Monday, August 31, 2009

poking around

i'm making strident achievements. today i successfully lit a lighter and lit my stove with it. i guess i just never had an occasion to use a lighter before. i made a texturally sumptuous blend of caramelized onions and toasted israeli couscous, dappled with slap ya mama, a cajun spice blend i have grown to adore. i have dispersed it to some of you this summer as part of my johnny slappleseed tour. the rest of you should explore independently.
i also took a whole bunch of city buses. as the united states grew weary of their school buses throughout the 80s and 90s, central america has received them with open, god-loving arms. salvadorans paint them and put posters of christ in them and all that. some buses here are really amped up on the front wheels and heavy on the back wheels, making them look like wienermobile monster trucks. ew bad image. anyway, the bus is 20 cents and leaves eruptions of diesel fuel for 3 blocks. the buses are marvelously frequent, a few minutes apart even yesterday on a sunday. private companies buy bus routes from the government and then operate their own buses on them. the government still regulates the cost. it creates an interesting competition between individual buses. each bus has a cobrador (money collector) who encourages people to get on the bus. i felt lukewarmly encouraged on my first bus and robustly encouraged on the rest.
i went to metrocentro, the, uh, largest shopping center in central america. every person in el salvador was in this mall yesterday. i watched a documentary on bees last winter and it was like that. indoor shopping malls are everywhere, and they are massively popular. it's sort of disheartening to come here and see salvadorans falling in love with pizza hut and payless shoe source. however, when you compare immaculate, climate controlled malls filled with treasure to the danger and grit of the street and neighborhoods, it makes sense why salvadorans are drawn there.
seedlings are already emerging in the garden at the clinic! today i did yoga from the internet in my living room during the thunderstorm.

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