El poder tiene que cambiar

That means "the power has to change" and it's what a woman said to me on the bus today. It was a classic Salvadoran conversation: she started out by saying it was cool outside (this morning is actually the coldest I've seen here, except for the mountains of Chalatenango) but what she really wanted to talk about was politics.

Woman: It's cool.
Me: Yeah it is! Better than this morning, though.
Woman: Yes. You're from the States? Where do you study?
Me: I don't. I'm in the Peace Corps.
Woman: Oh. Your elections are soon!
Me: Yes! Tuesday!
Woman: Ours are in March. Everyone here will vote for ARENA (the conservatives) but I prefer FMLN (liberals). ARENA has been in power for the last 20 years. It has to change.

Wow. America much?

We had a lecture on Salvadoran politics yesterday and it was FASCINATING. I wish I could transcript the whole thing for you. But basically it goes like this: the conservatives have been in power since the civil war ended in 1992. ARENA, the conservative party, comes from the Salvadoran military during the civil war; the FMLN were once the guerillas but the peace accords made them a political party. The violence in El Salvador no longer really comes from politics, but the country is still highly polarized. There are stories about people in San Salvador who have blocked construction crews from building roads they have wanted for decades because the other party is paying for the road. No one uses the casa comunal -- basically town hall -- in our village because the regional mayor and the village head are from different parties, so the mayor changed the locks. There is no such thing as bipartisanship here.

The conservative guy running for president now is an inexperienced chief of national police who picked a leftist for his running mate in order to generate mass appeal, but instead confused everybody; the liberal is a famous ex-journalist and skilled orator who is hampered by the fact that the rest of his party are ex-guerillas and by the attack ads that effectively tie him to Hugo Chávez. Add that to the fact that El Salvador is traditionally a very conservative country and you have a dead heat. I'm sure I'll be blogging about this constantly.

For the record, I did vote by emergency absentee ballot, sent by diplomatic pouch after the Prince George's County board of elections failed to mail or e-mail my ballot. I guess I'm not surprised. My friend from North Carolina had to do the same thing, even though he never votes -- North Carolina, after all, is a big-deal swing state.

For election night, our entire 22-person training group is going to the hotel in town. We've rented out the bar and are going to watch the results come in through Internet streaming. I'm so stoked. We still haven't figured out what we're doing for Halloween though.

Time has gone flying by. We've finished the baking project with our youth group after baking banana bread all day Monday. Even though we sold nearly $40 worth, we lost money because flour here is EXPENSIVE if it's not made from corn, something we never knew when we agreed to make banana bread. So it was a completely ineffective fundraiser but still a fun project. Now we're preparing to give them a lesson on deforestation. At first it was a big deal because our training director was going to come sit in, but yesterday through Friday there is a huge summit of all the Latin American presidents here in San Salvador. WHICH is a huge security issue because everyone's scared Chávez will show up and there will be riots, even though the Venezeulan president in question has said he won't come out of fear for his life. So basically none of the PC staff can leave San Sal to come see our presentation, so we get to slack off a little. Such is life here. You prepare for something for weeks, and then it rains or Hugo Chávez shows up and you end up twiddling your thumbs. I love it.

We have had some actual time where we were not working. We're mandated to spend all our afternoons investigating things in the community, so one afternoon we "investigated" a nearby waterfall with some Last weekend was our only free weekend, so half of our group went to a lake in the mountains and the other half went to the beach. I was in the lake group and I'm damn glad I was, because here's a picture: just kidding, the spyware on this computer is not permitting that.

The trip was complete with drinking and American food, two things that never happen to us anymore. We actually have a free weekend next weekend, but we have to spend that in our communities because Sunday's día de los difuntos, or Day of the Dead. If you've ever taken a Spanish class, you know what this is -- basically the Catholic Latin American alternative to Halloween. Everyone goes to the cemetery where their relatives are buried and leaves food, flowers and crafts. So the cemeteries are full of people and it's actually kind of festive. There's also a dance Saturday night, which should be intriguing because a) I've already forgotten how to salsa b) there will be beer which the men will drink but the women can't and c) I have a suspicion that the whole thing is a campaign fundraiser for my neighbor who is running for mayor from the most conservative party in the nation.

It has been cooler and windy here. I have constantly been told the scorpions come out when it's windy so I still sleep in fear. But other than that, life is grand and I should probably get back to work. Send me an e-mail, a facebook message, a comment, or a phone call. Paz y amor.