Volcano Crater

View from the restaurant
Las Brumas was the name



me me me



Trying to capture the whole thing...impossible

Sun going down

Annabella and Her Father
89 yrs old and made it up the mountain...

The crater in the crater

         I hate to say it again, but times are slow here! Everyone is just bracing themselves for the big coffee picking day, so not much is going on. I'm doing the usual miscellaneous work in the office and on the fields, also waiting for the "real fun" to begin. But over the weekend I went to see one El Salvador’s famous volcanic pieces of artwork, the crater. I'll have to find out the name of it considering there are like a million volcanoes here. Anyway, we went to a restaurant called Las Brumas, which looked over the city, great food and had a good time there. Then we drove to the crater viewing area, where we took a small, steep hike up to the deck. It was outrageous. I felt like an ant standing on the side of it, it was actually quiet frightening. And even more astonishing, there is a crater in the crater. The whole thing used to be a lake apparently which is hard to believe. Seeing a dried out lake and how giant and deep it is only scares me more. It dried up over time with the increase of heat. It’s supposedly known to erupt every 100 years, as history has proved, and we aren't talkin' a small eruption either. So for everyone's information and safety, there is six years until the supposed eruption, sooo I will be sure to stay as far away from that area of the world in 2016/2017. But then again, the whole world is supposed to end in 2012 so I guess we'll see!
        Well hopefully something more exciting will happen in the next few days or week so I can spice things up more. Aside from that, have a good week everyone! Miss ya!

Day at the Lake

Backyard

Top View of the Lake



Fresh Squeezed Pineapple & Tangerine Juice
SO GOOD




Annabella and I



$1 for Bag of Banana's
These kind of stores are everywhere

It's a Hard Life

Not too much happened this weekend. Actually I was sick for alot of it, but Sunday we took a trip to the lake and I had to put some of the pictures up, as you can see it was beautiful! Like everything else in this country. The juice bags we bought (everything here comes in a bag) were so delicious. I have never had better juice. It was a relaxing time and the weather was perfect, but a little cloudy. Coffee season starts approx. next week, so I'll have more official information on that soon! Ill post soon!

No More Rain



Gorgeous Sunset



Los Patios-Sunset
Right outside my window



Corner of my Condo!
Bottom Floor



Hello Hello. This week was not too eventful, but I got to work more on the farm and kept busy, so that was nice. Monday and Tuesday I was in San Salvador because I was at the dentist. Then Wednesday through Friday I have been working here in Juyua. I had to cut out about 300, maybe more, tags for the different types of coffee. Thank god I figured out how to get it on the computer and print it out, otherwise they wanted me to cut each square then write the description individually. NOT HAPPENING. Then today, I had to write similar tag's but for the field. They were more like slates that you wrote on with a special chalk. Also, I had to move the coffee around on the Los Patios so it could roast under the sun. The two pictures you see above are what I am talking about. You can see there are two different colors of coffee; one is black and other looks like fruity pebbles. The black has been outside for about a week, which is about how long it takes to naturally roast. I don’t know the exact term for the process, so I just call it naturally roasting. And the other one, on contrary, just got outside so it has another week. Also, as you can see my hair is completely in my face in the pic, this is because the rainy season is officially over and now we have the windy season. El Salvador only has these two seasons. The strongest winds last about four days and trust me there very strong. But the sun still shines and there is not a cloud in the sky. It’s beautiful; the wind is actually really nice. After four days, it dies down a bit but still continues to be windy. In about 15 days, the coffee will began also, meaning the green coffee has turned to red coffee. I’m going to get a chance to pick coffee for a little bit too! I go back to San Salvador later in the afternoon with Annabella's son, Juan Andres. Not much planned for the weekend other then lunch at the beach and a concert that her nephew is playing at. And he is an awesome entertainer and performer. Super excited to see him live!! Feliz fin de! Adios.

Back in Buisness!

My computer survived the virus that has attacked it! Many of you should be thankful because all my pictures we on it and the video's, that I can't wait to show everyone once I get home. If only this thing would let me up load them :( Annabella's birthday is tomorrow, like I said in my last post so we are setting up for that, cooking and all the fun stuff. 65 people have RSVP'd, so it will be one hell of a party. I'll have pictures for that soon enough! Monday I will be living the life of a coffee farm worker, actually for the week. I'll be getting a little more intimate with all the big machines and process that's been collecting dust for the last five months. Monday, I'll be spending the day inside picking out stick and stones from the coffee before it gets washed and sucked through all the tubes. I'll learn what they all do soon. The rest of the week is not as clear, but all I know, is I have to be up and ready by around six ish. UGH. Anyway, I wanted to post the pictures from the other weekend at the beach. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Sunset on a cloudy day

Represent!

Cool Dead Fish on the Beach

Crab

Miss you guys <3

Weekend

Hello everyone! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty relaxing and low key. I was suppose to be going to the lake, but it turned out that things didn't work out that way so I ended up just hanging out in San Salvador with Annabella and some friends.Friday I went out with some friends of mine and got to see to see more of the city. Saturday we went to lunch at a sea food place that had a beautiful view! And you wouldn't believe what happened...I was at lunch/ dinner, whatever, and needed to go to the bathroom. Just as a was flushing the toilet, I used my foot to push the flusher (like i think many of us do) and the other side of it came completely out of the wall. Water went everywhere, the bathroom became a pool in less than thirty seconds. I stood in my bathroom stall for 15 seconds as water drenched me, I was completely shocked and taken off guard, obviously. I came waddling out of the bathroom, squeaking with every step and everyone looked at me, gaping mouths, probably wondering what the hell happened. All I can do was point to the bathroom and everyone started laughing. I was crying i was laughing so hard. I wish someone could have videotaped the whole thing so I could see my face. This was another FML moment. Sunday, Annabella and I took a beach day and had another seafood late lunch and went home around seven. Then I went to the movies and saw "To the Greek" which I highly recommend to anyone who appreciates good humor because that movie had me laughing from beginning to end.Monday we did some shopping and I visited the mock version of Costco for El Salvador. It made me a little homesick considering it was not really Costco and all i wanted at that point was a big sugary Churro that I always get there :( oh well. Now I'm back at the farm and its a beautiful day...to bad I'm not allowed to go on a walk...run...or leave at all! Grrr. Safety first...psh.Speaking of good days though, the rain stopped and the sun is coming out everyday now which is so nice. I was beginning to think Seattle officially moved here with me.

Its Annabella's birthday on the ninth so she is having a big party here in Juayua with everyone! and Saturday there is also a parade of some kind so that should be entertaining! I'm excited! I would have uploaded the pictures I took at the beach, which were breathe taking but my computer has decided not to work, so i'm waiting to see what's wrong with it and to get it fixed because there all on that hard drive. Seriously crossing my fingers that nothing is erased, that would be horrible.Anyway, once i get that back I will post the pics and another post. Until then i hope everyone is having a good time in Washington!