Chaletanango!

I really wish I could upload some pictures to show you, but for some reason, the computer doesn't want to recognize my camera so I can´t.  We´ve been very busy going all over the country- based on everything I´ve done so far, it´s hard to believe I´ve only been here a week!  I´m pretty behind in blogging about what I´ve been doing- sorry.  Here´s a little bit about last weekend...

Last weekend, I got to go to the northern department of Chaletenango to visit the town where my friend Marisol lives.  I hadn´t been to this part of El Salvador so I was very exctied to go and I was excited to see where Marisol lives.  She is a university student studying at the national university here in the capital city, and she stays at the Casa Concordia (where I´m staying) while school is in session.

It took quite the adventure to get there- a taxi ride, a long bus ride, a walk, and then another bus ride.  Before our final bus ride we stopped at a grocery store to get some food for our stay because there aren´t any good sized stores by her house.  Marisol lives in a very rural mountain town and it is so beautiful!

Marisol's house

The view from the back yard

Marisol's front porch 

Marisol only goes to her house on some weekends and during school vacations because it takes so long to get there.  She hadn´t been there for a month, so things were a little dirty, but she cleaned things right up.  Her house is simple- two main rooms, a little room for her bedroom, a front and back porch.  The two main rooms are where her brothers sleep and also function as the family room, computer room, and kitchen.  She cooks and eats on the back porch area.  They have running water, but sometimes it doesn´t run and sometimes it runs dirty.  They have a shower when the water runs, but they have a non-flushing toilet, but it is the nicest non-flushing toilet I have ever used- squishy toilet seat included.

The nicest non-flushing toilet in the world

I felt like I was at a tucked away jungle resort retreat house- it felt so calm, quiet, and isolated. There were neighbors pretty close by but you could see or hear them through the trees.  After we were at Marisol´s house for a while, we went down to the river to bathe because the water wasn´t running at her house and we were hot, sweaty, and dirty after our journey.  We wore shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops down to the river.  We left our flip flops on the bank of the river and slowly waded into the cool and quickly flowing river.  Eventually I followed Marisol to the far side of the river by swimming through the quick current in the middle of the river.  We got all wet, shampooed our hair, soaped away our dirtiness, and washed our faces.  We stayed in the refreshing water for some time talking about real and mythical water creatures that may or may not have been in the river.

The river is where many people in town bathe and do their laundry- especially before there was running water and when the water doesn´t run.  We eventually got out of the river and went back to Marisol´s house.  We changed into dry clothes and then walked around a little to see the town.  The town is made up of a few dozen house from what I could tell- all set back into the trees of the mountain.

There is a new store in town that sells snacks and some basic food items.  There is a beautiful view of the mountains, valley, and the river from the store.  W bought some chips and Marisol chatted with the owner of the store while we ate.  Th store owner was wanting to hire someone to work at his store and make some pupusas and other simple food to sell.  Marisol told him that I am looking for a job and that I can cook, and so the store owner offered me the job.  So if all else fails with my job search, I can always live at Marisol´s house and work at the little store.  It might actually be very nice working and living in the little mountain town.  Everyone I met there was so very friendly (as pretty much every Salvadoran in).

The little store

The next morning, Sunday, we went to the Lutheran church in town.  It was a very nice service led by a pastor from Germany.  The most exciting part of the worship service was that this was the first time that I have had the opportunity to worship with bats.  I´ve worshiped with dogs, cats, chickens, bugs, and of course people, but never bats.  The bats flew around a little bit, but most hung from the celing or wall.

The church

Look closely- you can see two bats hanging in the middle of the picture

The only not so wonderful part of my stay at Marisol´s house was that a couple of bats had moved in while Marisol was away from her house.  The bats left when we came that afternoon, but they returned at night.  It was good because they ate the mosquitoes, but it was a little bit scary having them fly around while I was sleeping.