My Visit With Selvin Heraldo: Day 3

~día tres~

~ Ultimo Día ~

I awoke from my dreams of ice cream men and cows early in the morning. That crazy rooster was walking around outside my tent again.

I got out of my tent. Selvin was already up, plowing his fields with his new bulls. He works so hard to put food on his family’s table. He saw me and motioned for me to join him. I walked over next to him. He was guiding the bulls in a straight line so that they wouldn’t mess up the fields.

“Selvin, how long have you been working in agriculture?” I asked.

“Twenty years, since I was nine,” he said.

He had a job when he was nine years old. Wow. I thought about it. I’m 13 and I don’t even have a job.

~~~~

Today, we went to the Usulután market place. It was amazing. The streets were lined with venders selling barrels of fruits and vegetables I had never seen or heard of before. Slabs of raw meat, along with whole ducks and pigs, hung from meat hooks under awnings. The air was filled with a constant Spanish jibber-jabber that I couldn’t understand. When I breathed I smelled a million smells that I couldn’t recognize. Everything was new and exciting.

Little kids ran around playing tag and selling candy to tourists. Stray dogs hid under tables and chased bones that people threw on the ground. Wonderful colors hung from tables and awnings. Street venders advertised their fresh produce. Tourists snapped pictures of buildings and statues.

Sadly, it was finally time to go. Selvin drove me back to his house to pack my things. I got my bags together and walked out to the bus stop. The whole family said goodbye. I was so sad to go. When the big noisy chicken bus pulled up, Selvin’s daughter handed me a folded piece of paper. “Thank you.” She said with a shy smile.

“Goodbye,” I said as I stepped onto the bus. Then the bus drove off.

I opened the paper and smiled.

My Visit With Selvin Heraldo: Day 2

~día dos~

A rooster screamed just outside of my tent. I groaned and rolled out of my tent. It was just getting light out.

I looked to my left and saw Selvin watering a field with a large watering can. I went over to help him water.

“Today we will go to buy my bulls with the money I was loaned,” Selvin said.

~~~~

We piled into Selvin’s rusty old pickup truck. There were only two seats in the front, so Selvin’s daughter and I sat in the bed of the truck while Selvin and his girlfriend sat in the front.

We pulled up to a large open pasture bordered by a barbed wire fence. I could see about 50 cows and bulls roaming around.

An old man, maybe 60 years old, limped out of a barn by the side of the road. He was holding a chicken in each hand by its legs. When he saw us, he dropped the squawking birds and walked over to us.

“Buenas días!” exclaimed the man. He had thick grey mustache on his weathered face that moved up and down when he spoke. His skin was worn and tan and rough and it looked like old leather. When he smiled I could see that he was missing two or three of his crooked teeth. On his head was a large white cowboy hat.

“Buenas Días,” said Selvin. He explained that we had come to purchase five young bulls to pasture.

“Si, si,” the old man smiled, showing his crooked teeth. He guided our car over to a large gate. He slowly swung the gate open, and then hopped into the back with us.

Selvin drove along a bumpy dirt road full of potholes. We bounced around in the back, flying into the air every time we hit a rock.

We finally stopped near a group of bulls. Selvin and the man got out of the car, and they examined each bull. Selvin picked out five muscular black bulls, and handed the man $1,200.

Selvin and I unloaded a wooden ox cart from the truck. We yoked the bulls, and rode the ox cart home while Selvin’s Girlfriend and daughter drove the truck home.

It took a few hours to get home. The ox cart was nothing more than a wood platform on rickety wooden wheels, so the ride was very bumpy and uncomfortable. Every turn in the road, we had to jump off of the cart and redirect the bulls.

We had been sitting in the cart for more than two hours. We were hot and tired, and we were also almost out of water. I was sitting and listening to the colorful birds chirping in the trees, when they suddenly stopped. I looked around to see what was wrong. Selvin had noticed something too. We were probably 50 miles away from the nearest town, and we had seen no one the entire time we had been on the road. Selvin and I looked at each other.

Then, in the distance I heard a faint sound.

Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding…

It sounded like… bells? No, That is impossible, I thought.

Ding…Ding…Ding…Ding

It was bells. The dings grew louder and louder. Finally, I saw what was making the sound.

A little old man pushing a two-wheeled Ice cream cart rounded the corner. “Hola!” he exclaimed.

Selvin didn’t look too surprised, but I was shocked. What in the world was an ice cream man doing in the middle of nowhere? I replied with a smile “Hola,” and bought Selvin and I popsicles. The man winked and resumed pushing his cart along the dirt road.

Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding… Ding…………..

The ice cream man from heaven vanished into the distance.

~~~~

When we got home, it was getting dark. Selvin’s Girlfriend had made dinner already, so we sat down at the table and ate. Selvin and I were very tired and hungry, so we gorged ourselves on the delicious chicken dinner.

When I finished washing my plate, I said goodnight to the family and went to sleep in my tent.

My Visit With Selvin Heraldo: Day 1

~día uno~

The bus doors swung open, and fresh air spilled in. I was overwhelmed by the many smells that accompanied the air: The smells of fresh hay, soil, cows, and chicken poop.

When the bus pulled to a stop, Selvin and his family rushed to the door and greeted us with hugs and a jumble of spanish words."¡Hola!" "¡bienvenidos!" "¿Como Estas?"

We walked up to the rickety old house. I could see that it was made of nothing but a few scraps of tin and plywood. When we entered, we saw there was only one room, with a table, a wood-burning stove, and one bed. 

"I plan to build myself a better house when my loan helps me make more money," Said Selvin in Spanish.

~~~~

He then took us on a tour of his farm.

Sr. Heraldo's farm

We walked from field to field, looking at Selvin's crops. I lost track of time as Selvin showed me how he planted his crops and cared for his animals. 

I heard a soft mooooooo. I looked over to see a few milk cows roaming an open pasture.

"We have to milk the cows for tonight's dinner," Selvin said. I looked at  my watch, and realized that it was already 5:00! 

I followed Selvin down to his cows. He grabbed two buckets, and sat on one while he used the other to catch the milk. When he was finished, I helped him carry the bucket full of milk back to the house. 

When we got home, we were very thirsty, so we took two cups and drank some milk. It was very fresh, much better than the stuff you buy at the supermarket.

We went out back, where Selvin had a chicken coop. We reached inside and grabbed a few eggs. when we got inside, Selvin's girlfriend scrambled the eggs along with some onions and tomatoes from their garden. Then she pulled some bread out of the wood-burning stove. She put the food onto the small table, and all of us crowded around. 

The dinner was great. It all tasted so good and fresh. When we were finished eating, we cleared the table and went outside to wash the dishes. We scrubbed our dishes with a sponge, and then we rinsed them in a bucket of water that Selvin had filled up before dinner.

I would not be able to sleep inside the house because there was no room, so I set up my tent in a nearby cornfield. I crawled into my sleeping bag and fell fast asleep.

My Visit With Selvin Heraldo: Currency

Since 2001, the US dollar has been the official unit of currency in El Salvador.

My Visit With Selvin Heraldo: Communication

Hello!.........................................................................................................................................¡Hola!


How are you?..............................................................................................................¿Como Estas?


Where is the bathroom?.............................................................................¿Donde Está El Baño?


Great!..................................................................................................................................¡Qué bien! 


Thank you very much..........................................................................................¡Muchas gracias!


You’re welcome!.................................................................................................................¡De nada!


How do you say...?.................................................................................................¿Cómo se dice...?


Please.....................................................................................................................................Por favor. 


¿What time is it?...........................................................................................................¿Qué hora es?


I don't understand.......................................................................................................No comprende.

My Visit With Selvin Heraldo: Transportation

I was so excited. I was going on a three day trip to Usultan, El Salvador, to visit Selvin Heraldo, a local farmer who I was loaning money to.

It turned out that getting to Usultan was a journey itself. 

The first leg of the journey started at midnight. My parents drove me from our home in Santa Barbara to LAX, and after getting through the nightmares of dealing with our luggage and carry on, we boarded a large jet bound for El Salvador.

We landed in San Salvador, 65 miles away from Usultan. We boarded a large "chicken bus." 

These busses are filled with many things, from the locals themselves to their goats and pigs and chickens, hence the name chicken bus.

We rode on the bus for a few hours. As we neared the end of our bus ride, the buildings grew steadily smaller and more spaced apart. Cars and pedestrians were replaced by cows and horses. In the distance I saw a small house made of wood and corrugated tin. As the bus drew closer, I saw a local man and two others step out of the house. Selvin and his girlfriend waved and their daughter jumped up and down in excitement. I felt the same way, and I knew that I would be welcome here.