El Campo

The last couple of weeks here in Caluco I have had the pleasure of going out to the "campo," or the countryside, just about everyday. Since the majority of the people here in Caluco live in the rural region, I have wanted to go out and visit them, since it is very hard to get to know them since I live in the pueblo. Also, for my own selfish reasons I have been going out to these areas, partly because I just love the rural towns of Caluco. It is cooler, full of beautiful tropical trees and flowers, and the learning about how people make their living is very interesting. Most of the people work in agriculture, whether it is just for their own substinance or they sell their crops as well. Here in Caluco, the crops are not that much different from the rest of the country, although there are some variations. The majority of people harvest maize and beans, and there is also a lot of sugar cane and yuca. In one high area in the hills, some people are still harvesting balsam, which has many medicinal purposes. This is fairly rare, and the process is fascinating; it is kind of like harvesting maple sugar from trees, as the trees are tapped.
Caluco is also rare in that cacao is still around. When the Spanish first came to El Salvador, Caluco was one of the first areas occupied by the conquistadors. At this time, the indigenous were still using cacao seeds or beans as a form of currency. The Spanish took over much of the production, and cacao became a major export in El Salvador. Today, very little cacao is still being harvested, and no one that I know of is growing or harvesting cacao. As a chocolate lover, I would love to see Caluco use their specialty here to make chocolate...
My main reason for going to the campo has been to visit the women who have attended the women´s groups meetings. So far, there has only been one meeting per group (and we have six groups for the 8 little towns). Each of these committees or groups is part of the Women´s Association of the municipality of Caluco. So I have been making house visits to talk to the women about their impressions of the meeting, discuss further what the women´s group is for, and why they want to be a part of the group and what they are interested in doing with the group. I have enjoyed talking with these women, and their families, and am encouraged by the number of people who seem genuinely enthusiatic about organizing themselves to work on projects. It is also nice to explain further to them who I am and why I am here. It is often difficult in a big meeting or passing by someone on the street to explain not only my role in the Peace Corps, but why being here is so important to me. I can only imagine, as so many people here dream about going to the States (or have already tried), how strange it must be to have someone from the States leaving everything to come here. I think I would be baffled as well, if I were in their shoes. In fact, sometimes I still am!
And in the pueblo, it seems like the whole school has now discovered where I live. A while ago I was on my bed reading, and looked up out my one window (about 6 feet of the ground) to see a kid that has scaled the wall and was peeking in at me. Knocks at my door are now normal, and I was just informed today (after being gone yesterday) that a kid was yelling my name in the street until someone came over to tell him I was not home! It is nice to be sought out, but it is also hard to adjust to a culture in which privacy is really not important, or not understood. But it is often quite funny, when these kids tell me they came by to keep me company to make sure I am not sad or lonely. Sometimes you just have to laugh at it all, meanwhile, becoming aware of your own cultural assumptions of "normalcy." I remember in training, numerous people mentioned that the language barrier, while frustrating, will probably not be the source of your biggest challenges; more than likely, it will be the challenges that come cultural barriers that are the most difficult to overcome.
Meanwhile, Spanish continues to be interesting. Today, when I was asking directions for a building and street, numerous people told me they couldn´t understand me. A little later, I was talking with a man who was telling me how great I speak Spanish. What a ride...