Another day of celebrations in La Palma! Today was the celebration of the signing of the peace papers during their civil war. It started in La Palma, hence the name and nicknames calling it the city of peace and such.

Anyway, a parade went through town this morning. The two older schools from La Palma marched. And then a whole bunch from all over, too. As a band geek myself, not even gonna try to deny that one, I like watching these kinds of parades and seeing the differences. There isn't the same kind of budget to have these bands sounding or looking like any similar to where I'm from. As a matter of fact, most of the younger schools and some of the older ones don't even use any instruments besides percussion. Another difference is their equivalent to color guard. There tend to be a group of girls with baton in each group. Then the actual band playing, and sometimes some people carrying country flags. Also, there are groups of students dressed in the "typical" clothing. Girls wear the dresses with the super long flowy skirts, and guys dress like farmers. That's about what the average school does. Some schools, on the other hand, go a little out of the ordinary and make it fun. For instance, having a dancing lion mascot.

The whole parade was a bunch of fun. Teresa, Mom, and I stood outside Lilian's for most of it. The street was supposed to be blocked off for the parade, but somehow a bus got through! It was stuck with no where to go. Eventually, after the driver had gotten out and talked to several officials and people, he started to drive on forward. The girls at the front of the parade were looking around and trying to figure out what to do if he kept going. Luckily, they didn't have to and the bus did procede to put it in reverse and go back down the hill eventually. A couple times we noticed some official looking people and cameras videoing parts, and we're kinda excited to see if we show up on one of the new El Salvador tourism videos! ;)

The parade route led all the bands to the soccer field, where they then competed. We went to the field for a while, but couldn't stay the whole time. It seemed like it might go on forever, and it was getting really hot and sunny out. Even though we didn't stay long, I have a sunburn. My neck, face, and forearms are bright pink. I've got one of those hard outlined farmers' tans from the t-shirt I was wearing. And the little lines on the top of my feet from my flip flops XD. But hey, the bright side? Maybe now I'll finally get the golden tan everyone expects you to have from living in Central America. Right, Megan? ;)

Despite the sunburn, it's been a great day. As always, thank you to everyone for the prayers. Please continue! Here's the SPECIAL REQUEST mentioned in the title. There is a medical mission trip happening here next March. We really need more medical personnel; doctors, nurses, etc. If anyone is interested, or knows of anyone who might be, let me know! More to be posted soon!
Su amiga,
Erin <3