So I´m back in San Salvador now, because I have diarrhea (again). I went to the doctor today, and while I feel a lot better, they assured me that I was still sick and prescribed two pills I have to take every day for the next five days. I`ll probably go back to the campo tomorrow or Wednesday.
I figured this was a good opportunity to describe my life in the campo thus far. I live in the tiny town of San Antonio (where no one knows how to hook me up with Spurs tickets!), which is a hamlet of the larger town El Carmen in the department of Cuscatlan, and about an hours drive from San Salvador. I will be working with the Program for Basic Education of the Archdiocese (PEBA), which educates farmers on methods for organic farming and sells food cooperatively in San Salvador.
My host family consists of seven people who live at home. The mother runs their small farm and is active in PEBA and with the community, in addition to keeping house. She is a very busy woman! The husband is a security guard in San Salvador, and works shifts as long as 20 hours! Do to their hard work they live a decent, middle-class lifestyle. They´re home has electricity (for lights only), a concrete floor, and a tin roof. None of their major appliances are electric though, and we use a hose for bathing and laundry.
They have three girls and two boys who live at home, ranging from a 15 year-old high school student to an adorable four year-old girl. Another daughter attends college in the city and works as a domestic servant. Their oldest child has a farm in the same neighborhood. They also have another child who died when he was young. It`s hard for me to imagine having eight kids!
So far I have learned a lot from my host family. Every morning I get up (at 5:30am!) and help milk the cows. After breakfast I help move them to pasture about a 1/2 mile away, on the other side of a shallow river that is mostly dry in the summer. I have also learned to do laundry with a hose and iron.
Their four room house is not only filled with people, but often with animals. The family has two cats, three dogs, three cows, three sheep, about a dozen rabbits, and at least two dozen chickens. They also grows lots of different vegetables, fruits, herbs, and plants.
I`m going back to the campo tomorrow since I`m feeling better, but I`ll be back San Salvador to post on July 4th!
3 comentarios:
Matt, thanks for the update on life in the Campo. It added to what we learned talking to you today and answered a couple of questions I didn't get a chance to ask. Glad you are feeling better and heading back out to the Campo; but don't overdue it!
Dad
hey matt =-)
sucks to hear you have diarrhea but i'm glad you're otherwise well. it's your posts were really interesting. talk to you more when you get back in the states.
-rina.=-)
Don´t worry, i´m not going back anymore. unfortanatly, its because i feel worse, i think i may have food poisoing.
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