The Last Food Festival

I think my favorite project of my Peace Corps service was the food festival. It was something totally different than what the rest of my colleagues were doing, something I could be proud of, and something my community could continue doing after I left. We had the last food festival of my career on March 27th, and I'm thrilled that the food festival committee is now the host organization for another Peace Corps volunteer. Here's to hoping that they take great care of her, and work even harder for her than they did for me!

Below are photos of the festival. The committee double billed it as my town wide going away party (seriously, we had a month of going away parties) and the local cable channel did an interview of me before the event so they could run a story on my leaving, my projects, and the festival. They of course came to film the event too. It ran on tv for the next week. Hm. No wonder I feel so un-special here in the USA.

(I made the TV guys interview my boss too!)

(We ditched the canopy and moved the party into the park. MUCH better idea. It was beautiful.)

(Prettiest park in El Salvador.)

(With Fatima, Carlos Mario and Alejandro.)

(With my favorite bolo [town drunk] chumbero).

(Getting an award from the food festival committee.)

(Jefa, Carlos Mario and Yours Truly.)

(The Mayor, his wife, and all of their gringo children. I love this picture. Also, a good one for Jesse's mom so she can see he is still alive.)

(Elotes LOCO)

(The Mayor gave me an award too. And the TV station filmed it all. Funny.)