Aromatherapy of the Campo

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.

Finally Cooling Off a Little

Wow – it has been SOOOO hot here recently! The rains came two days ago, which cooled things off a tiny bit, or at least more at night – a great relief. I didn’t realize how much hotter it is in my site than other places. I spent almost a week out of my site for training. We were in the mountains and the capital, and I was cold there. When I got back to my site, I was instantly sweating just sitting. It was like that for about a week, and while it is still extremely hot, the evenings and nights cool off a little more even if there is no rain. Also, the clouds block the glaring sun, which makes it seem much cooler here, so that’s also a plus. I can also tell how hot it is by how much my cat sleeps. Now, she’s up playing until about 9 in the morning and gets up at about 4 in the afternoon. Before, she was asleep at 7:30 or 8 and got up at 5:30 or 6. I’m much happier it’s cooling off, but I’m scared of a lot of rain because that means that there will be lots of mud and I think the replacement bridge has already been washed out, so that means it is now an hour to my pueblo as opposed to half an hour. We’ll just pray that we get rain sporadically instead of tons in only a few days!

Feelin' the Heat

Everyone said that March and April are the hottest months here. Yea, March was hot, but it wasn't unbearable, so I thought people were exaggerating April as well. WRONG! April is SOOOO hot. I feel like my skin is melting off when I'm in the sun, and no one leaves their house between the hours of 12 and about 4 except for the kids going to school. The thing that makes it really hot, is that it doesn't cool off at night. I would go to bed sweating and would wake-up sweating. I drink gallons of water, but hardly ever go to the bathroom because I'm sweating so much. I am glad that I do have essentially unlimited access to water so that I can shower whenever, but the heat is unrelenting. I feel like I've gone from one extreme to another. I lived in Spokane in biting cold and now am living here in melting heat. I thought I loved the heat, but now I realize why Colorado is so perfect. It has cold months, but not to cold, and hot months, but generally not too hot, and if so, only a few days. Also, there are days (mostly in the spring in fall) that are perfect - not too hot and not too cold. However - the rains have started! It rained the past two nights and hence everything has cooled off enormously. It's much more pleasant and there is much less dust. I just hope the floods are too severe ...

Pictures!

Here are a few pictures of my experiences here. I hope you enjoy!

Skinny Cows

So, when I first arrived, I was surprised at how fat the cows were. I’m mean, they’re no American cows, but they’re not the cows I typically think of when I think of developing nations. I was surprised, they looked healthy and happy. I couldn’t see their hips or ribs – which I thought was amazing. Now, I realized it was because it was winter – which means it was raining and there was plenty of grass. Now, it’s summer and DRY. Its brown everywhere there isn’t artificial watering. Another volunteer had told me stories of this – but I hadn’t believed it – I thought it was just stories. Anyway, so now the cows are stereotypically skinny and not appealing to eat. I can see their rib and hips very distinctly. They move more slowly, and generally look miserable. Maybe because its unbearably hot, but I also think it has something to do with the fact that they are eating brown (dead) grass and dirt. It is amazing to see the difference between these two seasons and how I can’t wait for the rainy season! (I thought I’d never say that).

My First Big Success (well at least in my mind)

I have been in El Salvador now for about eight months, six of which I’ve been in my site. The work I’m doing or have done is far is this – started an English club for 7th-9th graders, taught art classes to 3rd -5th graders, continued work with a women’s group harvesting honey, learned how to make jewelry from another women’s group, assisted Engineers without Borders with starting a project to build latrines, attempted (but failed) to write a grant to fix the computer lab, attempted (but failed, but still in progress) a world map, made some friends, and most recently completed a camp to train people to teach about HIV/AIDS prevention – which I consider “My First Big Success.” But, regarding the previous stuff, in the United States – that would be a pathetically small amount of things to accomplish, or not accomplish as the case may be with some of the things. However, here, I’m one busy volunteer, which is hard for me to believe sometimes.
But, on to my great success – I was really nervous about this camp. I was scared that people wouldn’t learn, that I couldn’t be able to teach the lessons I was supposed to teach, my counterpart my not show up, my kids wouldn’t be able to do the practicum at the end, and everyone would be too overwhelmed by all the information. However – it was GREAT!!! Before, I was dreading it – not feeling prepared – but the time I returned I was possibly the happiest I’ve been here! It was a great feeling. I feel like I started something and finished it – which is amazing and that people learned a lot from it. Also, my counterpart showed up and did a fantastic job with her presentations, my kids (although I wasn’t sure of this until the middle of it) did a great job with the practicum, and are excited about teaching it to the other students! It was excellent and has inspired to do more regarding HIV/AIDS prevention, STD prevention and lessons on how the reproduction system works in the body (I learned that most kids don’t get that education here, so sometimes the HIV stuff doesn’t make sense until you explain the organs). Anyway, I’ve talked with the health promoter and we are going to work together to do this in the school and I’m so excited!

A Day in the Life Part 3

Usually, the man is the earliest riser. Depending on his job, usually he has a little farm and some cows, or is a mason. Either way, they are up earlier to start work earlier and have a longer lunch. If you have cows, you have to milk them before the milk truck comes to pick up the milk. In the morning, generally the men tend to their fields – watering them, scaring away the birds, harvesting whatever they are growing, and replanting. If it is a mason, they are constructing usually a house from about 7 until 11:30 and then in the afternoon again at about 2 until 5. In regards to their responsibility to the house – they don’t have many. If something needs fixing, that’s about it, but usually the wife helps. When they come home, they generally relax in the hammock, eat, or watch TV. They don’t interact with their kids usually or help with homework (actually no one really does this). It’s very much segregated into what the men can do and what they can’t do. Same goes for the women – they don’t work in the fields nor do they do construction, but they are expected to serve their husbands literally and have a much more subservient attitude. Maybe this is no surprise …