Two One-Ways: The Bubble

We spent the last couple weeks working at a place called Casa Organica (aka The Bubble) in El Salvador. It's a school/permaculture farm started 8 years ago by a Colombian woman and her Salvadoran husband. They teach the local kids about organic farming and healthy eating in addition to English. Each day we experienced something new. A brief highlight of some our first-time experiences include:

Harvesting coconuts, bananas and plantains straight from the tree

Teaching English

Going two weeks without using toilet paper (post-dump showers were required because toilet paper is outlawed at The Bubble)

Cooking three meals a day over an open flame

Washing dishes with ashes in lieu of soap

Feeding and caring for chickens

Making pupusas (delicious Salvadoran stuffed tortillas)

Bartering tree saplings for basic food staples (rice, beans, etc.) in the market

But better than all of these new experiences was making a new friend, Mario. He is, we'll call it a "boarding student" at The Bubble. Since the age of ten he had been working at a local mechanic's shop. Two years ago (at the age of 18) he quit his job to live full time at The Bubble to escape the daily grind of city life and to learn English. He has aspirations of taking his new-found English language skills to travel the world. At the age of twenty he has never had the opportunity to leave his country (about the size of New Jersey). His positive attitude and love of learning are infectious, and he has a ton of energy. We hope to keep in touch with Mario and maybe meet up with him at some point along our trip.

The outdoor kitchen.

A little afternoon English pronunciation lesson (think about the sounds in "walked" - English is crazy, folks)

We traded tree saplings at the market for supplies, including these two little guys which we named Tom and Jane. People had trouble pronouncing our names, so Tom and Jane are our Spanish nick names.