So the week of Easter is called Semana Santa, It is a week of vacation. There is a lot of processions, and viacruzes which are where they walk around the community and do the stations of the cross stopping at crosses decorated in front of different houses. The week before my school director (who I don’t really know that well) was talking to me (she talks super fast so I usually only have an idea what she is saying). She invited me to do something, I didn’t understand, on Wednesday of Semana Santa. I figured that she had invited me for lunch. On Sunday before that week she came over to my host families house and told me that she was going to move it to Monday. After she left my host family said that it wasn’t lunch that I had agreed to, but a two night stay at her sister in-law’s house in Usulutan (a department south of Morazan). Oh…okay, I said. So that next morning I went to Usulutan with her and her two kids (ages 7 and 8).
Highlights:
1. Went to Stations of the Cross in which they act them out. The actors were really into it, so it was pretty good.
2. First night shared a bed with the eight year old. He slept diagonally across the bed and continually rolled into me throughout the night…didn’t sleep much.
3. Ate like 10 mangos over a 72 hour period.
4. One morning I was brushing my teeth, and the little girl (daughter of sister in law) asks me why I am brushing my teeth. I tell her that I brush my teeth every morning and night. She looks at me like I had just told her aliens had landed out back.
5. Learned how to make tamales and pan dulce (which is baked in a wood burning oven).
6. Second night I got my own bed, but was terrified that a rat was going to fall on me (which has happened to many volunteers). Rats like to run/live in the roof tiles.
7. Was fed about every 2 hours, even though I said I wasn’t hungry. I thought I was going to puke from being so full. Luckily they had like 8 dogs, so I could sneak some food to them.
The vacation wasn’t horrible,but most of my time there I sat around trying to keep up on their conversations without success, watch cartoons with the kids, or sat in the hammock and took a nap. Needless to say, I was really ready to go back on Wednesday, however that morning I was told we were going to stay another day, I was not happy. The whole morning I was thinking of ways that I could get out of staying there for another full day in a culturally sensitive way. So I told her that PC doesn’t let us be out of our site for more than two nights without permission (which is mostly true). I said I could take a bus back, she told me there weren’t any buses, which was a lie. So no longer able to come up with anything to say in Spanish I said I would call my boss. I pretended to call him and said that it would be okay.
So when I finally came to terms that I would have to stay another night, they start packing things up. They don’t even bother to tell me that they changed their minds and that we will be returning that day. I was so happy to be back in my community where I know people and they know that you have to talk slower for me to be able to understand, and back in my little room.
So I went to church the Saturday night before Easter with some community members in a town about 20 mins away. I wasn’t feeling that great but I thought that it would pass. It didn’t, so during church I stepped outside to get some air. The mayor’s wife saw me walk outside and came out to make sure I was feeling all right. When I told her my stomach hurt she was really sweet and began to fan me with her little towel, which all Salvadorian women carry around when going out in public. Then she thought it would be good for me to go get something to drink. I was thinking water would be best, she thought a vacanegra (a root beer float but with pepsi) would be best. Even though I told her I didn’t think that ice cream would be good for my upset stomach, she was convinced that it would help me. I took little sips, but it made it worse so I just held it. Then she thought it would be good for me to go rest at someone’s house. The mass was at 8 pm, didn’t start until 8:30, and was about 10 pm at this point. Most people go to bed at around 8. So we woke up this poor lady so I could lie in her hammock for 10 mins. Then they wanted me to take some Alkercelser (not sure how it is spelled) but really I just didn’t want to eat or drink anything for fear of puking it up. Still thinking that I needed to eat something the mayor’s wife began to spoon feed me baby food from a jar. I gagged two spoon fulls down and told her that I didn’t want anymore. Now my stomach was really hurting and all I wanted was to go home and go to bed, because for the past three months I have been going to bed at 8 and it was almost 11. The mayor’s wife was super nice trying to make me feel better and held my hand so I didn’t feel alone (as she said), and it was hard to tell her that her remedies were not want I wanted/needed. Mass finally ended and we were able to return to my community and I was in bed at 11:30. It’s funny, in college I went to bed between 11 and 12. Things have changed a bit.
Other random things:
1. Chicken will eat anything! Chorizo, chicken (I know…but there aren’t trash cans and so you put it on the ground and there are chickens everywhere), vegetables, shrimp shells, etc.
2. On most of the roads here there are no lines. This can be very scary in the city when there is apparently two lanes going each way but it isn’t really clear. It gets really interesting at night.
3. I think I might be being courted by my host mom’s son, who is probably about 40 and has 4 kids, one of them is a few years younger than I am. Pretty gross.
4. Women here aren’t really into using utensils for stirring when making bread, its all hands all the time.
5. My community guide’s son is a 45 lb, two year old little devil that only knows two words: mama, mio (mine). How do i know that he is 45 lbs, well thats because everytime we walk past someone in the community they comment on how gordo (fat) he is and ask how much he weighs.
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