Life in the Campo

Greetings from a chilly La Campa! "El norte" is here in full force, with strong winds and low temperatures. This morning my room was 14.2C, and it was a big challenge to get out of my warm bed. I can really recognize the privilege of central heat in Canada, which so many people cannot even fathom.

Let me try to give you an idea of life in the campo (rural life). Don´t be confused by campo and La Campa - there is no relation between the words (like invierno meaning winter, and infierno meaning hell). According to Wikipedia, the name La Campa came from miners working in the area in the late 1800s. When it was about to rain, they would say "Vamos a acampar!" and go and rest somewhere out of the rain.

The chickens wake up first, and are always excited about that fact, making as much noise as possible. Gradually, the human population gets up between 4am and 7am. I get to sleep in all the way to 7, but my 15 year old neighbour gets up at 5 to prepare breakfast and lunch for herself and her father before going to school. I get up at 7, and have an extremely fast shower. I compare my shower to diving into Lake Huron on a cold May long weekend - invigorating but terrifying!

Breakfast is normally tortillas, beans and eggs, with fried plantain on occasion. I then head off to work, which has a marvelous schedule: 8-12, and 2-5. Lunch is tortillas, beans and vegetables; supper is tortillas, beans and eggs. Women here spend much of their time preparing for making tortillas. First the dried corn must be removed from the cob, then it boils for several hours on the wood stove. Once it is soft, it must be ground twice to get it to the right texture. Then water is added to make a dough, and the tortillas are hand-made. I´ve tried the last step twice, and it is hard to get it the right! Every tortilla that I eat is perfectly round, the same size, and the same thickness. Mine are somewhat oblong and uneven. But I will get there!

In the evenings I sit in the kitchen with my host grandmothers and cross-stitch until 8pm, when I get ready for bed. Early hours are the norm here! My weekends are filled with church (I am attending both the evangelical and Catholic churches, although I feel more comfortable with the Catholic service), washing clothes (a long process by hand, but one which fills me with pride when I see the clothes-line full of clothes), studying Spanish, reading, hiking, cross-stitching and visiting. There is a wonderful verb: pasear. Anybody can go paseando, which means go up to a neighbour´s house and visit for a half hour or so over coffee, a fresh orange and conversation. No invitation necessary. It contributes to a real sense of community.

At work, I am still figuring out exactly what I´m doing, although one of my projects have begun. I gave a training last week on soil analysis, and will be sending five soil samples to a laboratory this afternoon. Last week I helped deliver 120 chickens as part of another CASM project. 120 chickens create a huge smell, but people were so happy to receive these birds. Food security is one of the main aims of CASM, and chickens are an important aspect of food security.

I learned last week that I am known as "La Gringita" by people in La Campa. So, best wishes to you all from La Gringita!