Feria Week

Today is the last day of Feria week. Feria is the second biggest celebration of the year, just behind Semana Santa. We had Tues through Friday off and it was really nice, actually. It´s amazing how quickly time fills up, just like back home.

Ann Ming and I spend most of the Feria week mornings doing some work for her rotation or going over tropical medicine topics with Dick (he is a GREAT teacher). There were a few lunches hosted at various homes and the afternoons and evenings we dragged ourselves out in the rain to get in a little Feria action. Angel even got us out on the dance floor and it was great to see him having such a good time.

Yesterday we went to the City so Ann Ming could stay over with some new friends of ours, Jen and Jim, before flying out today. I renewed my Visa and we made a quick trip through the Central Market and the Central Plaza. Jen and Jim are here for two years, Jim as a special education teacher and Jen as a family doc. They have come to love the City in the two months they´ve been here. I have to say, I haven´t found the beauty in the City, yet. It is incredibly crowded, polluted, and there is that constant, very real, threat of violence. But maybe over the course of the year with a few get-away visits to their home I will come to like it, too.
I got back to SLT last night and stayed out until 2am at the impromtu discoteca that was set up for Feria. It was an interesting experience. The strangest part was seeing the girls in their traditional traje (dress) dancing trance. For my part, I´m just hoping to get some salsa steps down before the year is up!