It's been here a 3 days short of a month, today, and I'm starting to get used to it. The charms of the place are growing on me, like the hired guard in the bakery who will not take his hand off his gun for anything - a donut couldn't pull his hand off it - and the people scrambling on the bus to sell papusas, candy, and a meriad of other things to the passengers packed into the 100 plus degree bus.
I'm getting to the point where I think it's fun not really knowing the language really well and using the word "country" when I mean "place" and "closed" when I mean "open." I dream about home and still miss the variety of vegetarians dishes, but the 1/4" thick tortillas, 1/2 cup of oil and 1lb of salt per dish is beginning to grow on me. This may all be in part due to my trip the Orienta (eastern) part of the country last week.
The painted school bus plastered with Jesus stickers and English words picked another aspirante (Peace Corps trainee) and I up at 6:15 to begin our 2.5 hour journey across the country. There is nothing like bouncing across El Salvador looking out the window to see volcanos and rivers with crocidiles. It was almost as wonderful as when I arrived to the site where I met Megan, the voluntaria, and met the two sisters, who may have been nuns (not really sure), I'd stay with for two nights.
The sisters recieve remintences from the US ($$$) and you sure can tell. They had a nice home, a cook, a shower, flush toilet, and two really, really sweet hamacks. They also introduced me to the pleasure of waking up at 5:00am to milk cows in a pin full of pig, turkey, chicken, cow, and dog extraments. The entire time I had the vision of a shirt I saw in the US with a guy drinking from a cow's utter in my head. The two were also nice enought to take me along with them to the oceanside community of La Union.
Aside from getting to enjoy the nice winter air of 98 degrees, buying watermelon from the side of the road, and eating fried plantains, I also enjoyed seeing aspects of a volunteer's life. Megan has her own casita (little house). She was lucky enough to get to clean the chicken poo out, scrub down the walls herself, and get electricity installed. Megan also got to pick out the color of paint. I'm looking forward to having my own place.
She also had another aspect of her life that I'm considering, a pet. Of the two cats she had, she still has one. The people in her community thought it was funny and would not stop talking about how she cried when her cat died. Other people had poisoned other volunteer's dogs because one their chickens died. That's the way it is here. However, Megan also had another guest for which she did not have to care, a bat that roosts in her ceiling. Oh, the charms.
On one day we visited the market in San Miguel and I was able to cook for the first time in a month. I almost forgot what seasons other than salt tasted like. Fietas sure did hit the spot after a day in the packed city and watching Megan give different Charlas about stoves that have a chimney to put the smoke OUTSIDE the house. Wow, big time!!! And all the ingredients are local. Hot stuff!
Life is cool and I'll keep posting and hopefully add some pics later this week.
Keep it cool!
