We arrived in El Salvador on 3/10 having by-passed Guatemala as Ralph and I had both been there in the past. None of us had been to El Salvador before. Our timing was a bit off as the Salvadorans were gearing up for their national election the following Sunday. We were advised not to discuss this or be involved with any election activities. Ralph did get a sense of how the winds were blowing from the resident parrots at the Marina. Incidently, the parrots correctly predicted the winner. By all accounts the election was free and transparent and the Salvadorans were proud that their fledgling Democracy keeps getting stronger.
There is a Canadian woman (Jan) who sailed to El Salvador and then stayed. She bought this piece of land on the lagoon where our Marina was located, built a house with an outdoor kitchen and dining area, and started a two day a week free English language school for local children and adults. She serves a chicken dinner to cruisers each Wednesday in order to raise funds for school supplies. Boaters provide the beverages of their choice. It was our first "bring your own cooler" event.
At the arriving end of the dock, this is the typical sight when all our dinghies are there. These are cruisers' cars.
The outdoor eating area with kitchen in the center background. This is also where the children come to school. I taught school one Monday. It starts after the regular schools are out. High school girls are in the 2:00 group and my job was to converse with them in English about anything they wanted to talk about. They wanted to talk mostly about the beach and learning English so they could work at local hotels. They also said their mom has told them not to get married and start having children at too young of an age! One of them shared that her father was a fisherman but she hated fish and she thought that was so funny! At 3:00, little kids and one local mother come to the beginning class where we engaged in identifying pictures of fruit and vegetables. They got little pieces of candy or a fruit when they could properly say the English word. The third group at 4:00 is made up of more advanced classes of middle schoolers. Their assignment was to put some sentences in proper order. When my group (the boys) were done with the assignment, we talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some were uncertain but several wanted to be mechanics, one wanted to be a doctor, and one wanted to be an accountant! It was simply a wonderful afternoon.
The land that Jan owns is overgrown with native fruit trees including several kinds of mangos (we took bags of them back to the boat - yum!) She also has cashew trees. The red pod indicates the nut is ripening. There is one cashew in each pod. As we traveled through the countryside we noticed lots of cultivation and small farms and, of course, roadside stands selling the products such as pineapples, coconuts, mangos, papayas, etc.
We arrived in El Salvador on 3/10 having by-passed Guatemala as Ralph and I had both been there in the past. None of us had been to El Salvador before. Our timing was a bit off as the Salvadorans were gearing up for their national election the following Sunday. We were advised not to discuss this or be involved with any election activities. Ralph did get a sense of how the winds were blowing from the resident parrots at the Marina. Incidently, the parrots correctly predicted the winner. By all accounts the election was free and transparent and the Salvadorans were proud that their fledgling Democracy keeps getting stronger.
There is a Canadian woman (Jan) who sailed to El Salvador and then stayed. She bought this piece of land on the lagoon where our Marina was located, built a house with an outdoor kitchen and dining area, and started a two day a week free English language school for local children and adults. She serves a chicken dinner to cruisers each Wednesday in order to raise funds for school supplies. Boaters provide the beverages of their choice. It was our first "bring your own cooler" event.
At the arriving end of the dock, this is the typical sight when all our dinghies are there. These are cruisers' cars.
The outdoor eating area with kitchen in the center background. This is also where the children come to school. I taught school one Monday. It starts after the regular schools are out. High school girls are in the 2:00 group and my job was to converse with them in English about anything they wanted to talk about. They wanted to talk mostly about the beach and learning English so they could work at local hotels. They also said their mom has told them not to get married and start having children at too young of an age! One of them shared that her father was a fisherman but she hated fish and she thought that was so funny! At 3:00, little kids and one local mother come to the beginning class where we engaged in identifying pictures of fruit and vegetables. They got little pieces of candy or a fruit when they could properly say the English word. The third group at 4:00 is made up of more advanced classes of middle schoolers. Their assignment was to put some sentences in proper order. When my group (the boys) were done with the assignment, we talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some were uncertain but several wanted to be mechanics, one wanted to be a doctor, and one wanted to be an accountant! It was simply a wonderful afternoon.
The land that Jan owns is overgrown with native fruit trees including several kinds of mangos (we took bags of them back to the boat - yum!) She also has cashew trees. The red pod indicates the nut is ripening. There is one cashew in each pod. As we traveled through the countryside we noticed lots of cultivation and small farms and, of course, roadside stands selling the products such as pineapples, coconuts, mangos, papayas, etc.
1 comment:
Now I'll have a different mental image when someone talks about "passing the bar" :-)
Post a Comment