It's Official

I am now no longer a Trainee – I am officially a Volunteer! We had a beautiful Swearing In ceremony at the American Embassy in the capitol yesterday, followed by dinner and a party hosted by other Volunteers. Everyone departed for their sites this morning – lots of tears and goodbyes! I’m excited to get to my site even thought I’ve been placed far away from everyone else in my Training class. I’m replacing a Volunteer so we’ll have an overlap of a few months before I’m alone in my site.

Yesterday morning before orientation we had Counterpart Day – every Volunteer has an assigned counterpart in their community (for Munis it’s usually the mayor) and they all came to the capitol for an orientation. Unfortunately, my counterpart couldn’t come, and it was really depressing being one of the only ones at the orientation without my counterpart!

The elections on March 15 went really well - no incidents that were cause for alarm. The country elected the president from a different party from the one that has been in power for 20 years, so there was a lot of excitement. Last Friday night I watched the town kill, bleed out, skin, and dismember two young oxen. That was definitely a first (and hopefully a last!!).


Another first – I climbed the San Vicente Volcano last Sunday! It was by far physically the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I found a guide from my training community who was willing to take us (about 8 Trainees) and we started out at 6:45 and got back at 3:30 – straight hiking with short infrequent breaks and about 30 minutes for lunch at the top. my feet were covered in blisters and I could hardly walk afterwards, but at least the view was pretty!

30 mins in





At the top!




My training community <3