Life

Just a few random things. I am just gonna ramble to bear with me...

Today, I did a little exploring into a near-by village of my town...which interestingly was bigger than my town so to call it a village is odd. But, a few things that Americans would find a bit shocking that I want to point out before I really forget how not American-normal they are. Me and a friend walked to the town on a dirt road...a nice dirt road. There is a definite difference here. It is obvious that the mayor had this particular dirt road worked on, especially since he is a resident of the town we were walking to. I have been on other roads mas feo and they are not fun. Walking is mandatory unless you want to wait for the bus and even then, walking is probably the better option because of the chances of a random person or friend driving by and offering you a ride are very high. We passed houses with lots of farming. We passed public fountains that they used to use before they got water to their houses. The other night, a friend remarked to me, how our town just got lightposts less than 10 years ago. It makes the town feel so much safer though most towns and villages still go without lights in the streets making it nearly impossible to leave the house after sundown.

So, we arrived at the village with its cobble-stone streets (like my town has) and found that the houses here are super nice, likely from money being sent back from the States. Many people send money home in what one volunteer once called "their idea of a pension", meaning they work in the States, send money home to build a nice house, and once they get tired of the

US/want to retire/get kicked out, they return back home to live a comfortable life in a house that can only be bought by someone who has money from the States. The remesa houses are easily distinguished from the locals with no US cash flow. Remesa houses are painted brick, nice doors, many rooms, etc. The locals stick to mud houses or use aluminum sheeting to construct what they lovingly call ranchos. One friend of mine who is just a few youngers than me proudly told me how she recently built this house for her mother using only her income stating that no US money obviously went into it.

As we walked in the town, my friend pointed out the cancha. EVERY town/village/row of houses here has a soccer field...life just cannot be lived without one. period.

I walked back to my dinner-family's house to eat some pupusas...hoping to grab a tamale but I forgot. The tamales here are striking different than what I am used to in Texas. The masa texture is like really slippery or something and there is wayyy to much of it. BUT, I really really love their tamales de elote which is made of ground sweet corn, oil, sugar, and salt. It's super tasty...if you like sweet corn, you would LOVE these tamales...its all the sweetness without the kernels stuck in your teeth.

I came back to my house to find my neighbor throwing away a plastic Coke bottle which I quickly told her I recycle. I am a recycling FIEND here in ES. I currently have plastic bottles that serve as cotton bottle dispensers, webcam stands, containers for: OFF, Windex, rice, sugar, salt, and of course water! I am also saving them for a day when I can do a fun arts n craft project with the kids. Recycling is not very popular here unless its a can in which case you can collect money for. Trash is laden in most streets except for the days when the mayor's man goes out to pick it up. One PC staffer says he believes people are so accustomed to littering because a generation ago most things were biodegradable...and now that they aren't they don't realize the damage. It still is puzzling to me though why one would like to look at all the trash everywhere. I write it off as cultural.

I'm tired. I keep worrying about my un-spade cat going into heat. And, I hate mosquitos. But really life is pretty good at the moment. Heading to the States for vacaciones de Agosto....even though really it started a lot early this week bc the ES government has decided schools will be closed for three weeks in order to help curb swine flu....apparently its spreading...