"Why is your hair different?"

Yesterday we were whisked off to a canton (tiny country-side town/village) blessed with the same San Francisco to visit an agroforestry volunteer and to get a feel for daily life out there. The day started out with hunger pangs and a dusty ride out to the canton full of lush, rollling green hills. We were greeted by a volunteer named Melissa (I think) coming down a dirt path. We followed here down the path she had come and down a little slope which took us to a little housing compound. Our first activity of the day was to make bread in a clay oven - a product of the previous volunteer. We got our hands dirty making Budín de Guineo, which is essentially a very, very rich banana bread. The ingredients included heaps of sugar, heaps of butter and lard amongst others. As we cracked the eggs that were to be added to the batter, which was mixed by hand rustic style, we chucked the egg shells over the fence and into the grassy area Salvadoran style. It's very normal to chuck your rubbish anywhere you wish in this culture. When the batter was ready it was poured into latas or baking trays and pushed into the clay dome. The finished product was the most delicious banana bread I've ever tasted for two reasons: I was ravenously hungry due to only eating a piece of bread at 7am and it had generous amounts of butter, sugar and bananas. The rest of the day was downhill because I ate so much banana bread I couldn't think properly. Photos coming soon!

Today I visited my first orphanage. I'll admit it. I'm not a big fan of kids. That might seem contradictory seeing that I'm a youth development volunteer. However, these kids were great! I've never twisted so many pony tails, had so many kids who wanted me to hold their hands and braid their hair in my life! "Why is your hair different?" "What is America like? Can you take me?". We played Duck, Duck, Goose and Simon Says. By the end of the 2 hours I had girls sitting on my lap and holding my hands. One girl had grown quite attached to me and when it was time for us to depart, she walked me over to our van and didn't want to let go of my hand. She began to cry and it just broke my heart. I told her not to be sad because I'd be back next week with candies and we could play more games. She agreed to the plan and moped away. Poor thing!

I've never been surrounded with so many kids without parents. The NGO we visited, ALDEA SOS, is a great alternative to your average orphanage. The kids seemed happy, the orphange was lovely and they all seemed healthy.

The image of that little girl holding my hand not wanting to let go of my hand will be etched in my mind forever.