Last night, five youth performed a revival of a play that Aryeh first created with the técnicos (agronomists) of the organization two years ago. Although we had a rather rocky time putting together this peice (3 of the original cast members dropped out, and only 1 remained constant in his own part!), the result, after 5 rehearsals with all present (and bringing in new folks), was fun and moving. The play´s basic premise is about two indigenous "antepasados" (ancestors) who practice advanced methods of agriculture, planting according to the phases of the moon, sharing the land, and believ [View Full Entry]

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¡AVISO! WARNING!: SOME CONTENT OF THIS ENTRY MAY BE DIFFICULT TO READ FOR THE FAINT OF HEART AND/OR STOMACH. That being said, I was recently inspired to write about my not-so-glamorous experiences here in hot, flat, rural El Salvador by the ingenious travel writer J. Maarten Troost, author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals ( The Book ). Reading this book and laughing out loud convinced me that it´s indeed okay--and in fact, quite healthy--to express my concerns and, well, deep-seated anxieties about my continuin [View Full Entry]

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I've been living on my own for the first time in a small casita, complete with a large backyard bursting with fruit trees--mangoes, lemons, limes, oranges, bananas, coconuts, maranon (cashew), almond, and others that are still a mystery to me (that and I keep forgetting the names for them). I also have my very own pila and latrine to complete the picture, and Cristina has told me that she'll be giving me a couple pollitos (chicks), and Colombia will be handing over a kitten when it's old enough. Cristina jokes that all I need now is a dog, a cow, a [View Full Entry]

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When you wake up in the morning in Ciudad Romero, it´s to a dawn of sounds. Around 5 a.m. the chorus of a hundred gallos commence their melancholy howling, encouraging the insects to bring their buzzing from a forte down to a piano. Some time later, the air is sprinkled with the twitters and whistles and cries of the native birds, waking up in the early light. Then the mooing and baaing starts, along with the thumping bass of rancheras, reggaeton and ballenato being played way too loud at 6 in the morning, but loud enough so that the mujeres can [View Full Entry]

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