What You Want

"Don't give up what you want most for what you want at this moment."


I have moments where I wish I had a hot shower, to see my family, cold skim milk over a bowl of cereal, a gym, a car to drive.... But this quote reminds me that it's not worth it. Because what I want most is to be a successful volunteer. To finish my time here feeling like I have left this place better than I found it... for the people here and for myself. There's time in the future for hot showers and honey bunches of oats. But this is my once in a lifetime chance to really make a difference in this rural community here in El Salvador. And that is something I bet I would not trade for anything in the long run.

And as of today my community has been without running water for a week, which is nothing big to many volunteers, but I thus far really haven't had to live without it. The "bomba" that pumps all the water to our community and several others broke. We are left scrounging around for the scarce liquid in the rivers and the pozos... bringing it in from wherever we can find it. I have never ever had to lived without water. And I'm quickly learning that I don't even know how to live without it. These people sure do- they're teaching me how to make the littlest amount go a long way. Something that is a rather good life skill, I think. So I'm getting bye with about two gallons a day... one for bathing, the other for washing my dishes. The downside is- I have fallen of the p90x train. I am just not gonna workout and sweat that much if I'm not guaranteed a decent bath after. Such a bummer. But hopefully they'll get the bomba fixed and we'll have water again soon. I keep hoping it will rain so I can fill up my buckets and shower with the rain water... but no luck there.

It's a little bit ironic that the water is out while I have been working so hard on getting water to the part of the community (57 houses, 250 people) that doesn't have water. But what I am trying to get for them are these systems that are filled with rain water... they're really big so they hold a lot of water and they will have pipes hooked up from the cisterns to their pilas. It even filters the rain water so that it is good for drinking... something that will surely improve their health and wuality of life. The only downside is that it's not going to work the whole year round. During the long summer months, the cisterns will dry up and they will have to go back to carrying the water from 2 km away. Does that sound worth it to do this project? One that they can really only benefit from during the rainy season? I think it might be their only option though. Piping water out to them would be so costly and labor intensive because of their location- which is probably why no one has ever taken on the project in the past. Supposedly the cisterns are so big that the water will endure through a chunk of the summer... but surely not all of it. Hmmm... Well I have a meeting with the people this afternoon to see if they like the idea. I've already convinced the mayor to back us up. After I spent two days straight waiting for him at his office... The first day he didn't come at all, and the second day he came in the afternoon. He is not an easy man to track down. And no one could tell me anything about when he might be there. So, anyway... we'll see what happens.

The last asamblea I held with the community about this project though... I was pretty nervous about. More than 100 people showed up... and I have to say, I rocked it. I couldn't believe it... like- is this me? am I doing this? Standing in front of 100 campesinos, speaking Spanish perfectly, understanding them perfectly, about bring water to their community... something they have been fighting for for decades. Yup... it was me. Felt pretty awesome.

There's no one available to give me a ride out there today, and to walk it's 45 minutes or so up and down hills, so... I'm borrowing a horse! LoL and arriving on horseback. Why do I think that is so funny? Again, is this really the life I'm living? haha! I love it!

Anyways, all of this water project stuff has made me so busy, I haven't had time to blog. In between the water project solicitude writing and meetings, I'm planning my HIV/AIDS workshop for this month with the local medicos and the kids that I got trained at the camp I brought to in April, I'm making shampoo, and trying to find time to work at the school and help the English teacher. I feel bad, I wish I could be at the school more helping the teachers and being with the kids. But at the moment, I think getting people water is a tad more important don't you think?

I woke up this morning covered in these little hard itchy bumps. I think they are a leftover reaction from the sandfleas in Roatan. I had never heard of or seen a sanflea before, or is it sandfly? I dunno, either way, they are obnoxious. They are as tiny as fleas but they have little wings and fly. And they bite and attack you everywhere... They werent so painful when they bit, just annoying... and they didn't really itch until the present, nearly a week later. We bought this local remedy that was a mix of a bunch of different oils. It really did work. So if you ever find yourself with a sandflea problem, spritz yourself with oil. Other than the sandfleas, Roatan was an awesome and gorgeous! Our time went by so fast, since we were only there 3 nights. But it was just enough time for the crystal clear waters, sand, sun, and scuba. Oh my effin god is it gorgeous!! It was my first time to visit a Caribbean island- it did feel very Carribean, even though it was just off the coast of Honduras. And all the people there spoke Spanish and English. I would highly recommend this as a vacation spot to anyone... never mind the sandflies. They're only seasonal, and they're worth it. I also tried scuba for the first time and loved it! We went as deep as 40 feet... it was a little hard and scary to get my brain used to breathing under water- because it's so unnatural. But I quickly adapted and before I knew it I was down there swimming with the sea turtles like a pro. It felt like walking on the moon. So cool! I'm definitely glad I tried it and might even want to get certified eventually. Scuba is a something I think everyone should have on their bucket list now.

In other news- I am the proud owner of a new Kindle 3G... I can't stop talking about how great this thing is! The best gift! I have the most thoughtful boyfriend ever! Previously I would be seen lugging around huge hardback printed books that took up all this space in my bad... and now i can have thousands of books all on this one little device! I have books, magazines, blogs, and can even play scrabble on it! And because it's got the 3G- which my fancy "3rd world peace corps country" has all over... I can even check email and facebook and get on the web for FREE anywhere I am! Isn't that nuts!? Ok well i'm not gonna be whipping it out in public because it might bring some attantion to myself as the gringa with the money and the fancy electronic device... I doubt the salvadorans would really know what it is or what to do with it though... But it is so nice. I'm going to save so much money not buying my $1 a day internet, and I won't be spending so much wasted time in front of my computer when I should be out and about in the community. Having internet on my laptop, it was often too easy to get sucked in to hours of chatting with people on facebook. But with my kindle I can just check my email and facebook and be done and go on with my day. I tell you, this thing is changing my life. LoL... ok, so there's my testimonial. I'm just super excited about it, can ya tell?

So, time for me to get on with my day! Can't mop my house- no water. I think I'll go arriba and visit some of mi gente and then come back and make myself a tasty tuna salad sandwich for lunch.

And I'll leave you with another wise little quote my dad shared with me- because it's thoughts and words like these that keep me going these days...

"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have."

Love to todo del mundo. Paz.