El poder tiene que cambiar

That means "the power has to change" and it's what a woman said to me on the bus today. It was a classic Salvadoran conversation: she started out by saying it was cool outside (this morning is actually the coldest I've seen here, except for the mountains of Chalatenango) but what she really wanted to talk about was politics.

Woman: It's cool.
Me: Yeah it is! Better than this morning, though.
Woman: Yes. You're from the States? Where do you study?
Me: I don't. I'm in the Peace Corps.
Woman: Oh. Your elections are soon!
Me: Yes! Tuesday!
Woman: Ours are in March. Everyone here will vote for ARENA (the conservatives) but I prefer FMLN (liberals). ARENA has been in power for the last 20 years. It has to change.

Wow. America much?

We had a lecture on Salvadoran politics yesterday and it was FASCINATING. I wish I could transcript the whole thing for you. But basically it goes like this: the conservatives have been in power since the civil war ended in 1992. ARENA, the conservative party, comes from the Salvadoran military during the civil war; the FMLN were once the guerillas but the peace accords made them a political party. The violence in El Salvador no longer really comes from politics, but the country is still highly polarized. There are stories about people in San Salvador who have blocked construction crews from building roads they have wanted for decades because the other party is paying for the road. No one uses the casa comunal -- basically town hall -- in our village because the regional mayor and the village head are from different parties, so the mayor changed the locks. There is no such thing as bipartisanship here.

The conservative guy running for president now is an inexperienced chief of national police who picked a leftist for his running mate in order to generate mass appeal, but instead confused everybody; the liberal is a famous ex-journalist and skilled orator who is hampered by the fact that the rest of his party are ex-guerillas and by the attack ads that effectively tie him to Hugo Chávez. Add that to the fact that El Salvador is traditionally a very conservative country and you have a dead heat. I'm sure I'll be blogging about this constantly.

For the record, I did vote by emergency absentee ballot, sent by diplomatic pouch after the Prince George's County board of elections failed to mail or e-mail my ballot. I guess I'm not surprised. My friend from North Carolina had to do the same thing, even though he never votes -- North Carolina, after all, is a big-deal swing state.

For election night, our entire 22-person training group is going to the hotel in town. We've rented out the bar and are going to watch the results come in through Internet streaming. I'm so stoked. We still haven't figured out what we're doing for Halloween though.

Time has gone flying by. We've finished the baking project with our youth group after baking banana bread all day Monday. Even though we sold nearly $40 worth, we lost money because flour here is EXPENSIVE if it's not made from corn, something we never knew when we agreed to make banana bread. So it was a completely ineffective fundraiser but still a fun project. Now we're preparing to give them a lesson on deforestation. At first it was a big deal because our training director was going to come sit in, but yesterday through Friday there is a huge summit of all the Latin American presidents here in San Salvador. WHICH is a huge security issue because everyone's scared Chávez will show up and there will be riots, even though the Venezeulan president in question has said he won't come out of fear for his life. So basically none of the PC staff can leave San Sal to come see our presentation, so we get to slack off a little. Such is life here. You prepare for something for weeks, and then it rains or Hugo Chávez shows up and you end up twiddling your thumbs. I love it.

We have had some actual time where we were not working. We're mandated to spend all our afternoons investigating things in the community, so one afternoon we "investigated" a nearby waterfall with some Last weekend was our only free weekend, so half of our group went to a lake in the mountains and the other half went to the beach. I was in the lake group and I'm damn glad I was, because here's a picture: just kidding, the spyware on this computer is not permitting that.

The trip was complete with drinking and American food, two things that never happen to us anymore. We actually have a free weekend next weekend, but we have to spend that in our communities because Sunday's día de los difuntos, or Day of the Dead. If you've ever taken a Spanish class, you know what this is -- basically the Catholic Latin American alternative to Halloween. Everyone goes to the cemetery where their relatives are buried and leaves food, flowers and crafts. So the cemeteries are full of people and it's actually kind of festive. There's also a dance Saturday night, which should be intriguing because a) I've already forgotten how to salsa b) there will be beer which the men will drink but the women can't and c) I have a suspicion that the whole thing is a campaign fundraiser for my neighbor who is running for mayor from the most conservative party in the nation.

It has been cooler and windy here. I have constantly been told the scorpions come out when it's windy so I still sleep in fear. But other than that, life is grand and I should probably get back to work. Send me an e-mail, a facebook message, a comment, or a phone call. Paz y amor.

La globalización está por todos lados

That's right, I'm back at the cyber cafe. It's Sunday and there was nothing else to do. But two friends and I went in together and found out that half our group had also taken the bus to town. Great minds think alike, I guess...

The title of my post is something my Spanish teacher said to me last semester and basically means that globalization is everywhere. She was talking about her conviction that there's a Starbucks here, a fact that was later disproven. But it applies to my life in another important way: the media. I can't count the times I've heard "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "Lady in Red" or "Careless Whisper" on the bus, mixed in with the new faves like T-Pain's "Low" or Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl."

I already mentioned some of the American shows we get here, but there are a lot more, from "The Flintstones" to "Dead Zone" to "Tru Calling." It's funny to see shows here that weren't even popular in the States, but then they don't have "The Office" or "Grey's Anatomy." My family also spends a lot of time watching the news, at least half of which is about the U.S. election or the financial crisis. The whole hour of En Punto, the Sunday-morning pundit show, was devoted today to the election. And a lot of volunteers are voting online. So even though I'm missing all the excitement, I'm not exactly far away.

It's warm and gorgeous here today after days of neverending rain. It was nice to wake up late and spend time with my host fam, cooking and watching TV. Guess which tortilla I made...
Yep, I think it's safe to say I need a lot more practice. The other things are red beans and an egg/string bean mixture which is awesome because the string beans are new and fresh from the fields. I also get fried/cooked plantains all the time, so Maryland Food Co-op-ers, be jealous, because they're even better here.

Paz y amor and keep the messages coming!

Rain, rain go away

One would think by reading this blog that I have all the time in the world to take a bus into the pueblo, get on a computer and post. It's been true lately but it shouldn't be! My community group has all these plans in motion that keep being rained out., i.e. our trip to a nearby waterfall today. We were also going to have a group meeting and plan our bake sale, our tree-planting project, our lombriculture project, our deforestation charla...(Spanish for "chat" but mainly refers to the kind of interactive lecture Peace Corps volunteers do all the time). But all that will have to be left for Monday. The youth group the next community over made tons of money yesterday selling tamales, so hopefully our fundraiser will be just as successful...or we'll have to deal with a lot of gloating!

It has been kind of hard to get anything done with this group, which has been a little frustrating. Most of the other communities are working with a youth group that already existed, but our village didn't have one so we had to form one, which was an endeavor in itself. Then heavy rains cancelled one meeting, and others were nearly ruined by hora salvadoreña -- Salvadoran time. The Latin American disregard for punctuality definitely has applied to our meetings. By the time people actually show up, we only have about 20 minutes to hash things out before it gets dark and people have to go home to dinner. And when we try to do things on the weekends -- like today -- there's always some calamity.

We're also supposed to make our group sustainable, meaning it won't just dissolve after we leave our training communities for our sites. We've elected the leadership and all that but it's so hard to tell exactly how interested they are. One kid definitely is so we'll see if he galvanizes the rest. Otherwise the next group of Peace Corps trainees will have to form a group all over again. Pretty soon well-meaning trainees could be the laughingstock of Cañas...

Stop the negativity! I just gotta have faith! We're trying again with the youth Monday.

And speaking of things I'm trying again, here is that pic of Honduras:
And here I am on the bridge between Honduras and El Salvador (the others are awesome volunteers)
Paz, amor and write me!

Scorpion bites and Honduran sites

Many volunteers spend 27 months in El Salvador without ever getting stung by a scorpion.

I, of course, lasted 3 weeks.

Here's how it happened: I woke up last Wednesday night and felt a little chilly (I know, right? It is "winter" here.) So I pulled my blanket a little closer around me and felt something scrape my back hard. I thought there was a staple in my blanket and drowsily did nothing, but then the pain intensified.

Scorpion! I thought. After all, being stung by a scorpion has been one of my biggest fears since before I left the States. Especially when I heard your tongue swells up so you can't talk (true sometimes) and that you can die from them (a lie.)

Anyway, I jumped out of bed and a wave of dizziness and nausea hit. I sat down, put my head between my legs and wondered whether I would throw up. Then it was randomly over and I started looking for my attacker. I pulled off all the covers, the pillowcase, the mosquito net, searched and shook, killed a moth and a fly, and nothing. My host mom came in and asked if there was an "animal" in my bed. I was tempted to say, yes, there was a cow, but I killed it and threw it in the trash, so I'm fine now, thanks.

Really I explained that something bit me and it hurt like a bitch. My host father, by then awake as well, overheard and said, "Scorpion!" We searched again and found no such creature.

"It was an ant," my host mom said. "It left already."

Doubtfully, I went back to sleep.

At 6 a.m. my alarm went off. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was a weirdly-shaped black animal with a curly tail on my mosquito net -- on the inside. I stared at it in weary triumph, thinking I had been right all along. Then I realized there was still a scorpion 2 feet away from me, panicked and bolted. My host mom was nowhere to be found so I had to approach my host dad, whom I have a much more formal relationship with. He was washing his pickup.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but I believe there's a scorpion in my bed."

He ran inside and somehow the rest of the family materialized in my room. Everyone watched as my host mom calmly picked up the scorpion with some tissue paper and threw it outside. It was actually pretty anticlimactic. I was expecting her to touch it and fall down dead or something.

Other than a dull throbbing pain in my back (and randomly, in my hand) the next day, the bite really had no long-term consequences. Apparently small scorpions do less damage. I didn't have much time to dwell on it, though, because I had to catch a bus to the faraway mountain province of Chalatenango, where I was scheduled to spend 4 days with a bunch of volunteers for an "immersion experience."

I arrived in Chalate at the house of John and Katie, the married couple of volunteers whom I was officially visiting (a bunch of other volunteers came up just to hike and hang out as well.) We were super high up and I was cold all weekend. We were near the border, but I didn't realize how near until John pointed out the window and said, "By the way, that's Honduras."

This is the part where I tried to post a picture of Honduras but the Internet cafe wouldn't let me. Soon, my dearies, soon.

The first night, I had to stay with a family in John and Katie's village, which was probably my most trying experience so far. The wall of my bedroom was covered with flies, I was cold, wet and slightly ill, and the family kept asking about a visa to the States. I was thrilled when John came to pick me up the next day and the other volunteers arrived. There were about 6 all told and they gave me really helpful answers to the millions of questions I had even though they all only have a month left in their service and their heads are in a way different place.

On Saturday we hiked to the Punta Más Alta -- the highest point in El Salvador. The views on the mountain were STUNNING. That night we ate pupusas, hot chocolate, fudge and watched Enchanted in Spanish. Considering drinking is not really culturally appropriate here, it was the best party I could ask for -- it was actually super fun.

We've been pretty damn busy this week as well -- Tuesday we got into San Vicente for our weekly meetings, for which I usually dress a little more professionally. So I was wearing dress pants and sandals, my friend Anna was wearing a skirt and dress shoes, and then our tech trainer goes, "Hey everyone, we're going to clean up a river! Sorry I didnt't give you advance notice!" Oh, Peace Corps.

One thing I've learned about Salvadoran kids is that a lot of them are super shy or they're just not paying attention. This became evident during the river cleanup, which we did with kids from a nearby volunteer's site, as well as during my first English class, which I taught to 5th and 6th graders today at my village school. They barely wanted to talk at all, but it was nothing that Pictionary couldn't solve.

The youth group continues despite pouring rains and hora salvadoreña, which means that those that do show up are an hour late and we have to make rushed decisions before it gets too dark for everyone to walk home safely. We're taking a trip to a nearby waterfall Saturday and we have projects in the works to do a bake sale and use the proceeds to plant trees. One of the kids who's most excited about this is a deportee with a MS-13 tattoo on his hand. Don't worry, we remain alert.

We get a lot of the American news in Spanish on the Salvadoran channels, since everyone has a relative allá (literally "over there" but most often meaning "in the States.") But we don't get everything and I'm upset to be missing such a crazy election. And I want to hear all your news too, so get on that! Post a comment, e-mail or call!

Paz y amor.

A note...

This blog's title is a clever rhyme that has nothing to do with Vietnam! It refers to the Hairspray song "Good Morning Baltimore." See, it rhymes, and it has to do with my life! From (near) Baltimore to Salvador!

I got a cell phone number. You'll see it if you're my friend on facebook. I include the U.S. exit code and the Salvadoran country code also for your convenience. So it's a really long number but it's exactly what you'd have to dial.

In answer to some of your questions, it is "winter" here so it's not that hot. In the city it feels like 87 degrees but at home in Cañas it's much cooler, especially when it rains which is still every day. Inside the house sometimes it's boiling hot, so we all just sit on the porch. And the harvest is coming soon (November-December) for corn, beans and sugar cane.

Yesterday our group went to the anthropological museum in San Sal and learned all about the country's history which, like most Latin American countries, is laced with persecution of indígenos. The word "indio" is still used as an adjective here to describe crude or uncivilized people or things. But the indigenous population here has almost thoroughly assimilated and I get the impression that it's worse for them in other Central American countries.

Then we went out for pineapple pizza at Pizza Hut and walked around Metro Centro, the big mall. Globalization is scary. Burger King and Pizza Hut are everywhere in the capital, as are Levi's and Nine West. My friends and I agreed that it's more of a culture shock to go to a mall in ES, where everything is trying to be American so the minor differences REALLY stand out. Our country houses, with their latrines and farm animals, are easy to adjust to by comparison.

Which makes me realize I didn't address one thing -- yes, I do have electricity and running water (most of the time) here. In fact, I'll go through a day in the life (expect another one of these when I get to site):

6:00 a.m. - wake up. Take a shower (which is curtained off outside, but I do actually have a shower head, not a bucket bath.) Get ready for Spanish class, brushing teeth at an outside sink with bottled water because I will never be able to drink the water here. If it's Sunday, no class, go running with some of the other ag/env crew. Before class or after running, am force-fed large breakfast of beans/eggs/tortilla/plantains by Doña Lorena.

7:30 a.m. - Walk up a big hill to Spanish class at another trainee's house or catch a bus to the training cener in San Vicente for some other Peace Corps-mandated activity (tomorrow it's an English teaching workshop.)

noon - Lunch, either packed by my host mom for San V or eaten at my house after community Spanish class. Again, always too large.

1 p.m. - More Peace Corps workshops or Spanish class, often followed by time to plan our community youth groups.

3-4:30 p.m. - Community classes end, hang out and play cards/soccer with other PC friends. Sometimes walk a few minutes to visit trainees in nearby community. If in San V, stop by Internet cafe/post office/supermarket.

6-6:30 p.m. - Dinner at home. Again, too much food.

After dinner - Watch TV/play games with family. We get Smallville, House and 30 Rock here, as well as tons of news and crappy Jerry Springer-type talk shows. Games are improvised with few actual toys (sliding bottle tops across a table to knock down a dictionary mounted on a stick, doing a "Shell Shuffle" type game with a leaf and other bottle tops.) But it's still fun and it really made me realize how uncreative Americans are with their ready-made entertainment.

9-10 p.m. - Bedtime.

Yes, those early-to-bed early-to-rise hours are correct. I don't know what you all must think of me.

But I know what I think of you: I miss you! Thanks for the comments and emails! Write more!

Paz y amor.

SWITCHED!

Thank God! I got my job description switched to environmental education. Just sat through my first EE-specific presentation and I'm so excited. I'll be teaching in a school, probably working with younger kids, and also leading environmental clubs, chats and trash campaigns. At first they told me I couldn't switch because they had promised x munber of sites an agroforestry volunteer, but then my lovely friend Anna wanted to switch out of enviro ed, so it worked perfectly.

I also learned to salsa, merengue, bachata and cumbia today -- all Latin American dances that I'm sure I will use during my time here. We also started dancing to reggaeton until it got too embarrassing (which happened quickly.) The four of us who are living in my community already went to a birthday party where all the Salvadorans put on music and yelled at us to dance. But they weren't even dancing -- they just wanted to watch us and laugh. So we booked it soon after, but it was dark when we walked home and all the dogs were running around the community, most of which have been exposed to rabies. So we picked up huge sticks and kept walking while all around us dogs ran and barked and howled, but it was so dark we couldn't even see them. By far the most petrifying experience I've had...

Cell phones coming in a week!

Here is 4-year-old Brian and the dog, Muñeca, who only eats tortillas and watermelon.

Post a comment or e-mail me please! Keep me in the loop!