Rainy Days

I never minded rainy days on shore and I don't mind them now. The cabin doesn't leak, we are able to catch water, the boat gets cleaned, and there are plenty of things on the boat to keep me busy - reading, writing this blog, watching Mike take a nap, listen to the water and the thunder and the lightning, and so on and so on. 

Life here is El Salvador just gets slower and more relaxed everyday.  The only time we hurry for anything is when we are at the pool, and realize that not only is a storm coming up fast, but all the hatches and windows in the boat are open.  Then you have never seen people move so fast from pool to dinghy to boat.  We always end up drenched, but it doesn't matter because it is almost always really warm.  But back to the relaxation part - even Mike is sometimes lazy and doesn't do anything.  There are about six boats here counting us, and all but one are planning to spend the whole of hurricane season here.  We are too far south to get hurricanes on this side of Central America - of course the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico side is a different story entirely.  The last time El Salvador had any hurricane problems was when one of them managed to cross over from the caribbean and was not shredded by the mountains.  But that is pretty rare.  Even though the Sea of Cortez is Mike's favorite place, he was nervous all summer about the possibility of hurricanes.  So we are pretty safe here.

Another reason it is safem here is because we are moored in a protected estuary rather than a cove off the ocean proper.  There is land all around to help shelter us from the worst of the winds.  And with hurricacnes, sometimes the waves are more dangerous than the winds, and there are minimal waves here, although very strong currents are the norm. 

I tried again to make bread yesterday and like always, it refused to rise.  I can't figure out where I am going wrong.  One of my sisters is the best bread maker ever - I wish I was like her!

I got two new aprons.  All the Salvadoran women wear these ornate, frilly aprons when they are working - not just cooking, but anything.  The aprons have special pockets to put your money in.  I got two - one with a bib and oine without.  I wanted examples as soon as I saw them.  I love aprons and always have, nit just because I am a messy cook.  These are way to cute to cook in anyway - I will wear them only to serve the food. 
This is the regular apron.  It goes all the way around the waist, like a little skirt.

Here is the the bib model.

And finally - here is me wearing the bib model.

This is also a shot of me in the kitchen (galley in boat patois).  I hid as much of the clutter as I could. 

There are mangroes all along this long estuary, and right now it is nesting season for the herons.  These pictures do not do it justice - you round a turn and there are literally hundreds of these birds nesting beak-to-beak in the trees.

Never a dull moment down here.  And the birds that nested in the sails have had their babies - sa far only one baby bird dead on the deck.  We can hear the babies but haven't seen them yet.  Amazingly, the parents are acting a bit less aggressive than they were when the eggs were incubating.  Maybe they just got used to us having the nerve to be on our own  boat. 

"I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world's variety and uniqueness."  (Maya Angelou) 



 

More Travel Pictures

I think I have things under control now, but who knows? 

Anyway, after we saw all the ruins, the next day was spent looking at volcanos and seeing the cloud forest.  It was pretty overcast and misty, but we saw some amazing stuff.

This is a cloud forest - it was all jungle and forest as we climbed up the volcano.  Climbed isd prob ably too strong a word, we actually hiked.  Or walked, Or strolled.  which ever works. 

El Salvador grows a lot of coffee.

Yes, I suppose I am a bit obsessed with foood.

Here is our driver and friend, Ernesto at the waterfall.

 A couple of kids playing - see the next picture as well.

                                   


Here I am enjoying the falls.

Here is Mike doing the same thing.

Another waterfall shot.

San Salvador from the top of a volcano.

Here is a volcano as seen from our hotel room in San Salvador.

 So all and all it was a wonderful trip.  I can hardly wait to go backand see more.

We have also talked about going into Zacatecaluca for shopping - taking the bus and all.  It is also where we go to pick up mail.  So here are some pictures of that process. 

Here is where we walk to change buses - you just hop off and hike up this hill.

Here is the crowded bus,  Sometimes people bring their chickens, but not this time. Mike does not mind the crowds!

Here is Zacatecoluca.

And again.  I think this was the trip we got rained on - see the storm brewing? 

And this must be the best way to travel that I have seen yet- setting up a hammack in the back of a pickup truck.

 So that is it for now.  I hope tbhis sort of shows where we are and what we are doing.  I just love it here.

"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins."  (Bob Moawad)

More Adventures in the Tropics

Sorry about opening with an unidentified picture,  Another technological problem I can't solve.  Anyway, these are the pictures we took while touring San Salvador and the surronding area.  The picture on top is of a Mayan ruin.  This one was particularly interesting because it was covered in volcanic ash, and therefore survived quite well.  The other ruins we have seen were mainly palaces and seats of government and temples and the like.  This one is an example of how regular people lived.  Without being  preserved in volcanic ash, these mud and wattle dwellings would not survive.

This is Ernesto, our driver and good friend.


One really fabulous lunch!  I love eating fish this way - it is guttted, and then the whole thing is fried.  The tortillas are thick and roasty flavored, and you get more veggies than you do in Mexico.

A really beautiful lake.  We had lunch overlooking it.  I would not mind living on these shores!

And now, I have sadly discovered the rest of the pictures of the trip are stored on the other computer - sigh - so this is all I have for now.  I am currently hating computers - I wanted to post pictures of our jungle trip yesterday but I cna't make it work as they are saved wrong.  I really don't understand why this all has to be so complicated!  So anyway, I am going to end this sad little post and see what I can do to get more pictures up.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” 
(Oscar Wilde)

 

La Comida y Mas

I have been putting off writing because I wanted to add pictures.  But due to a variety of technological reasons, I haven't been able to do that.  So I decided to just go ahead and make a post anyway.  Plus I have just been lazy.

There is a publication called Latitude 38 that you can find online.  It is a sailing magazine out of the SF bay area, but in their June issue there is an article about our El Salvador rally.  There are pictures of some of our friends and even a glimpse of me.  Anyway, you can find it if you google Latitude 38, find the June 2012 issue, and then find the San Salvador rally story.

Since I last posted, we went to San Salvador for four days.  The trip was really amazing - we saw Mayan ruins, volcanos, a big lake viewed from a volcano, a waterfall we got to swim in, a wonderful market, and what I think is the Cabo of El Salvador, the surf town of La Libertad.  Best of all, we had dinner at the home of our driver and friend, Ernesto.   I am going to postpone describing the trip until I have the pictures.

But what I will talk about is Salvadoran food.  I really love it, especially the breakfasts.   I know I already sang the praises of pupusas.  I could go on and on because those lovely thick tortillas stuffed with beans and meat (and cheese for everyone except me) are absolutely to die for.  And depending on what you stuff them with, they are not bad for you.  They are not fried, and I make mine with soy chorizo and beans, neither of which are high fat.  The dough is made from corn and does not have fat in it.  Now what is fattening is the fried plantains. Absolutely delicious and I will give up pancakes and waffles for them.  (Oh I forgot to mention regarding pupusas - they are served with curtido, which is made from cabbage and is like a cross between sauerkraut and kimchee.)  Now if one is not in the mood for pupusas, there are Salvadoran tamales.  In El Salvador, they eat tamales as a breakfast item rather than for lunch and dinner, although you do see them at other times.  The only real difference is that tamales here are steamed in banana leaves rather than in corn husks.  Then there are these other things that are just like tamales, except that they are thinner, not filled with anything, are just slightly sweet, and after they are steamed, are fried or at least cooked again on a grill.  I forgot what their name is.  And finally, there is casamiento, which I made this morning, along with our fried eggs and plantains.  Casamiento is like a Salvadoran version of red beans and rice, except that the beans used are refried beans.  And these beans are not the same refried beans you get in Mexico.  There you either get pinto beans or black beans, depending on what part of the country you are in.  The beans here are red beans, sort of like kidney beans.  They are very good. 

Salvadorans also like chicken.  Besides having live ones running around all over the place (some of the largest, fattest chickens I have ever seen), they have several different chicken fast food chains, at least one of which is very good.  They also have KFC, and they seem to love American fast food places and have them all - Burger King, Wendy's. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and so on.  There is somthing called Gallina India (Gallina means chicken,  so does pollo) that I haven't tried yet and am not sure what exactly it is.  But it is heavily advertised at the little roadside comedors - diners - that one passes as one drives between here and San Salvador.  They are not what we think of as real restaurants - just shacks or even awnings along the side of the road with wood stoves to cook on.  They also advertise their chicken soup, and I haven't had that yet, either.  I did try atole, which is a hot drink made from corn.  It tasted just like cream corn out of the can, but better.  Mike had some that had pineapple in it.  I thought mine was better.  I had wanted to go to this restaurant in San Salvador that I read about that specialized in exotic stuff like lizard and goat, but unfortuately it was not there anymore.  So no lizard for me!  Actually I would only try the lizard as an appetizer, not am entree.  I would have had the goat.

Here on the estuary where the boat is anchored, the emphasis, of course, is fish and shellfish.  The most popular way to eat fish is to fry the whole thing, head and all, except for the innards.  It is delicious - the fish just falls off the bones and all that is left on your plate is a skeleton with a head.  It is usually served with a salad and those wonderful thick tortillas.  (They eat more vegetables here than in Mexico - you almost always get some steamed veggies of some sort when you order a plate of food.)       

Speaking of fish, we went to a great fish market out on a pier while we were in La Libertad and bought some filets that Mike cooked last night - marinated in something like Italian salad dressing and then cooked in olive oil with garlic. It was wonderful!  We also had brown rice (the leftovers went into this morning's casamiento) and cucumber salad.  Then we even shared the dish-doing - which I was grateful for, since I usually do them myself. 

So if you notice when I next post pictures that I am a bit on the portly side - well, that is because I am eating very, very well.  Too well.  Waay too well.

Otherwise, until I report on my trip, there is not a lot of news.  A new boat come in yesterday.  The people on three other boats are away on roadtrips.  It is pretty quiet around here, although we still meet with the other boats everyday for pool time and drinks.  We did experience having to deal with customs when we needed to pay a duty on something we had sent to us, but although there was a fair amount of sitting around and waiting (next time I will bring a book), the process was actually quite smooth, the officials were pleasent to deal with, and the payment was reasonable.  I had two dresses and two blouses made for me, and there is another dress waiting to be picked up.  These are sundresses and the like, made by a woman who lives on the island that is directly across the estuary from the hotel.  (We are anchored between the hotel side and the island.)  She makes everything on an old foot pedal machine because there is no electricity on the island.  She does have a fan attached to a couple of car batteries for use when it gets too hot to sew without it.  I also have plans for a pair of light, drawstring pants as well.  Her prices are extremely reasonable, and fabric down here is cheap and plentiful.  I will have a new wardrobe custom made for me, and how amazing is that?  We are really enjoying life here in this tropical paradise.  Stay tuned, there really is more to come.

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible."  (T.E. Lawrence)