The Simple Life: Take this Paris and Nicole!

I must admit that our arrival in El Salvador was quite anticlimatic - for some while I had forgotten that I was only moving to Central America and not Sub-Saharan Africa. On the surface, El Salvador is much like the other Latin American countries I've lived in. Beneath the surface, however, is where the difference lies.

Will and I are currently living with a host family in a pueblo (small town) called San Rafael de Cedros in the department of Cuscatlán (kind of like a state in Australia or America). Our surrogate family for the next 10 weeks consists of three generations of family members: the parents, the children and the grandchildren. Plus an extra person here and there, and two cats and 4 dogs. It's much like a hostel without the goings and comings of travellers. The town is quaint, everything you would imgaine a small town in a developing country to be. We have running water some days, constant electricity (the power did go out once though), plenty of fruits and vegetables and plenty of mosquitos carrying malaria and dengue. They actually have cantinas here (small hole-in-the-wall "drinking establishments") where the bolos and huele pegas (town drunks and glue sniffers) hang out. There is a market where one can buy pirated CDs, local fruits and vegetables and sandals amongst other things. One can also find a post office, the mayor's office, many food stands, plenty of churches (El Salvador is very, very religious) and half-paved, half-cobble stoned roads. And of course, plenty of rubbish strewn all over, as the concept of the "proper" disposal of rubbish has yet to catch on here. Will and I went to a community softball game yesterday to watch our host aunt play. Well, Will played and I sat in the rain under my lime green umbrella attempting to write in my journal until the rain drops began washing my thoughts away. I've also gone to a reza (prayer group), thinking it was a social call. Religion is a big part of the culture here and unfortunately if I choose not to participate in such activities, Salvadoran life would just pass me by. "You're Catholic, right?" is a question that came up almost immediately after being introduced to my host family. If you're not Catholic or Protestant then you might as well get struck my lightening and get in over with.

The actual house we live in is large, yet basic. I guess my host family is more modern than others as she has a washing machine, internet and cable - none of which I have used. The house is fashioned around a central courtyard filled with an abundance of plants and such, plus two turtles and heaps and zancudos (mosquitos). At night I wash my face and brush my teeth over a little bucket of water. In the morning I take my pila bath (a bucket bath of sorts) in a little concrete room. I think the cold bucket baths will take the most getting used to, as the water basin where the water is taken from is, um, infested with little squiggly things, which I learnt today were mosquito larvae. Not so tasty. Yes, dengue and malaria are real threats here along with rabies, Thyphoid, Heptatitis and other exiting things. And no, we cannot drink the water unless we want to die in our sleep. We started taking our malaria medicine (called Aralen) last week. So fun! We sleep under a mosquito net and dream Aralen dreams.

The more I speak to Salvadorans the more I realise how LUCKY I am to have been born me. The reality of life here is tough. Many people can't even comprehend how I could even think of leaving my comfortable life and trade it for the life that the "other half" of the world lives. If I don't change any lives, if I don't save the world, at least I'll have more compassion for the rest of the global community. El Salvador isn't Africa, but it certainly isn't Melbourne or Los Angleles.