The Answer is Blowin in the Wind

I have never been so scared in El Salvador as I was last night.


I had noticed there was an increasing fowl smell over the last few days... that I dismissed as a successfully poisoned rat. I got in bed last night with my mini DVD player watching the Hangover 2- a really terrible movie... and not just because it was a pirated version filmed by a guy in a movie theatre with a video camera... It's just an awful movie. Anyway, so it's like 10pm and over my head phones I hear the strangest growl I have ever heard in my life. I've gotten used to the animals that live on this farm with me... they never sound like that! It was such a creepy growl! And I could tell it was right outside my house on the other side of the wall from my bed. I couldn't help but wonder- Is it just the dog? Coyote? Is it one of my dogs protecting me from an intruder? I considered all possibilites. The growling came to an abrupt hault. Did the intruder kill the animal? What the hell is going on out there?

But with the noise having stopped briefly I went on being poorly entertained by the Hangover2 until my eyes got heavy and I passed out. 11PM- Eyes wide open as the strange growl returns and disturbs me from my sleep. The unfamiliar sound of the animal alone made me uncomfortable, but then... there was rustling and I heard things being moved on my back patio. The back porch of my house is full of Marinita's firewood stacked up against the wall that's on the other side of my bed and they have a barrel of corn out there that chicken live on top of. I'm used to the chickens being on the other side of my wall... and I know their sounds. This was different. I even heard movement that was touching the roof. Firewood was falling and I could hear the tiles that sit on top of the bamboo to make my roof being moved. My god. This is it, I thought.

Now, to tell the truth- my worst fear of living in a house alone in El Salvador has always been that someone could break into my house in the night entering through the roof by simply removing the tiles. Of course this is the worst case scenario imaginable. I have heard of this happening to one Peace Corps Volunteer in the north- she was not physically harmed but she ended up ending her service soon after and going home. And it happened to a sweet old lady friend of mine that lives here in my community. So, it's not unheard of. However, I can tell you I have always felt safe in this house. I live next to the police, in plain view of the street. And my host parents come running when they hear noises. But you know, being alone, in the dark at night... when I hear freaky noises, especially unfamiliar ones, I get freaked. Whenever I was house-sitting for my parents in Houston- who don't live in a good neighborhood by the way- if I heard scary noises sometimes I found myself walking through the house with my dad's revolver. What I would've done if I actually encountered an intruder in the house, I have no idea. But at least I felt like I had a defense. What do I have here? A whistle! The big plastic orange one that came in my Peace Corps medical kit. It's a loud one, and if I blew it I know that Don Chepito would be outside with his rifle in no time.

So, heart racing, I get out of bed, slinking through the bottom of my mosquito net, with the intention of quickly finding my whistle. In my nervous motions I accidentally hit my little yellow nica with my right foot, the bucket I use to pee at night because I don't want to go out in the dark. I turn on the lights and.... GROSSSSSSS. Now I have my right foot and the floor covered in urine. Explatives are flying out of my mouth... and then i figure, well now whoever's out there knows I'm awake, they can hear my $&!(@* and see my lights. I talked to Noel on the phone and he made me feel better... I went back to sleep with the lights on and with my whistle in hand, noticing the nasty smell was still there... getting stronger. This just wasn't my night. As the night went on, I kept waking up nearly every hour from the growls and bumps outside... scrambling to find where my whistle got lost in the sheets. I was so happy when morning came!

After my morning run I was talking to Elsy, Marinita's daughter-in-law visiting from Boston. I asked her if she had heard all those strange noises last night... she said she did but that they had noticed them the night before too and didn't think much of it. Then I told her about the strange smell in my house, so she comes over to my house to investigate what stinks. She noticed it too, and that it was especially strong in the corner of my room by my bed. We went outside to see what's on the other side of the wall. I notice the loads of chicken poo, but that's nothing abnormal, and I know the smell of chicken poo by now, that is not what we were smelling. So we get to where the wall of the patio is shared with where my bed is... the smell was definitely coming from here...

Elsy climbs up on the stacked firewood and says, "Oh my God. I can't believe Marinita did this. Why would she do this?"

"What?" I see a knocked over bucket, with flies all around it, but had no idea what I was looking at.

She didn't want to tell me. She said I didn't want to know. "I want to know!" I tell her. Then she tells me that that bucket is full of the tripe and cow inside parts that were left over from when they killed the cow for their feast on Saturday. OoooOoH! That IS gross! And yea, why the heck would she put them in a bucket at store them for days right outside where I sleep? What was she planning to do with it anyway? Well, they do eat those parts, but man... days later? So this explains the smell, and noises in the night... the dogs were all climbing up there and eating it and fighting over it. Phew! It's gross, but at least it wasn't something worse, like some of the things I had imagined throughout the night.

Marinita wasn't home for me to ask her to take care of it... but I wasn't touching that bucket! So it sat there all day until she got home in the afternoon... the wind was even carrying the horrific smell all the way over to the neighbors house. But she got home and apologized so much for it, saying she had forgotten that she put it there. LoL. This is one to remember.

In other news, Noel was cat-sitting for about a month. A black domestic short-haired sweety named Malcolm. He was a good cat and I enjoyed having his company when I went over there... even though he was annoying at times, but that was just because he was a baby still. I kinda fell in love with him and when his time at Noel's came to an end I was asking if we could keep him. The owners were on vacation and that's why they needed Noel to take care of him, and when they got back they were moving to Panama. So they came back and took Malcom in the car to drive him down to Panama with them. Sounded kind of crazy to take a cat on a long long road trip like that... It would've been a lot easier if they would've let him stay in San Sal. But no, they wanted to keep there cat, so we said our goodbyes and on the road Malcolm went. The other day Noel broke the news to me... about 5 miles outside of Panama City they got a flat tire and Malcolm got out and ran away.... :( How sad. Maybe he is out there somewhere still... trying to find his way back to San Sal? Who knows... but he was a good cat. Peace be with you, Malcolmcito. You were loved.

I'm gonna get a cat when I'm done with Peace Corps I think. A girl cat.

Lots of things to look forward to this second year of my service, and after!

For now, I am thankful to be alive and well and safe and loved... and free from stinky cow parts!

Good night world!

Paz y amor.