Doble de Posa

Double Posa has officially ended and I am back to being the sole gringa in La Montana. Having my sister here for a week was an experience that I will undoubtedly remember forever. As I hand wash mounds of ropa, shaking away shards of glass and scrubbing out mud stains, I reminisce on the excitement we shared in just 7 short days. I’m filled with beautiful memories of our time together, yet overwhelmed with the current absence of her presence. My shelves are now filled with foreign food and unread novels, but my second coffee cup is empty at my table in the morning. I am so very grateful for everything my sister brought me, but it was HER that made our time so special and not the tangible amenities she spoiled me with.

I woke up at 3:30am and hitched a ride with my neighbor / landlord at 4am to the town center. I hopped out at 4:30, not a street light around, leaving behind a bottle of water, umbrella and banana in the car; 3 very missed items on a long bus ride in the rainy season. At 5am I waited for bus #2, still in absolute darkness, waiting for the door to open so I could choose my temporary bed for the next 3 hours. Que lastima que a friend recognized me and started up a rather un-entertaining conversation for me at the ass crack of dawn. About an hour into the trip, I politely said “please stop talking so I can go to sleep” and promptly passed out on the window pane. I awoke to the chanting of “terminal oriente, el terminal, terminal!, opened one eye to a slew of buses out the window and slowly prepared myself for bus #3.

I treated myself to a nice breakfast without 1 egg, nor 1 bean, reveled in an ice coffee and an air conditioned restaurant and reminded myself of the few things to be grateful for in the capital. Next, a cab to the shuttle, which was probably 3minutes away and yet cost me 4 dollars. I paid the same price to travel 3hours in the bus from my department to the capital. Again, que lastima. Then, I waited for the 10am shuttle to the airport, which would have been quite a pleasant little trip since I was the only one in there, had it not been for creepy looks and smiles from the driver via the rear view mirror.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic to see my sister emerge from the baggage claim area. My first visitor and family member I had seen in over 6 months, I was shaking from head to toe with excitement. I, for one moment, shared with the Salvadorans the excitement at seeing a gringa and just about whistled. Her backpack bulged like Santa Claus and side by side may have been bigger than her, and yet she came with just the clothes on her back. Fortunately, we had a rental car and I realized just how different the country is with your own set of wheels. The car itself is a long story on its own, but maybe Danielle will like to share that with you….

We headed off for la playa Tunco (that’s a beach) where we enjoyed the sun with friends for a couple of nights. Avoiding bolos walking down the beach, hooka nights and bar dancing, ice-coffee mornings at Dale Dale, learning to hammock and loving Anonas.

Leaving the beach was hard, physically and emotionally, but I was ecstatic to show my sister the community I live in. Albeit we had a few detours, and a 5 hour trip became more of a 9, we made it safe and sound.

We spent Sunday shopping at the morning market. We got some great CDs for 1 dolar, (can you pronounce “dolar” correctly yet?) and made a show haggling for some machetes. Danielle got her first “tipico”, eggs and beans, for lunch and then we crammed the bus to head back to my community.

I introduced Danielle to about 20 families and 20 conversations started the exact same way. “Pero como se parecen! Casi gemelas. Ella es la menor?” Yes we look alike. No we’re not twins. And No, I am not older. I wasn’t convinced that this was an insult…until someone asked if I was her mom.

I then took Danielle to our Adult Literacy Class…and she received a hand-made bag from one of the members (where’s mine?) She purchased the first hammock made by our community members :D and enough jewelry from my Artesania leader to allow him to leave work for the day and hike us through the mountains to the waterfalls. We house visited a bunch of families…of which one killed, roasted with spices and delivered to my house a full chicken. Try the “huevitos” the lady insisted. Questioning whether or not I was about to bite into the chicken’s balls entered my mind but I pushed it out as my cook watched me smiling.

My sister and I spent some quality time talking in my house, which ended in Danielle passing out in the hammock and me going for a walk to buy some stuff to make lunch. And soon we headed out for our next destination. We had to drive across country because I had another few days of training with a bunch of volunteers. She made the most of the time there, although I wish we could have spent the time doing other stuff together. But still, I was happy many of the other volunteers got to meet her.

Parting was hard, and almost a week later, I still gravely miss having my sister around. I still see her awkwardly approaching the hammock, certain its about to topple. I miss the nutella-choco-bananas. I’m still making-up car stories to the villagers. I had to put up 2 extra clothes lines to dry all the clothes we wore. My bed feels bigger than ever. I have yet to convince Freddy that Danielle does not want a long distance relationship with him. 5 community members are making hammocks because they think she will buy them all. After I answer the questions “when did she leave” I have to answer “when is she coming back”. And I long for internet connection in my house so I could flip through the pictures of our time together. It would be easier if the community would stop asking about her! Especially the police…..