Don and Niña

It is a beautiful day in El Salvador!

Today I would like to describe my home and living quarters here in the valley of hammocks.

First off I have to say that one of the things I adore, among the ridiculous amounts of things that I adore, is that Salvadorans do not say Señor or Señora, but instead they say Don or Niña. I of course am assimilating to their culture so I use it as well. For example I call my host brother, and the only other man in the house, Don Carlos El guapo, and my host sisters Las Niñas famosas.

My home has three rooms, one large living room, an area for cooking, and an area for washing dish and clothes and taking bucket baths. The patio is probably my favorite area, it is the best place to sit in the hammock, chat while someone is cooking or cleaning, and it is also where the main table is for eating.

The living room is really nice, really big with another hammock that stretches across the room. There is no AC nor are there any fans in the living room so at night it can get really hot in there. My family does not watch that much tv, and if they do watch something it is either a movie, music videos, or telenovelas.

My room is pretty small so I have no need to really hangout in there and besides, all the action is taking place on the patio which is everyones favorite place to be. I do have a small table that I use for a desk, a pretty nice bed, and a place to hang my hat. My room can get pretty warm at night, so I usually end up going to bed without my one sheet that I use, and around 2 or 3 in the morning I will wake up and grab the one sheet that I need and cover myself up for the night. It is freaking wonderful.

There is no indoor plumbing, so if you need to use the bathroom there is a latrine and if you need to bathe there is an area for bucket baths. At our house we have what is called a "pila". There is an area for all of the water and then then on top of that there is a place to wash the clothes and dishes. Also the pila goes into a small box where you can go in with a small bucket and take a very nice and relaxing bucket bath. I take at least one everyday, usually two. The best though is taking a bath in the morning, it is perfect and cold and exactly what you need to wake up.

As far as drinking water goes we get all of our water for the Peace Corps training center in these huge jugs whenever necessary.

Now if you would like you can scroll even further down and see what my house looks like for yourself along with a few of the beautiful people that I see every day.