Immersion Weekend

This past weekend, all of us trainees went to go visit volunteers around the country to see what life is like for a volunteer in their respective sites. This was the first experience here in which we traveled by ourselves. Yikes! And we went in ALL directions to get to our destinations. It wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. Some people traveled as much as eight hours to meet up with their volunteers for the weekend. No way, right?! El Salvador is such a tiny country! Yes, it is a tiny country, the size of Massachusetts actually, but not all the roads are in great condition and a lot have to go through the mountains which takes a lot more time than needed. Also there are not highways that connect all the departments together, so just because it might be a short distance kilometer/mile wise, its not necessarily relative to how much time it actually takes to get to places here in El Salvador. Fortunately for me, I only had a four hour bus ride, only having to change buses once, when I passed through the capital. Some people had to take up to seven buses! What a hassle!

I went to go visit a volunteer that has been here a year up in northern El Salvador. I went up to the northern department of Chalatenango to a pueblo called La Palma. Departments are like states (there are 14) and pueblos are like towns. There are few big cities, mainly the capital San Salvador. Then outside pueblos, there are cantons, which are like suburbs and then within those cantons, there are casarios, which are like neighborhoods within those suburbs. So it goes pueblo --> canton--> casario. My volunteer, Heather lived in a casario not too far outside La Palma, but far enough she has to take a bus to get in and out of town. She is also binded by the time the bus takes its last route to her casario, so she can get back home. So she could be in the pueblo as late as 4:30 pm and still get back home. Sigh. People go to bed early here. As rural health volunteers, Peace Corps places us in "rural" areas, hence the name. Casarios are typically the more rural areas to live, because they lack civilization and a majority of them lack basic public services (ie running water, electricity, cell phone service etc). Here in El Salvador, we call it "el campo", the countryside. The department of Chalatenango is essentially covered in Mountainous landscape, which was so beautiful. I wouldn't mind be placed there, as living in the mountains with beautiful views could suit me very well. Not to mention the weather! Let me just say how awesome it was to be in El Salvador and for the first time not sweat my ass off all day! Where Heather lived, the weather was super fresco (cool) and had such a nice breeze, mostly because we were at a higher altitude. It was very nice and relaxing. I even needed to use a jacket to keep warm! The reason I even mention the weather is because were I am currently living for training is located in a valley in central El Salvador and it's super HOT here and super humid. It gets to be in the 90s every day but where I spend the weekend, it only got up to 75!

The first night I was there, I spent the night with a family in her casario (about 100 houses to give you a better feel of the area) that she recommended I stay with for my campo experience. Their house was very RURAL! Ten people to a two room house, one of which had two queen size beds for all of them! I slept on a bed put in the front room, pretty sure I took someone's sleeping spot. It was totally Gringo TV. After seeing how much they could make me eat, literally, they all stared at me and waited for me to talk. So that was interesting and a lot of the time awkward. Welcome to the Peace Corps, and to remember this is what I signed up for! I am sure with time and integration in my future site, there will be less awkward moments and more meaningful moments.

Because they are such a big and poor family, all of them work out in the fields with their parents. They are just finishing up coffee season, and what that involves is going out and picking the coffee and filling up barrels. Let me remind you that most people do not own their own land, so it's like a co-op for parts of the land and they pay to have a part. So everyone works the fields. That is their life. After coffee season is over, it will be cane sugar season, and they will work those fields. A big problem I came across while visiting with this family is that the coffee they are able to sell has to go through so many middle men that by the end, they don't profit as much as they should. They get $1 dollar for every barrel. And all of the time, they are hiking up and down these mountains, usually wearing sandals of some sort, carrying these barrels full of coffee beans. And these people are some hardworking individuals. They go to bed at eight, only to rise at four. They work seven days a week. I don't know if I could do it! But then again, if this is the only life I knew, maybe it would be satisfying.

The next day I went with Heather and she introduced her community to me. Everyone was super nice and everyone wanted to feed me! She says the trick to gaining "confianza" in your community (meaning trust so they will want to work with you) is to say hi and to everyone and accept all food that is presented to you! Good thing she lives in the mountains and she is always hiking! While I was also there, she did a charla at her school about a stove project she is working on. These stoves produce little smoke by their construction and use little wood. These stoves are so great and they will help with all the respiratory conditions people get for standing over the fire, cooking. They only cost 30 dollars and already are gaining popularity. Overall, I got a really good feel for the daily life of a volunteer. Things move very slowly and it takes a lot of time to get anything done! Which is ok because I have two years! Overall really good immersion weekend. I feel less anxious that I did before, and now I just need to cross my fingers to get a good site! I need to prioritize amenities and lack there of. I think having running water is going to be the most important thing to acquire. Because if you do not have running water, you have to go and haul water back to your site. And the trek could be killer, like it is for some volunteers. Yup definitely think having water is better than having electricity, if it comes down to that.

Alright, well hope everyone is doing well and you all are enjoying the blog.

Paz y amor