How to Milk a Goat...

It has now been between four and five weeks since Ive been in country. Im sorry for not keeping up on this blog, but they have kept us really busy lately. Anyway, there is so much to tell that I am literally at a loss for words. Wow, attempting to summarize all that has happened since my last entry is like attempting to describe the history of the universe in one sentence. Well here goes, they have really had us working on our networking skills, we have been meeting with school directors, teachers, other volunteers, NGOs, Mayors, health promoters and the list goes on and on. Well we just got through with immersion days last weekend and it was awesome. I got sent upto Northern Chalatenango, which is one of the most beautiful and chivo places in all of El Salvador. While we were up there, we were placed with a host family for two days, and this was suppose to give us an idea of real salvadoran living conditions. I definitely got a taste... After hangin out with another volunteer in the area for a while, I was whisked away to meet my host family. After driving half an hour or so outside of town we stopped along the side of the highway. The family that was dropping me off than proceeded to step out of the car, naturally I followed them. I looked out to the side of the road for a house or shack or any sign of civilization, but found nothing but jungle. Finally the father of the family pointed out towards the jungle, and said ´eso es su casa´ I looked out into the densely forrested canyon that stood before us and noticed a white speck on a mountain a couple miles away. Sure enough that was where my host family lived. We then began our 30 mintue trek down into the jungle and the heart of the canyon. After about a mile and a half we began our ascent up the narrow muddy path towards the house. After 30 minutes of nonstop trekking, we finally broke through the vegetation and came to the clearing where the house rested comfortably among the vegetation. I turned and looked out into the canyon once again, and I was completely taken back by the beauty that laid before my eyes. There was a thin cloud cover, snaking through the canyon and it added to the mystic ambiance of the moment. It was awesome and well worth the hike...All at once I found myself in the midst of organized chaos, the family I was staying with had seven kids, 9 cows, 1 grandma, 2 goats, countless chickens, 1 aunt, an iguana and a little green, talking parrot named Pacito... After meeting the family and sharing a few laughs with them, everyone all at once moved out of the patio and into the side yard. They were talking about how easy it was to milk a goat and how much better goat milk is than cow milk. The whole time Im thinking to myself, wow Ive never seen anyone milk a goat before, this ought to be interesting. Man did I misgauge the amount that I would be involved in the process. After pulling the goats in from the mountain side, the father of the family led the goat towards me, grabbed its horns, looked at me and said hold this. I looked at him and said hold what, and he answered me the goat, grab the goat. I proceeded to answer how the hell am I spose to hold the goat? He then handed me the horns of the goat, and said hold on tight. And I proceeded to hold this goat while it is kickin all over the place and goin wild while theyre trying to milk the damn thing. It was quite an experience... Well Im running low on time so let me some up the rest of the weekend talking parrot, milking cows, shooting birds, clearing off a hillside to plant corn, waterfalls, a lot of rain, bed bugs, farm animals gone wild, kids gone wild, Honduras, landslide and beer... Well Im off to continue living the dream, stay classy!