Back to the Tamarindo

We get three free days each month to go anywhere in the country, and this month I finally made it back to Guarjila. I worked in Guarjila with the Tamarindo Foundation for a little over a month after graduating from college, and I have been trying to get back to visit since swearing in in October. It wasn't for work or networking or anything, I just miss the Tamarindo and everyone there. Membership in the Tamarindo is constantly changing as kids get jobs or drop out and new ones come in, but familiar faces and a constant joyful energy surround every activity, and nothing ever stops moving.

Some things are the same and some things have changed since my last visit. Hockey is still going strong, though most of the players are new and inexperienced. Luis is building a house and the Tamarindo Wellness Center is still a dream, though closer than before. John took over PE at the school, so all the kids in Guarjila get a good dose of physical activity every week and the Tamarindo community is growing. The beach volleyball court is complete, though soccer is more common than volleyball on any given night. The highway is finished and cuts straight through town, but there are tons of new businesses that have popped up because of the increased traffic through the cantón. John is just the same as always, still completely insane and totally inspiring.

I arrived in a lull before women’s yoga, surprising John and Gio. I received the customary bear hug and high-five fist bump, respectively. It was great to talk to John a little bit about work and realize that it is awesome to have the freedom of having our own communities to effect change. Not that I wouldn’t happily spend my two years working for John, but I’m learning a lot from working on my own, writing applications and trying my hand at community organizing. The Tamarindo is like a dream community after twenty years with a SSV - though there is always more work to be done and problems to resolve, the Tamarindo provides tons of necessary services, effectively completes projects, trains leaders, and may soon be completely Salvadoran-run. It’s nice that it gets funded from the US at least for daily operations, because it’s a huge pain to try to work with zero money all the time. 

I adore the Tamarindos. In my few days there I talked to the current intern who's going to Lewis & Clark in the fall, skated, slept in the Tamarindo Center, caught up with old friends, watched an exhibition hockey tournament with the little kids who are learning to skate and the big guys who are learning to work as a team, played table tennis, stayed up late talking with new friends, helped out cleaning, cooking and tutoring, and marveled at how organized the Tamarindo is, especially now that I have experience in another community. 

I'm back in site trying to motivate myself to work and write up everything that needs to be written and make the video I have been putting off for far too long. 

Happy Easter to everyone and Happy Birthday to my cousin in Kenya (and to all of the other birthdays I missed in the last nine months). Lots of love from El Salvador.  

P.S. This diagram is SO TRUE.

New Book Count: 34

Book Count: 45

Recommend: Divergent series by Veronica Roth (teen dystopian fiction) - I just finished the last book and it's SO GOOD.