Leaving always implies a more exciting social life
July 30th, 2010
Faith Lee

There seems to be a mass exodus of the gringos in Comitancillo.  We´ve been saying good-bye to visitors as well as friends who were working with another NGO.  Our own departure date is next Wednesday.

Our placement is a bit different because we are working in two service areas that are not that close to each other.  We have four months in Comitancillo and then four in Todos Santos.

I´ve gone from not being inclined to move there to wishing we weren´t leaving to looking forward to it to being sad.  Now it is a mixture of being sad to leave and looking forward to Todos Santos.

The bright side is that leaving means despedidas!  (send-offs)  Earlier this month, an American engineer returned to the United States.  We went to the AMMID (a local NGO) farm where she stayed and she made us some yummy spaghetti.  We were there again last night for the despedida of her co-engineers.  Doña Hilda, who lives at and takes care of the farm, made chuchitos and a hot chocolate drink that reminded me of Mexican atole.  Mmm.

Before we left, we also had to go to Jessica´s tree at the top of the hill.  Our neighbour Nixon took us on a hike there and we had a picnic under the tree.  The view of Comitancillo from there is great.  We went up and down hills, through woods and past maíz and angry dogs to get there.  When we left, we found out it´s very close to the road we take to the office.

We also went to Adelfo´s (one of the teacher´s) house this week and took a walk to his piece of land.  People here manage to walk and work on somewhat steep hills.  And carry large loads or infants on their backs while they do it.  Adelfo´s three-year-old went up and down agiley, while I was convinced I would slip.  In the end I didn´t fall and we returned to the house for some good food and company.
We´ll miss people here, but at least we already know there are people in Todos Santos who we will get along well with.  And I think my job will be easier there, not only because I have a clue of what I should do, but because doña Rosa (the main literacy and leadership promoter) will be great to work with.  It´s strange that the internship is half over, but four months still promises a lot of opportunity.