Kelly at the Nat'l School of Agriculture

In the beginning of May, all of the Peace Corps volunteers from Kelly’s program (Sustainable Agriculture/ Environmental Education) had a week-long IST (In Service Training) at La Ena (The National School of Agriculture) which is located in the western side of the country. We learned lots of good stuff to try out in our communities. The pictures that follow are the highlights from the week. Bruce (being in the program of Youth Development) did not go to the IST; instead, he stayed in our site and answered the question “¿y la muchacha?” about a hundred times.


To make mango marmalade, start with a big guacal of mangos.


Chop them up. Add to them their weight in sugar. Add water and citric acid. Cook it up.


While it’s still boiling, pour it into jars and flip them over to secure the seal. Now, save the marmalade until mango season has ended and sell it for sweet, sweet cash.


We were able to choose between a crash course in bee keeping, rabbit farming, or tree nurseries. I chose bee keeping for several reasons; one of which was that I assumed we’d be wearing protective clothing. Nope.


This is the national bird of El Salvador, Torogóz.


some beautiful flowers


We took a trip to near El Pital (the highest point in El Salvador) to visit an organic vegetable farming cooperative.


Volunteers rarely eat salads b/c raw vegetables (and especially lettuce) are difficult to wash and prep. They need to be soaked in a bleach solution to make sure you kill anything that could make you sick. And actually, I’ve never seen any type of lettuce in our market. So, the sight of the organic romaine lettuce was beautiful. Salads have now been added to the list of “Foods to Eat while Visiting the Grand ‘Ol USA this Summer.”


We visited this national park to learn about organizing field trips to protected areas.


Cerro Verde is a very old volcano / cloud forest. We went on a gorgeous hike. These folks are fellow Sustainable Agriculture/ Environmental Education 2008-2010 Volunteers.