Maryann & El Salvador

My wonderful sister few down on April 8th (Easter) for a visit and vacation. I actually went into the capitol on the 7th since her flight was coming in early on the 8th – I then failed to sleep that night for paranoia that I would oversleep and fail to pick her up. I’m guessing nobody is too surprised by that. Anyway, I got to the airport early and waited for her to arrive. She came out and promptly went in the other direction from where I was waiting. After a brief yell – she was back on track.

We immediately hoped into a taxi and left for the western bus terminal – that’s right…I made my sister get on the chicken bus. Alright, the first bus wasn’t a chicken bus…but the second one was. She got good experiences on both buses. The first because there was a little girl that kept wanting to touch her hair and who’s mother was asleep – so nobody could stop her. I was of course paranoid the entire time that our luggage would get ‘lost’ during the ride or transferring between rides.

So, we arrived in my little pueblito at about 12:30. I immediately brought her over to Iris and Sonia’s houses – neither of whom was home. Then we picked up food for lunch and eggs to dye for Easter. (I won’t mention how my sister forgot to bring down my Easter box – but she did manage to bring down a chocolate bunny….thanks Tory!) So, during this process, we need vinegar. So, I walked up and Iris was there! I promptly robed her of some vinegar and invited her down. She walked in and promptly yelled at me for not having a table cloth on the table for my sister. I had to explain that we took it off and put down newspaper to dye eggs. I was then forgiven. The two of them then started talking (through me translating – that got tiring) and just both making fun of me. I should of refused to translate. Any who – during all this fun Rachael came for dinner and egg dying fun (She named Darth Egganator – yes, we had a Star Wars egg dying kite). She was also good enough to bring dessert – brownies and ice cream. Iris had to leave before dinner – the whole running the store thing. Maryann made a lovely roast, mashed potatoes and cream corn…yes, I made my sister cook dinner. Anyway – it was a lovely evening with eggs being dyed, bolos knocking on the door, wine being drunk and food being gobbled.

Monday morning was a lazy morning because the alcaldia was closed for the Easter holiday. We just slept in, made pancakes (or…it could be said I made Maryann make eggs…she did a lot of cooking in my site) and had Maryann do her homework. We eventually ventured out to find lunch and check on a few things. The things were in relation to the stoves we built in the afternoon. Mostly dealing with the stands. Anyway, we wound up building 2 out of the three stoves due to a lack of an ingredient – my bad. It took a few hours to accomplish and was well documented by Maryann. It got a little frustrating at the end – Sonia was harassing me that I wasn’t giving her a stove…I told her when she bought the tambo and supplies I would happily build her one. Sometimes, she just gets that way, but I won’t go into that.

After all that fun, we headed home for showers and a bit of R&R. Maryann was first to shower and was quickly chased out of the shower by a rather large cicada. I wound up having to kill it…I hate killing those things. I forget what we wound up having for dinner, but we eventually made our way back over to Sonias to watch my favorite soap opera. It took some explaining to find out what was going on. After all that, I crashed that night. It’s tiring switching between languages.

Tuesday went by quickly as well. In the morning we went and talked to the English class of Irwin (Son in law of Don Justo or something like that). He’s a nice guy whom helped me buy the bricks for my stoves. Anyhow, we left around 8:45 for his class of all girls. I spoke initially, but they were all really interested in Maryann’s work – not so large of a surprise, and no I’m not bitter. They were a lovely group of girls and they paid attention well. They loved the photos that Mair brought and I hope they got a lot out of it. Apparetly, I will be going back to the class in June. Who knew?

After that, we checked out the Alcaldia and I introduced her to everyone. It was just a quick get to know and see where my little desk was. We ran into Don Justo – I took the opportunity to ask him for two rides. One to the waterfall and one to the airport – I got both. Yes! So, maryann and I then headed off to the waterfall after having lunch with Heidy. We went swimminging (in our clothes) because the water was just so wonderful. When we got back, we went and played softball with the ladies. They now know that someone in the family can play softball and that it isn’t me.

That night, I made Maryann cook one more time (a really great stew that Iris and Sonia both loved – they now know who can cook as well) and we got ready for our trip to Costa Rica. We unpacked all the stuff she brought down for me. I must have at least 4 new pairs of pants, some more towels and other needed supplies.

Wednesday, we got up and out the door around 8:30ish for our trip to the airport. It was then off to Costa Rica!