rain, rain, RAIN!

Hi friends.

Everything I own is wet. And stinky. I'm sitting on a wet bed (the ceiling has a leak that drips in my bed), in wettish clothes, looking at my soaking wet duffel bag. It has been raining for 24 hours. Maybe I should back up a bit though…

I successfully completed my second week of Spanish school in the city. I got a certificate of completion from "Basico B" (much improvement from June, when I was last here they didn't even let me graduate, and I was in Basico Zero). Then I packed up my duffle bag and headed out to the campo. I spent the first week with my compañero, Noah (he's the director of social programs for the missions of the Episcopal Church down here). He lives in this sweet town, Jicolisco. It makes me feel like I've stepped back in time… the streets have this cobblestoney type feel, there's a town square (where kids play and crazy old men sit), there aren't any big businesses, just tons of corner stores (here we call them "tiendas"), you drink coke out of bottles (which you have to return), and you do your laundry by hand in a pila. I know that last bit sounds romantic, but its not. I suck at laundry, but that is another story. So anyway, last week I chilled here and went to work with Noah. The highlight was when we accompanied the medical team to this village called El Carmen. The doctor gets around to 9 different towns every 2 weeks. But El Carmen is impossible to get to by car in the rainy season, so this time the put la doctura and the psychiatrist on horses. For the first time in theirs lives, nuts. I hopped on behind Daniella (la doctura), and held onto her with one hand and steered the horse with the other. (Please see attached photos).

After a fun week, I moved in with my host family in Ciudad Romero (renamed after Archbishop Oscar Romero, one of the most important figures in Salvadoran history, a voice for the poor and oppressed, he was assassinated by the government in March 1980 while presiding over Mass.) (If you don't know about it please google it.) Yup, so I moved in with my family. Mom (Maria), Pops (Don Chavello), youngest daughter (Enida-20), granddaughter (Maria Jesus "Chunga"-17). Mom and pops have 15 kids, 52 grandkids, and 5 great grandkids. Mom jokes "bastante (enough) para un pueblo." My work… this week I started an experiment about which fertilizer/treatment option does the best job fighting mildew in cucumbers. I did land prep and planted 12 ten-meter rows by hand (with a little help from my compañeros), not bad for a sweaty, bug-bitten gringa girl. I also did some work with the seed bank… mostly weighing and counting seeds. And we started making an organic foliar spray on fertilizer, made partly (get this!) out of a dug up anthill (complete with ant carcasses). Sweetness. I like life in the country, but I'm ready to get back in the city for a bit. I want my stuff to dry out and I've been craving the internet and pizza. And I'm a little tired of the outhouse and the mosquitoes biting my butt every time I go.

This morning I left Ciudad Romero around 745, when I realized there would be no work today since the road had turned into a river. I put on my capris, rain jacket and grabbed my backpack and duffel and headed to Jicolisco. I marched barefoot through water and muck up to my knees to the bus stop. The buses do not like the rain. After 45 minutes of waiting I hitched with guy almost all the way here (saved 90 cents on 2 buses). Then got another ride into town. And now here I am, 2 and a half hours in the rain and everything I own is wet.

Wet but contented. Tomorrow I will see Robin and Amy, (both my sisters), we haven't all been together in over 15 months. Any day now Amy will pop, and our family will have a new baby boy. I will do my laundry and eat pizza. As I'm writing this I'm thinking of you reading (or skimming) this email. I love you. And I miss you. Have a Crystal Wheat and chocolate mousse for me after work, go to Bustolini's, Coda, Woodstocks and the Raw Bar for me. I could use prayers/thoughts for will with Spanish and for my sissy and her delivery and health.

Que la vaya bien,

Audrey

PS. If you are looking for a sweet book to read I recommend "The Monkey Wrench Gang" by Edward Abbey (book club it.) I'm ready for revolution.