This Friday makes it one whole month at my site. Yippee! What a blur. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you what I’ve done each day. That's kind of funny. I should be keeping a better journal. But what I do know, however, is that I pass out in my hammock every night beat tired but really, really happy. Tired because I spend most of my days walking around, visiting families doing my community census. And happy because I am having the time of my life. I honestly don’t think I’d change a thing. I love it all. Even my bats. Somebody told me they’re slowly poisoning me, but secretly I love them. I love that they’re eating all the moths and mosquitos in my room and then crapping it out on me while I sleep. It’s beautiful really. And my house and host family are sweet. Really, really cool. But there's so much more. Hmm, maybe the best way to tell you all is to break it down. Okay, here goes...
The location: For security reasons, I can’t spell out exactly where I live. But what I can say is that my mysterious community is relatively small (about 150 houses) and is just outside a decently-sized city a stone’s throw from the Guatemalan border. Most of you know by now anyway so no biggie.
The fam: I live with a young couple and their four little girls. The dad actually lived in Boston for a number of years and worked three jobs to save up money for a life back here. Actually, what’s sort of amazing is that everyone in my community has done that. It’s crazy. There’s a huge salvadoran population in East Boston and every time I mention that I’m from there, 20 people are like oh yeah, I have three uncles there and my dad’s in JP right now. Crazy.
The digs: I have my own house. Yep, my own house. I’m pretty much in heaven. It’s huge, has a bunch of porches, a flush toilet (no more temple of doom pit latrines!) and the community even chipped in and got me a fridge. It’s ridiculously nice. Just imagine relaxing in a hammock in the shade on a hot day and eating chilled mangos. It’s indescribable.
The work: At first, I took a tour of my community and asked myself what the hell I was doing here. They have big houses. Everyone’s got electricity and a fridge. The women get together and play softball twice a week. But then I starting doing my census and asking questions and realized there’s actually A LOT of work to do. Oh, your kids go swimming in the river? That’s nice. Oh, and your family drinks the river water? Um, I guess that’s nice too. Oh, and you don’t have a latrine so you just sort of go over there, huh? Suh-weet. Now we’re talking.
So what else do you guys want to know about? The layout? The food? Just keep sending those questions.
let's see some pics!
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear the trials and tribulations of living in El Salvador Gabe...keep the commentary coming. So you can begin to educate us, what type of industry is supporting the community that they can rock fridges etc.?
ReplyDeleteCharlie, photos on their way...
ReplyDeleteAnd Sean, my community is lucky enough to have electricity and decent water access so that makes for a generally high quality of life. Don't get me wrong, they're pretty damn poor, but electricity is super cheap, like 2 to 5 bucks a month. And even though they're corn and bean farmers who don't really bring in any income, they do save up some cash and occasionally get help from family members in the states. That's how they can afford big stuff like fridges, ovens, soccer cleats, posters of cristiano ronaldo. Stuff like that.
Thanks for the comments.
Tell me about the food. Are you only on a vegetarian diet or what? Is there beer?
ReplyDeleteWhat's up Scott! Beer is a definite no no daffy. In general people are pretty conservative when it comes to drinking. It's the whole religious thing, not that there's anything wrong with that. They view it as a black or white issue, with almost no in-between. A lot of people (teenagers included!) drink in the community and offer me beer, rum, vodka all the time. They also smoke butts religiously. But picking up that kind of a reputation can really screw with your relationships, so I made the decision once I got here not to risk it. There are plenty of opportunities to live it up outside of my community!
ReplyDeleteAnd people aren't exactly vegetarians, but meat is expensive and corn, beans and rice are super cheap. But this is changing and prices for everything are shooting up. In general, I eat well. The family I live with takes good care of me so I get a lot of chicken, veggies, and fruit. Black beans, tortillas and limes are served with every meal. It's like mandatory or something, but I actually love it