magazines, then at 21 you can legally drink alcohol in public (whew,
finally), 22 you realize you cannot go out as hard as you did 21…but at 25
there is not much to celebrate. In El Salvador, I celebrated my quinceanera…just
10 years late. It was a fabulous birthday in every way. I don’t think I have
ever had so many celebrations for my birthday. First my host family made
chicken (big deal) along with French fries (my favorite, typically NOT served
with chicken here). I was invited to a nice lunch with another family where we
had cake with lots of strawberries. I mean, can I ask for more?
The Sunday before my
birthday I held a VERY Salvadoran birthday party at my house. My host sisters
and I made all the invitations (37 people came!), plus one of the piñatas for
the event. We decorated the whole house; I hiked with a friend the 45 minutes
from the women who made the cake in my community uphill back to my house…at midday. We did lots of games and the whole party was
a blast. We had plenty of cake left, which in my house (constantly circulating
6-7 people) only lasted 2 days after the party. The whole event was a wonderful
mix of adults, jovenes (teenagers) and little ninos.
For your enjoyment, I
posted lots of photos.
I received several
VERY interesting gifts:
Love frame with a
clock in the “o” part, yes it’s in English
Large stuffed pig
looking bear with t-shirt saying “love” on it.
Small stuffed heart
shaped ornament with face and legs…(obviously I have lots of love)
2 types of perfume and
lotion/cream
2 t-shirts, one
slightly cute, one three sizes too small with rhinestones and fades in color
from top to bottom.
3 towels. These I
actually need, 2 large ones, 1 with a “safari” drawings sketch with lions. Not
kidding.
Broken picture frame and
a bowl.
Pinata with candy
(best present ever)
Bra and 2 pairs of
underwear (they are NOT conservative…)
1 Miu Miu white see
through dress with several “drawings” on it and it says “El Salvador”
(Dora the Explorer...getting surgery to put candy in her. I felt bad.)
After the early
birthday celebrations, I ended up going to Jardin de Celeste (a beautiful
jardin like hotel and restaurant only 30 minutes from my site) for a Peace Corps
training, so I had great food on my birthday, PLUS cable. I watch gossip girl
AND house in English. It was fabulous. The PC staff also bought a blueberry
flavored cheesecake which was pretty tasty.
The weekend after a bunch
of PCV’s and myself headed to the beach for a weekend away, to celebrate
Halloween early together AND to release baby sea turtles!! Everyone actually
dressed up. Costumes ranged from Quail Man, Flavor Flav (yes he has a “grill),
and my friends and I went as the “batman crew”. I am sure you can guess who was
batman, cat woman (gatuvila in Spanish) and Bane. I did not get good photos of the little
tortuguitas because we did it late at night and could not use flash. But here
is one of the mama turtle laying her eggs, I released 6 baby turtles into the
ocean and they had wonderful names, but I have already forgotten them.
Ready for anything that comes our way...
A few of us headed to
the fish market earlier that day, I will leave with a fabulous photo of my miu
miu dress (it was soaked from the rain, in public, white dress…not to be
repeated), along with a HUGE sting ray. We also bought new ray bans for $2.50
each. Mine are purple but will soon be embellished. 
Things in site are
great, finishing up my English classes and getting pumped for graduation in
November and of course Thanksgiving, hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween
back in the states, please don’t forget to vote! Election Day is right around
the corner!
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