El Salvador Days 1-4

The first four days were spent at Playa Cangrejera in La Libertad, El Salvador.  We rented a property with two houses, right on the beach.  The property also had a pool.  It was absolutely beautiful...it looked like paradise.

During those 4 days, most of Alfredo's family came to visit...his mom and all of his siblings as well as many of his cousins and their families.  I met my nieces and nephews and my mother-in-law and sisters and brothers-in-law.  It was so beautiful and relaxing there...with hammocks and good food and the most amazing views.  It was also a little bit overwhelming to meet so many people and to not be very good at holding conversations with them.  Even in English, big groups of people I don't know well can overwhelm me and so it felt a bit overwhelming to meet everyone and try to communicate with them.  I probably didn't try as hard as I could have and I felt a bit frustrated and mad at myself for that.

The neighborhood around the beach house had chickens roaming the street (typical in most of El Salvador it seems) and cows and horses along the side of the road.

There are so many coconut trees and Alfredo and Gabby loved drinking the cocos.

I learned that (despite the fact that El Salvador is north of the equator) they consider this "winter" because it is their rainy season.  I tried to argue with them about it at first, but there was no convincing them that it is summer despite being the rainy season.

One night there was a HUGE storm.  Thunder and lightning and pouring rain.  It was intense.  A bit scary, honestly.  The waves at the beach were already big and intense.  And the storm was strong.  None of us slept well while the storm raged, but in the morning everything was fine.

Noemi had hung a welcome sign for us and purchased a delicious cake.

The water in the ocean and the pool was warm.  We spent many hours swimming in the pool.

There were gorgeous sunrises (never actually saw them but Alfredo did and took photos) and sunsets.

I tried several new fruits and foods.   There was an almendra (almond) tree at the property and so Alfredo had me take a bite of the fruit that surrounds the almond.    I didn't like it, but it was interesting to taste it.  I ate arrayan which is a sour fruit.  They made it into a sorbet and the sorbet was delicious.  I ate mamones which look a lot like grapes, but they are very soft and have less flavor.  I also tried paterna which has a green outer peel.  And maranon japones which are red and taste like an unripe plum.  

At the beach house, there were bats.  And one night there were a bunch of fireflies.  There were lizards and frogs (pretty good sized frogs).  There was also the sweetest dog named Oso, and the girls were so sad to leave Oso when it was time to go.

I learned that they go to school nearly year round.  They get two weeks off during the rainy season (summertime...which they call winter)...and they get the whole month of December off.  But they go the rest of the year.  However, they only go for 4 hours a day.  At most schools some students go from 7-11 and others go from 1-5 with one 10 minute break.