Good eats

We've had a really bad drought here in El Salvador the past month or so. I absolutely rejoiced last month when I though the scattered T-storms we experienced signified the end of summer. Nah nah nah. All moisture quickly dried up right after I clicked "Publish" and we haven't seen a drop since. I swear this blog can be cursed sometimes.

I'm getting pretty angry at the skies because my rain dances (which I resumed last week) haven't paid off. My host mom tells me that I must be patient because God will send rain when he is ready. So.... anytime's good! Send it on down!

What does this mean for your average subsistence farming salvadoran? Hunger and pain. All of the corn has dried up and the beans are long gone. People are talking about dramatically high food prices and I'm sitting over here dripping sweat at 7am again.

Yesterday, August 1st, was a very special day in salvadoran culture. They call it "Dia que mata el hambre" or "Day that kills hunger." Because, IDEALLY, this is when you cut some of your miaz nuevo off the stalks to make tamales, tortas, tortillas, and atol. It's a celebration of a strong start to the growing season. My family, being the "rich" people in town, were able to buy some fresh corn off a man who has his milpa close to the river (better access to water, I suppose). All of our corn is dead.

My host mom made a very thick, rich atol. It's a drink made of baby corn mash, milk straight from the cow, salt, sugar and cinnamon. I drank the whole mug, not because I particularly like consuming liquid fat, but because I respect the hard work that went in to growing the maiz. The tamales were adorably miniature and had whole chunks of corn inside. They think I'm crazy because I like to put honey on my corn tamales. It's good, I swear!

It's going to be a long, hard season and I'm not sure how my community will cope. All we can do is pray and rain dance.