On and on

I'm finally getting settled into my groove and getting the hang of this observation mission. I moved into my new apartment this weekend and worked on getting it broken in. On Sunday my friends Guillermo and Tony took me to the central market to buy all the ingredients for ceviche and his mom's shopping list, which ended up being a ton of food for less than $40. We bought a giant rucksack and took turns carrying it between two people because there was so much - chicken, ribs, shark meat, small oyster-like seafood called conchas, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, limes, and pasta. The market is a totally crazy place with wild smells, tons of people yelling, and food that is still alive. After about 40 minutes of helping lug around our giant bag my senses were totally overwhelmed and I started feeling faint. I told Guillermo that I wanted to go to the bathroom, thinking that some cool water on my face would make me feel better, but we didn't get far before I straight-up fainted. Luckily Tony caught me and I woke up on the floor of the bustling market to Guillermo patting my face and some old lady asking me if I was pregnant. The nice vendors hooked me up with some sugar water and a piece of candy and let me sit and lean on their booth while I recovered. We spent most of the rest of the day elaborating the story, making it a much more dramatic event than it actually was, and told everyone we saw. 

Back at my new apartment, after taking the majority of the food back to Guillermo's mom, we cut up onions, tomatoes, the shark meat, and cilantro to throw into a big bowl of lime juice. While the lime cooked up the shark in the refrigerator, we dug into the conchas. Guillermo used to have a business of selling conchas so he was pro at breaking open the shells, scooping the living creatures into a bowl, and then refilling the shells with chile, lime, salt, the meat and worchester sauce. While I am normally against eating things that are still alive, I went ahead and gave them a try. It wasn't bad when washed down with a cold beer, but it did make me want to be at the beach. The ceviche came out nicely, but the best part was spending a Sunday just listening to reggae with friends at my sweet little apartment. 

I am also figuring out, little by little, how to be successful in my observation mission. There are some communication barriers between the group members based on personality conflicts more than anything, so no one is clear on exactly what we need to be doing. I am working with two different small groups to try to keep the process moving despite these obstacles. Another observer (Ashley) and I ventured to Usulután to present ourselves and our mission to the state-wide elections organizers. They received us cordially and encouraged us to get to know the state. In fact, they were so insistent that we get to know the beach that they offered to take us themselves in the weekend. Ashley and I politely declined mostly because they are members of political parties and we would risk screwing up our objective reputation.  Now that they know us, we will go back several times to meet with other officials in the mayor's office, at the hospitals, with social organizations, etc. Basically we are going to assure people that we will be there to observe without bias and that we will be writing a report about the entire electoral process and voting day. I am looking forward to getting to know the civil society groups in order to get the "unofficial" perspective as to how the process is developing and what people's concerns are going into it. And the struggle continues...