Random Update: El Salvador (4.3.15)

Today was translation day. Lots and lots of translation. We went around the western parts of the country and talked to a variety of small cooperative/community businesses: a carpentry, two homemade organic/ecological jewelry spots (made from seeds or plastic (the jewelry, not the spots)), and a cacao farmer training outpost. Javier, an engineering student at UCA who is traveling with us, and I served as translators for these interactions. It was a bit exhausting, but so amazing to be immersed so fully in Spanish once again. I have been so busy re-absorbing English (re-learning, some of my friends at BC would say...) and Boston College that I kinda let that passion burn down to flameless coals. Here it's come back full-fire. If I am speaking Spanish every day in life, I will be a happy camper. 

Random thoughts:

As we drive through the country, we pass many trees. I love driving through forests anyways, but here there is a special treat: every kilometer or so, one tree rise above the others in a brilliant burst of yellow. These are called cortés trees. One of the carpenters told me about the types of wood they use, and this little enjoyment of mine was given its proper name when he asked, "You know the cortés? The yellow ones?" I just smiled and said yes, yes I do know the yellow ones. 

City folks make fun of country folks everywhere. I asked Javier if he knew any Salvadoran expression for saying "It's damn hot!" since it was, and generally is, damn hot. He thought a little while and told me a few curse-word-filled phrases. But he also told me about another one: Está juerte la calor. The proper way to say this is está fuerte el calor, but people from San Salvador make fun of the mispronounciation of fuerte and the incorrect gender of the article la that the country people say. So, in reality, everyone says está juerte la calor, but some say it sarcastically.

We went to a pupusería for dinner, where we ate pupusas, a delicious stuffed tortilla that's pan fried and served with cold rice salad and tomato salsa. While we ate I asked Estrella, one of the various program coordinators who Father McGowan knows, what some of the other traditional Salvadoran dishes were. She answered with a few varieties of hot corn soup, one typically eaten in the mornings, one in the afternoon. My follow up question was "why in the world do Salvadorans eat hot dishes when it's always so hot outside?" She and Oscar, our van driver who also speaks Spanish, got a kick out of that. But apparently eating and drinking hot things actually make the relative sensation of heat more bearable by reducing the difference in temperature between the body and the air. British troops were cited as another example of this, since they used to drink hot tea in the dog days of summer on campaigns... But I'm guessing that's just because the British are obstinately proud of drinking tea. 

A tiny little flower, no bigger than my pinky finger's nail.