Things here are so different!! Pedestrians do not have right of way. Jennifer asked, "do they have crosswalks?" haha! Such a NYC question... the roads are muddy dirt since it rains every day. Intersections in the city don't have stop signs.
We have a WONDERFUL housekeeper, her name is Elvira, who makes us breakfast and dinner every day. Mostly it's beans, eggs, sometimes fried plantains, and other veggies. I'm really sick of it, but at least we don't have to eat meat bc Ashley and Greer are vegetarians! I'm so happy about that because my first homestay regularly served fried bologna and really gross meat from the market. I don't know why everyone isn't dying from food posoisoning here, you literally see meat sitting out covered in flies at the market.
I got to do my laundry for the first time yesterday! I say got to, because no one here has washing machines. I did it in buckets and using a washboard! I really wanted to learn, but it took two hours, so the next time I'll let the cleaning lady do it. 50 cents per dozen pieces. Amazing.
There is delicious coffee here, but it's not very caffeinated, or else I would bring that back for everyone as a souvenir. Still looking for those :)
Sugar and Salt: on everything. There are maybe 5 aisles at the grocery store, one is devoted to sugar candy. The cereal aisle is all frosted flakes and fruit loops and sugar crap. Another aisle is corn meal. Half an aisle for pasta. Half an aisle for pet food. Half an aisle for this really gross butter/cheese stuff. I had cheeto's and ramaan noodles for lunch yesterday, b/c that is all I could find. I did find some American cheese kraft singles, but when I made a grilled cheese sandwich it tasted like chemicals.
So now I know how completely spoiled we are in the US with food, but I don't mind!
Other than food... the town is a small town, about 7,000 people, so we're starting to see familiar faces as we walk around. Lots of men say stuff in spanish or english when they pass, just because we're American, but it hasn't been really vulgar and we just ignore it. It's really safe here, and Greer says it will lessen once we become familiar. I had a bit of a shock arriving here at first from the contrast with the US, just so much poverty and dirt. But now I can see that things that at first appeared to me to be really depressing are really not that bad. So what if the houses are small, there are stray dogs everywhere, and the kids run around dirty and barefoot. People can still be happy and have everything that they need. Some of the things that we take as necessary to live aren't necessary at all. Probably a lot of things. Of course, there are real problems here too, with a 70% poverty rate, but I can now better separate the real problems from appearances.
Some of the moms at INFA are so beautiful, I really love getting to work with women. I WISH I could upload more pics, but still having technical difficulties. I'll be in the US next weekend for our 3 yr family reunion, so they'll be up by then for sure!
Wow! Do you interact with the women a lot there? Actually, doing laundry with a washboard sounds so cool. I have a tiny little washing machine in my tiny little apartment here, so I'm spoiled, but this sounds so adventurous!
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