Two weeks ago we left San Salvador and headed to various pueblos in the department of Chelatenango to spend 6 days with families in the campo. This week is a central part of the Casa program, and an experience that brings out a lot of fear and reluctance in students. The prospect of living in an unfamiliar space with unfamiliar people, eating large quantities of unfamiliar food, and experiencing all that comes with no plumbing and sometimes no electricity is a little scary. I felt pretty comfortable going into the week just because my praxis site has introduced me to a similar living style. The only thing I wasn’t used to was using iodine drops to purify my water. Iodine definitely has a distinct taste…yuck. But those handy little crystal light packs do an excellent job of masking the flavor! And guess what?!? As of yet I haven’t contracted any parasites. Victory!!
Each day our activities varied slightly and included swimming in the river, washing clothes, peeling green beans, working in the milpa (corn fields), laying in the hammock, making tortillas and warding off chickens left and right. My host mom and dad got up every morning around 5 a.m. to begin the day’s work, and didn’t sit down again until 9 p.m. when it was time for bed. The roles of the male and female are very much established in the campo. All of the men work all day in the fields while the women stay home and take care of the children and do all of the cooking. Although a clear manifestation of machismo, these established roles for the woman and the man assure an efficient system for the collection, preparation and distribution of food– the main concern.
Probably the most memorable moment of the week came on the Wednesday morning after the U.S. presidential elections. I had woken up many times that previous night, my heart pounding and my mind spinning, because I had no way of knowing the results of the election. Equally invested in the elections, my host mom received word of the results and came over to my bed at 6 a.m. to tell me that Obama had won. We both started jumping up and down as she said over and over again, “ganamos!” (we won!). And although I am still really sad not to be in the states during this time, it has been such a gift to experience the Salvadoran’s interest and excitement in the elections.
One of the hardest parts of the campo week was communicating with the community members. And I say this for two reasons, the first being the different accent and style of speaking of the people who live in the campo, and the second being the serious nature of the topics that arose in conversation. The area where we were staying was the hardest hit during the 12-year civil war that ended in 1992, and for this reason each person in the community has incredibly tragic stories of suffering and death.
So now that I’m back and have had some time to think about my week in the campo, I’m struggling to fit the experience into some kind of comprehendible something. And I just can’t. Like everything here, there are no clear-cut, black and white answers. That place of security and solace where everything makes sense just doesn’t exist. And it is learning to live in a place of such confusion and ambiguity that often has me restless, fuming mad and just about fed up with everything. But it’s starting to get a little easier…but only a little ;).
Having returned from this week, I can now proudly say that I have noticeable Teva sandal tan lines on my feet! Attractive. In addition, I have come back with one less pair of underwear (consequences of washing my clothes in strong river currents), and pants that fit a little snugger (effect of the gargantuan amounts of fried plantains, potatoes and tortillas I packed away over the week). I guess I could consider this preparation for the holidays ha!
Take care,
Chancita
Below are pictures of my campo pueblo.
