El Chingo

Monday of last week our family and the youth guys from here in Texis, were invited, by El Paste and Zacamil youth,to go climb the volcano, El Chingo. We wanted to get an early start so we had to leave here at 6;00 am. To get to El Paste we have about 1 and a 1/2 hour drive,on mostly unpaved road. So it was a bit bumpy,plus it was a very dreary day,so really muddy. 

Kendrick hanging out the window on the way up to be able to talk with guys in the back of the pickup and us upfront!

This is the volcano we climbed.

 And yes we are coming down here,but on the way up we couldn't see it cause it was sooo foggy,so this was taken on our way down. And it doesn't look very high or steep,but it takes 2 hours to climb.

A lot of the way up you'd go through coffee plantations,and then you'd get to places like this:

There were only a few of us girls,so we stuck together quite a bit.;)

And we got to the top and it started raining!

but the guys didn't care and started playing soccer.in the mud.

The Zacamil youth brought chicken to grill,but had to make this little shack first to be able to start the fire! 

Meanwhile those of us who weren't playing or helping with the fire,we trying to stay as warm as possible! which was kinda impossible since our jackets were getting quite wet with the rain! 

Mauricio and Amilcar trying to stay dry!lol

after eating dinner, some of the guys set up the volley-ball net,but also it started pouring even harder!! but since we knew we'd get wet just standing there watching Susanna,Rebecca Glick and I decide to play v-ball just to try to "warm up" a bit. Sadly,since i was playing,i couldn't take pictures! but we were basically playing in a mud puddle! Everybody was so muddy, our shoes sloshing with water and mud! but we had a lot of fun! 

Then it was time to start heading back down! and on the way down it had cleared up a bit,so we would stop and look at the scenery.It was really pretty!

This part here was the cool thing.

this tower is right where the El Salvador-Guatemala borderline is! So where i was standing, to take the picture, was in Guatemala! and on the other side of that 'tower' thing is El Salvador!

The place where we ate dinner and played soccer and volley-ball was, actually, the crater,and that is on  Guatemalan land! cool huh?

So I can say "I walked the whole way to Guatemala and back!"

So there is what i was up to Monday before last!

Town Life

So the reason I thought of posting about town life is because a little more than 2 weeks ago,our whole town was out of running water! And another reason is that, I love this town we live in, .Texistepeque. Not only does it have a cool name,it's an awesome little town! 

When we first moved all the roads were cobblestone,some just dirt roads. We live way down by one of the corners called, Las Vegas. Yeah,pretty cool huh? then on our other side is Bethlehem, after that is Costa Rica!!! lol see? it's the oddest thing, yet, I think it's so cool, 'cause you can trick ppl and say, "I went to Costa Rica to buy tortillas" and it takes them a while to register.;) Or "I've been to Las Vegas." Ok, it's not only the weird names that make me like it. Another thing is you can basically get anything just "right uptown". For instance, you are hungry for chips, you walk half a block to Nina Berta's store and can nicely buy a bag with about 10 chips in it for $0.10!! It's perfect! especially if you just have a little bit of "ganas" for something.(sorry,I have no translation for that word,so if you don't get it, i'm sorry, I HAD to use it) And then if yo need a drink you can buy it ther also for about $0.25! These little stores are great too,because they like, literally, have a bit of everything! from cooking supplies to ribbon,to shoes,and even underwear! Not saying i buy all that stuff there, but you can!;) In the middle of our town is the Park,usually painted with bright colors, completely lit up with lights at Christmastime. Around this park there are little "restaurants" that you can go buy a meal at, if you're really hungry and don't feel like cooking! Then for supper most of them make ,of course,Pupusas. Then around the park are other vendors,there is the faithful little "El Salvadoran hotdog" man. Minuteros. (ppl selling icecones) And this whole month of September, there is the frenchfries,fried yucca and plantains,vendor:

Vendors come to your door,with fruits,vegetables,cleaning supplies,and once again, underwear, and even medicine,for those who don't go uptown much you can stay home and still get you shopping done!

And then also they stop at your window,like this guy going past just a few minutes ago,and I bought this: a 'mil-hoja'

(haha the window is more on focus than the mil-hoja!)

pics of when we were out of water from a Saturday till Friday night,almost a whole week! 

This is what our laundry looked like,full of guacales,buckets.

Papa was bringing water from ANDA in Santa Ana. 

After a few days it felt pretty normal having to get water out of this big black barrel either to bathe,brush your teeth,anything,really.

We'd also try to catch rainwater.

That was one of the not-so-nice things of town life,but it wasn't just us, the whole town had to do the same!

And that's another thing I love about this town,our neighbors! we have neighbors all around us,and they are very respectful. I mean they even look out for us,either they call when there is a strange person is down by the fence looking over our way,or they come to the door to let us know a calf's head is stuck in the fence around midnight! It's know wonder i feel safe huh? because i know my neighbors! they're great!

The neighbors right beside us,the Ronquillo's,are like family.  We take care of the kids or have them over just for fun! I've posted pics before,of their twin girls, and we just had them over the other day again.We tried putting them to sleep,but it was a fail they drank their bottles and were up again!

Ana Maria

and Carmen Elena

There are so much more little details I could talk about, of this town,and stuff we do,but I think i'll just quit or it could get really long.

  But here is one more pic of some things we get to do in town.

Kendrick got to push the neighbor man home,whose little motorized 'cart' ,maybe you could call it, ran out of battery.:)

So yeah! I love living in this town and am going to miss it like crazy!!;/
hope you all like wherever it is that you live! ~Cecilia