As we all know, living in the campo can waft some interesting and wretched smells to our nose. Frequently, I find myself face to face with a poorly maintained latrine, the awful odor of a dead animal, mildew or mold during the raining season, an older person’s decaying teeth, and a host of awful aromas.
However, recently, I have abruptly smelled deliciousness (at least in my opinion). These new scents have become my new aromatherapy (as compared to my old American aromatherapy – candles and the like).
The first smell, I was riding my bike to the neighboring canton and as I was passing a second home, or more like a second palace, I smelled something sweet and delicious. I screeched to a halt to find the scrumptious fragrance.
I couldn’t see anything since the palace was surrounded by a 10’ wall, but it brought back such strong memories of childhood, I knew I could figure out what it was. It reminded me of being in Arizona, specifically near a museum about traveling west in Phoenix.
Aha! Orange blossom. It was the most wonderful smell I had experienced in months. It was wonderful, and every time I pass, I slow down and breathe deeply to soak it all in.
The second smell is not a favorite of everyone’s, but I love it. Down the calle principal of my community, a remasa house was having a bloc wall being built around it. (I saw the house was having a wall being built around it because the owners are in the State so, hired help was building the wall.)
Since everything is build by hand in my community (even though they have the cement mixer sitting right next to them, they choose to mix by hand) they were cutting the blocs to make the wall curved.
The mix of the stone and the metal instantaneously smelled like someone was trying to start a fire with no matches. It immediately transported me to my days working on trail crew.
As some of you know, trail crew is one of my favorite experiences, and I have many stories. But, we frequently had to smash rock with a sledge hammer to make smaller rock for fill or try to break a bigger rock in half to create a stair.
Anyway, it makes the exact same smell, and I was directly transported to the mountains of Colorado. I could see the majestic mountains and big blue skies. I could even smell the fresh mountain air.
Much to my displeasure (only because of the smell), they have since finished the wall, but whenever I passed the house, I once again, slowed way down to be transported from sea level to 10,000’.
The last smell, one I thought I would never miss, I smell only very occasionally. As mentioned above, there are some second homes/palaces in my community. They are like American homes, or embassy homes, which is a stark contrast to every other house here. Usually, they are fenced in and no one can really see, but they all have an abundance of grass.
As I was passing one of these walled palaces, I first heard a noise I thought I had mistaken – a lawn mower! Seconds later, I smelled fresh cut grass.
Now, as a teen, one of my chores was cutting the grass, which I hated. I despised it not because it was a chore, but because my father would inspect every inch of yard to make sure I had followed his directions and every blade was cut evenly.
Also, we have a pretty big hard, so with a hand mower, it took two hours or more to mow the lawn depending upon the length of the grass.
Well, I remember getting in numerous arguments with my father about how I had cut the grass I couldn’t get it more even because part or it was wet or under bushes or something. I remember telling him numerous times that if he was going to be that particular, he can cut it. (Although I did get paid, so I did want the money).
Well, here it was a terrific reminder of home and people starting yard work in the spring to ready their yards for their summer barbeques. It smelled so delectable I wanted to go jump in the cuttings – but I refrained, I thought maybe people would think that a little odd.
So, while my current aromatherapy maybe a little unconventional, I love it. It brings something of America here and if I’m feeling a little stressed this new aromatherapy brings the stress level a bit and reminds me of a few more enjoyable things about being in El Salvador.
