Peaceful Pathway☮

Here I sit, writing you from Hotel Entrepinos in San Ignacio, El Salvador.   High ceilings with cascading windows and a hand-painted wall entailing a scene with a white Central American cathedral surround me while the sound of a Spanish newscast echoes throughout the hall.   A bright blue pool sits outside the open veranda and a wall of green vines crawl the fence as if trying to edge their way inside.   At long last I have arrived not only at this physical place but at this point in my life where I have begun youth development in Latin America, something I have dreamed of doing for so many years.  The floor-to-ceiling painting reminiscent of an old time in El Salvador A number of events have led to today; and while they all feel like just moments ago, they have passed as if in a whirlwind.   First, I began the close of my service in Botswana, was the guest of honor at not one, not two, but THREE farewell parties, I took a trip to the Indian Ocean, and the...

The other day, as I was settling back in at home after weeks of traveling, my small friend Samantha came to visit me.   I can always tell when she’s been missing me; she finds reasons to simply sit in my house.   Since I wanted nothing more than to bathe, I asked her to leave and that I would see her later in the evening.   As she walked out of the house, she casually mentioned that there was a spider on my wall.   When I walked outside to look at what she was referring to, I was panged with a sudden jolt of fear.   This was no ordinary spider.   This thing was about the size of my hand.   Its colors shimmered in the setting sunlight: a brilliant orange and a black so dark that it appeared purple.   I instinctively put my arm between Samantha and the spider (even though the thing’s web was stretched across the span of my roof, and nowhere close to us), and she started giggling and asking if I was scared.   To try and appear brave I flexe...

I just received notification that I have been accepted to serve as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in La Palma, Chalatenango El Salvador!   My official title is “Youth Outreach Music Coordinator”.   My assignment will be to work with local stakeholders and citizens within the community to strengthen a music program that keeps youth from delinquency and gangs.   I am so delighted that I can hardly contain myself! So basically what this means for my near future is that I will have the opportunity to finish Peace Corps Botswana as a Community Capacity Builder on June 10 th .   I’m hoping to fit one last adventure in with Duncan to Cape Town for a few days, and then I’ll fly back to the United States.   Once in Tucson, I’ll have an opportunity to quickly readjust to the fast-paced life in America: visit my little brother’s graduation from the Air Force Academy, spend some much-needed time with friends and family, etc. Then, just when I’ll have caught m...

I have been extremely negligent in keeping up with the blog…so I apologize first for the length of the following post, but also for the amount of information I’m about to dispense.   In order for me to be able to successfully portray the past few months to you, I’ve decided to provide a photo diary of major events that have occurred. I’ll elaborate when needed, but bear with me.   Alrighty so in October of last year, a close friend of ours (Cassie) completed her full two year Peace Corps service and so we had about a week-long celebration to bid her farewell.    First we went camping in the nearby village of Lepokole and enjoyed the ancient, secret cave paintings, baboon sightings, delicious bar-b-que, and each other’s company. This moment struck me as being particularly significant because not only was it overwhelmingly exciting for Cassie but it was the first time I officially started visualizing what it would mean to leave.   Next, I was fortu...

I am so sorry, dear reading base, that it has been so long since I last updated.  My computer screen was cracked and I therefore had no access to any internet in months.  On the up side, my screen has been fixed and I promise to write a new blog entry soon!  For now, let me entertain you with a little diddy I found online....;) 12 reasons to date a Peace Corps Volunteer: We can woo you in multiple languages. Who else is going to whisper sweet nothings to you in everything from Albanian to Hausa to Quechua to Xhosa? That’s right. Only a Peace Corps Volunteer. We’re pretty good dancers. Yeah, we don’t like to brag, but after 27 months in Latin America or Africa we know how to move it. We’ll eat anything. Seriously. No matter how bad your cooking, Peace Corps Volunteers have had worse and will eat it with nary a blink. Sheep’s eyeball? Water buffalo gall bladder? Grasshoppers? Bush rat? Bring it. We know all about safe sex, thanks to our very thorough Peace Corps he...

So I've realized that even after 17 months of living in this splendorous country, many people back home are unable to wrap their minds around where it is that I'm living or even what my village looks like. I understand, as the majority of the pictures I take are when I'm on vacation or doing a project outside of my village...so for this, friends, I apologize! I have had numerous requests to post more pictures of my village from many close friends so now that I have fast internet, I will now take this opportunity to rectify the wrongs and show you, with in-depth pictures, what Gobojango looks like and the walk I take every morning to the clinic. Please bear with me (and for those of you who are not familiar with the tv show "Cribs" feel free to click here for more information). Hello and welcome to Kitso's rendition of Cribs! On this episode I'll take you through the crispy, dry wonderland that is known as Gobojango, Botswana! Life in Gobo...