Mon. Nov. 17 – Wed., Nov. 19

- Spent Monday and Tuesday evenings up at Ventura’s house, Monday reading through some papers that had come from the U.S. Embassy regarding their dad’s visa (not approved yet, after all). He’s been scheduled for an interview on Dec. 30, so there were all these complicated instructions (all in English) for what he needed to do to prepare and what to bring. Looks like Dora’s got some of the papers submitted already, but they still need birth certificates and court records (what court records?) and a medical exam. So I went on the not-so-user-friendly State Dept. website on Tuesday to get some information about the medical exam (including list of approved doctors) that they conveniently didn’t include in the paper packet. Also pretty much confirmed my suspicion that all o this is part of the application for an immigrant visa, no just a visitor visa. Which seems like a bit of overkill if he’s just going for a month. So I took that information by on Tuesday, and Ventura actually called Dora. She handed me the phone and of course I didn’t understand anything Dora said except for “3 months, 6 months, 10 months.” Turns out that, yes, she knows this visa is for actually immigrating – her goal is to get him a residency, which would involve him living in the U.S. for much more than a month. If they can achieve that, it would open up the path to legalization for the other siblings, I think because parents/children have higher priority (and also because Dora apparently has a different mother than the rest of them). I’m not sure how much they’ve actually discussed this, seeing as how Gilma says “Oh, I don’t understand any of that” as soon as it comes up, Ventura doesn’t seem much better, and their dad says he doesn’t even want to go (although with a good-natured twinkle in his eye). But I guess there’s no rush, seeing as how it would probably take at least ten years for him to become a citizen (and he’s already 67…). In any case, I felt reassured that Dora know what she’s doing, and that my experience getting a temporary residency here really wasn’t all that bad in comparison. I also got to cuddle with Heidi in their new double-wide hammock. On Tuesday we sang “Jingle Bells,” me forgetting some of the words and her just sort of making the sounds as she remembered them from her brief stint in a U.S. school – it was an interesting rendition.

- Gas is down to about $2.60/gallon for regular. It was about $4 when I got here and got to over $5 a few months later. Is this because of the big economic crisis?

- Brooke emailed me to say she’d been thinking, and she really doesn’t want to go traveling any more. Dammit. I was really looking forward to that, not just the traveling, but also the getting out of here for a bit. Maybe I’ll try to go visit Crissy and Adam for Thanksgiving after all…

- Went to a ‘palo encebado’ (greased pole) competition just before leaving the office with Gilma on Wednesday  (photos in Album 6). This is part of the celebrations for the 5^th anniversary of the San Nicolás Mercado which have quietly been going on all week. It’s basically just a 30-40 ft. (6-in. diameter?) greased pole with a prize at the top (supposedly $100) that teams try to climb up to get. It was all good fun, and one of the teams got within a few inches of grabbing the bag, until… the pole collapsed, apparently knocking one of the guys unconscious. It looked like it was made of thin aluminum, and just sort of creased near where it was stuck in the ground. They eventually carried the guy to the back of a truck and sped off for a clinic or hospital.

- Weather’s windy and cool again (i.e. 78 F). I wore my hair down for the first time since I’ve been here. They had flurries in D.C.

Sun., Nov. 16

- Stayed up until 2am (combination of pain and just not being sleepy after my 14-hour night last night). My toe and tongue were both a bit numb when I got up around 8:30, but my stomach felt normal again and I had my energy back. Mauricio Funes and his “Caravan of Hope” were supposed to pass through San Marcos around 3pm, so I put on a red shirt (but not my FMLN t-shirt – my temporary residency letter expressly forbids any involvement in politics – ha!) in preparation for that. Most of the afternoon was fairly idyllic – some reading, some looking through old photos that Rosi brought out, almost feeling like part of the family eating lunch with everyone (including Iris & co.) around the hammock, taking turns swinging in the hammock (which made me giggle like a little girl)… Then all of a sudden Tomasita came running out of the house crying, went to go get Iris and the ladies from next door, who rushed over and commenced some rather dramatic sobbing themselves. I stayed outside, hugging the kids and wondering what was going on. Everyone was certainly acting like Niña Tomasa had died (Astrid asked if I would get the house), but while she certainly hasn’t been well recently, it didn’t seem to me that she was quite at the point of death, either. And indeed, when I finally poked my head inside she was awake and looking around. Apparently she had sort of fainted, and either Toma had thought she’d died or was just freaked out. So there were a bunch of phone calls made, then Gilma arrived home (from packaging up cashews) after a while. I finally got up the courage to go in and sit with Niña Tomasa (had planned to go in the morning but felt awkward not being real family) and ended up reading the Bible to her for a while. Then just sitting holding her hand, then a bit more Gospel of Matthew. Other people came in and out, but I got a good chunk of time to be alone with her, which was good for me, if nothing else. Lupe arrived around 6pm with a doctor friend, and they decided to take Niña Tomasa back to San Salvador, where it will be easier to keep an eye on her. I don’t know how much longer she’ll last, but I have a feeling she’s not going to recover. Am (selfishly?) hoping she doesn’t die while I’m not here, as it would be strange to come back and just have her gone.

- Listened to news of the “Caravan of Hope” on the radio – still hadn’t arrived in Usulután from La Unión by 10pm, so Gilma and I gave up going and instead sat on the step talking until bed.

Sat., Nov. 15

- Up one more time around 2am, then slept decently until 8am, for a grand total of 14 hours in bed. Felt much better when I got up but still pretty weak and listless and not quite right in the stomach, so decided not to go in to work in favor or sitting around reading Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha,” which was a nice complement to “A New Earth.” Need to learn how to meditate…

- First big excitement of the day was a ‘temblor’ in the late afternoon – I think they said it was a 5.9 on the Richter scale. I just sat there stupidly (or stood up, rather) while Chagua came running in to get Niña Tomasa out of the house. The fancy quinceañera invitation scroll thing fell off the TV, but I don’t think there were any other damages.

- Second big excitement came in the evening, after helping Gilma make some ‘pupusas de ayote.’ I was reading in the rocking chair when I noticed an ‘alacrán’ walking across the floor. I went to step on it, but not having very good aim, ended up stepping only on its body, while its tail curled up and stung me on my right big toe (thin rubber flip-flops don’t offer much protection). It hurt. A lot. But at least I had stunned it enough that it didn’t scamper off, so I stepped on it again until it was really dead. Then sat down and winced. My ankle felt a bit stiff and I could feel a slight cramping in my calf that eventually went all the way up my leg, but I knew I wasn’t going to die or anything after seeing both Gilma and Paty get stung. It’s now about an hour later and the toe’s still hurting pretty badly (and my tongue has started tingling, as they told me it would) – hopefully I’ll be able to get to sleep.  (Photo in Album 6)

Friday, Nov. 14

- Woke up not feeling right in the stomach, and might have just gone back to bed if I didn’t have some stuff to do with Carmen in SS: picked up my new temporary residence card (good until October 2009 – didn’t feel as much like partying as I thought I would in the thick of all the paperwork), took my phone to the repair center (where they did a ‘diagnóstico’ and told me to take it to the place where I’d bought it for a replacement), small lunch at Mister Donut (where I was unusually not tempted by the pastries behind the counter), some Christmas shopping at the Mercado Ex-Cuartel, then finally back to the bus where I could sort of fall asleep. Biked home from San Nicolas, sat around in a stupor for a few minutes, took a shower, ate two tortillas, and was in bed by 6pm. Up around 8pm and 10pm and made myself vomit one of those times, which helped. Back to sleep despite multiple sources of thumping music from graduation parties.

Thurs., Nov. 13

- Cat died, apparently. Niña Tomasa’s still not doing too well.

Tues., Nov. 11

- Into Zacate in the morning, where I finally got my phone back but… not fixed! The guy told me that the repair center they’d sent it to was no long in operation or something, so I’d have to take it in personally to another repair center in SS. I asked why he couldn’t have let me know about all this a bit sooner and generally tried to convey my displeasure, but I’ve never been a very good pissed-off customer. In hindsight, I wish I’d demanded a new phone right then and there, as he’d told me when I dropped it off that they would either repair it or replace it. I guess I’ll try to take it in to SS, but I’m starting to think I might just have to break down and buy a new one at some point.

- Niña Tomasa was home when I got home, saying she feels the same but looking a bit better to me. I sat and held her hand for a few minutes and she squeezed my hand back nice and strong.

- Am back to sleeping with the fan and the volcanoes are again hidden behind the haze. Think I got a little over-excited about the season change again.

- Weird little sticky biting ants.

Mon., Nov. 10

- Meeting with the San Marcos “grupo local” in the morning. They’re in the process of legalizing all the ADESCOs, so basically Don Luis talked about that and then they elected a ‘junta directive,’ with almost everyone there coming away with an office. Cecy was elected president, Loli treasurer, and Gilma “síndico,” or legal representative, even though she wasn’t sure what that was (they read the job descriptions afterwards…)   (Photos of the swearing-in the next week in Album 6)

- Niña Tomasa’s lab results show she has very low potassium levels (related to kidney problems?) and the doctor in San Marcos recommended she go to the hospital. Instead of that, Don Moncho took her to see some other doctor (a kidney specialist?) in San Salvador, and she’s staying overnight at Lupe’s. It’s strange without her here. I guess we’ll just wait and see…