a brief catch-up

I have much to write here since I haven't updated the blog in so long but the truth is I don't have much time. And I'll explain why. My site is 2 hours hiking from the pueblo where I can access the internet, so taking a long time in the internet cafe to write isn't very efficient for me, considering four hours of my day is spent hiking. That's not to say I won't have days where I vedge out and spend a lot of time on the computer. there will be those days. But the blog entries are going to slow down significantly. I'm sorry!

Well the 29th of November I was sworn in with the rest of my group in San Salvador. We were sent off by the second-in-command from the US embassy and the Peace Corps director, most of our counterparts attended. That night was our last time together before heading to our sites the next morning. It was tough to say goodbye but I hit the road fast to avoid the emotional burn. Needless to say, the volunteers in my group have become very good friends of mine. Another beauty of being in such a small country is that we will be able to see each other frequently, or conveniently if we really want to.

So far life in my site has been tranquilo, tiring, and adaptive (i guess). I do feel that the shock I first felt moving into my host family's house in San Vicente is nothing compared to this new move. From San V to El Volcan (where I am now), I liken the sensation to the US to San V. It's just a completely different life. There isn't electricity and the community is short on resources. There are public water collection spots, though my house has a hose the brings it in. The majority of homes have no sanitation services. People use the woods for a toilet. The owner of the house I live in put in a latrine just for me, thankfully.

I live with a family of 6. Two boys and two girls. It is a very beautiful family. Very close and nice. I am living in a house they just built, while all of them, excpet for one of the boys who sleeps with me, live in their old annexed house. Both are adobe with dirt floors and chickens running about, but I would say the house I am in puts theirs to shame. Their adobe is falling apart and the roof barely covering them. However they are fine with this and I will be moving out in a couple of months anyways to another home. Of course I feel guilty with many of the things they do for me, like give me their new house, but the way the people in my community are, to say no to them would be so disrespectful.

I live on a beautiful mountain. The canton I am working in covers two mountain topsn and a valley, and I am walking a lot because of that. I have never been fitter in my life, i think, because of all the hiking up and down the mountains I have been doing theis week. And I will be fitter still in the time to come here. Each day I have been recruited by a different family to go work in the fields with them. I have picked corn, picked beans, smacked bean pods to knowck the beans out, and picked coffee. I have de-grained cobs and fed chickens and hauled hundreds of pounds of corn, beans, and coffee around. My days are usually filled with 4 cups of coffee, four bananas, 6 to 8 tortillas, and hundreds of beans. There is a plethora of beans, corn, coffee, and FRUIT in my community. The pineapples go for a quarter a piece here. And they are delicious.

I have baught a cuma, or a curved machete, wchich is the farming tool of choice, and I carry it everywhere in the community, to chop through bruch and to hit angry dogs. There are a lot of angry dogs where I live. Where i live is so beautiful and I really can't describe it. It is something I wish I could show each of you. It's that impressive! From the top of the mountain, I can see the ocean, the Volcano of San Miguel, the volcano of San Vicente, San Miguel City, and every thing else in between.