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!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
I´m not really a morning person
When I first found out I was nominated for a Latin American country, I was stoked! Night life! Yeah! Finally, I´d be somewhere where they stayed up as late as I like to and sleep in. I remember both Spain and Argentina the night life didn´t begin until around midnight. Well, it´s not the case in El Salvador.
I wake up every morning well before 7:00 o´clock, here. It´s not so much that I want to get up early, but I have no choice. Yesterday, Sunday, I wanted to sleep in because I had nothing to do and suddenly the entire house was alive and the TV was going loud at about 6:00. That´s the way it goes, here, and I´m starting to get used to it.
I also did my laundry, yesterday, after getting out of bed at 6:15. I had it all washed by hand by 8:00 am. I can´t recall a time I was ever that productive by 8:00 in the U.S., unless I had something special to do - like go on a trip, or something. However, I am starting to get used to going to sleep by 9:00p and levitating by 6:00a.
I have fried plantains a couple times a week for breakfast, usually accompanied with red beans ran through a blender and salt. Yes, salt. It´s almost like a side dish here, they use so much of it. I´ve bought some cerial and soy milk - yes, they have soy milk... Silk - and I get in one or two bowls per week.
I´m in San Vicente much of this week, until submersion days starting Thursday. We´re going to go stay with another volunteer for a couple of days in co´s (his or her) site. It´ll be a great opportunity for me to see what it´ll kinda be like. I must admit that it´s up and down, right now. Probably because I´m still a little in U.S. mode.
There is a volcono near me - Volcano Chichontepeque. I´ve read a person can hire police from a neighboring town as an escort to the top. A group of us want to go up, it´s just a matter of getting the time and organizing the small adventure. They have some of the only remaining old growth cloud forest left in El Salvador near the top. I´d love to get a taste for what this place used to be like before 98% of the trees were chopped.
I find I´m tired most all the time. I´m not sure if it´s from the heat, trying to learn the language, or what. I hope I´m not getting sick. Many of the volunteer trainees have become ill with a bacteria or an amebia infestation. They have medicine, but once infected the person basically expells everything out both ends for a couple days.
I´m in an internet cafe and I think I got one that´s used for couples who want a private place to go for a couple minutes. I can hear the people next to me kissing. My teacher told us about these places, but it looks like I picked the wrong one. Ooops.
Anyways, I´ll get some pics up soon and I´ll also make a video of where I´m living and get it posted, soon.
I wake up every morning well before 7:00 o´clock, here. It´s not so much that I want to get up early, but I have no choice. Yesterday, Sunday, I wanted to sleep in because I had nothing to do and suddenly the entire house was alive and the TV was going loud at about 6:00. That´s the way it goes, here, and I´m starting to get used to it.
I also did my laundry, yesterday, after getting out of bed at 6:15. I had it all washed by hand by 8:00 am. I can´t recall a time I was ever that productive by 8:00 in the U.S., unless I had something special to do - like go on a trip, or something. However, I am starting to get used to going to sleep by 9:00p and levitating by 6:00a.
I have fried plantains a couple times a week for breakfast, usually accompanied with red beans ran through a blender and salt. Yes, salt. It´s almost like a side dish here, they use so much of it. I´ve bought some cerial and soy milk - yes, they have soy milk... Silk - and I get in one or two bowls per week.
I´m in San Vicente much of this week, until submersion days starting Thursday. We´re going to go stay with another volunteer for a couple of days in co´s (his or her) site. It´ll be a great opportunity for me to see what it´ll kinda be like. I must admit that it´s up and down, right now. Probably because I´m still a little in U.S. mode.
There is a volcono near me - Volcano Chichontepeque. I´ve read a person can hire police from a neighboring town as an escort to the top. A group of us want to go up, it´s just a matter of getting the time and organizing the small adventure. They have some of the only remaining old growth cloud forest left in El Salvador near the top. I´d love to get a taste for what this place used to be like before 98% of the trees were chopped.
I find I´m tired most all the time. I´m not sure if it´s from the heat, trying to learn the language, or what. I hope I´m not getting sick. Many of the volunteer trainees have become ill with a bacteria or an amebia infestation. They have medicine, but once infected the person basically expells everything out both ends for a couple days.
I´m in an internet cafe and I think I got one that´s used for couples who want a private place to go for a couple minutes. I can hear the people next to me kissing. My teacher told us about these places, but it looks like I picked the wrong one. Ooops.
Anyways, I´ll get some pics up soon and I´ll also make a video of where I´m living and get it posted, soon.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I´ve been here a little over a week...
And it has its ups and downs. Sometimes I feel very excited about being here and other times I question why I chose this route after graduating university. It´s much different and more difficult than I expected. The people are very nice, but the basics like hot water, flushing toilets, indoor showers, and trash collection are limited and do not exist where I am living for the first two months, in a small town outside of San Vicante called San Isidro.
One of my favorite things, so far, has been the children. When I first arrived with my host family, the youngest son, Alejendro, 4, jumped on my lap and gave me a big hug. Our group of 33 volunteers is divided into smaller commuties and when the 5 others and me first went to the cancha (field in town), we had a line of kids behind us who all wanted to play frisbee with us. We went there and played some frisbee.
A couple of days later, we went back to the cancha to play some frisbee. Again, kids followed us. We were playing and having a good time, but a storm was moving in from the east. It was a distance off, but we had the sensation that we would need to leave soon. Turns out, we were going to be leaving sooner than we all thought. Suddenly there was a 3 second lighting burst about 50 to 100 feet from us. It was so close, most all of the North Americans took off. The El Salvadorians stayed until the first drops of rain begain.
We´ve been doing lots of things in the community. A couple of things, so far, include picking beans from the field for dinner (was hot and a ton of work), helping a farmer in the field, visiting a local school, and laying in a hammack (my favorite part of the culture, thus far). I also help around the house with dishes and wash my own laundry. It´s all done by hand with cold water. I also mowed the lawn with a thing similar to a machete. It´s a lot of work just to live here.
Other things about the culture are taking time to get used to. For example, I don´t understand the blasting loud music at 6 am. It´s also taking some adjusting to get used to the roosters starting to crow at around 3am and not stopping until around 9, or so. However, I love the busses because they have a lot of character. They´re usually pretty full, or packed, and they play music loud. It´s $.45 to get to town from where I live and yesterday they had to stop to get gas, while people were on the bus.
Well... I only get internet access once or twice per week, but I´ll try to keep this blog going and fairly up to date. I´ll also try to upload photos.
One of my favorite things, so far, has been the children. When I first arrived with my host family, the youngest son, Alejendro, 4, jumped on my lap and gave me a big hug. Our group of 33 volunteers is divided into smaller commuties and when the 5 others and me first went to the cancha (field in town), we had a line of kids behind us who all wanted to play frisbee with us. We went there and played some frisbee.
A couple of days later, we went back to the cancha to play some frisbee. Again, kids followed us. We were playing and having a good time, but a storm was moving in from the east. It was a distance off, but we had the sensation that we would need to leave soon. Turns out, we were going to be leaving sooner than we all thought. Suddenly there was a 3 second lighting burst about 50 to 100 feet from us. It was so close, most all of the North Americans took off. The El Salvadorians stayed until the first drops of rain begain.
We´ve been doing lots of things in the community. A couple of things, so far, include picking beans from the field for dinner (was hot and a ton of work), helping a farmer in the field, visiting a local school, and laying in a hammack (my favorite part of the culture, thus far). I also help around the house with dishes and wash my own laundry. It´s all done by hand with cold water. I also mowed the lawn with a thing similar to a machete. It´s a lot of work just to live here.
Other things about the culture are taking time to get used to. For example, I don´t understand the blasting loud music at 6 am. It´s also taking some adjusting to get used to the roosters starting to crow at around 3am and not stopping until around 9, or so. However, I love the busses because they have a lot of character. They´re usually pretty full, or packed, and they play music loud. It´s $.45 to get to town from where I live and yesterday they had to stop to get gas, while people were on the bus.
Well... I only get internet access once or twice per week, but I´ll try to keep this blog going and fairly up to date. I´ll also try to upload photos.
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