An Oasis in the Hills

Why even life on the beach can eventually lose its appeal

Hola, amigos 😄

Shoutout to each one of you—now over 400 of you, my faithful readers! I honestly can’t believe I’m even saying that, because I still don’t consider myself a “writer,” but somehow you all keep coming back…and encouraging me to keep going!

All I can say is thank you 💖

Now that I’ve been doing this for over 2 years, I’ve gotten to the point where it’s not even optional. I often have to overcome feelings of “I’m too busy right now,” or “I’m just not feeling that inspired to write.”

And thankfully my hubby/editor, Tom, helps me with that by asking me frequently how my writing is coming along, and when I’m due to post again. But I also have to remind myself that our “normal life” has so many unique attributes and we observe so much in the everyday life in a tropical, developing country.

Things like how they cut mangoes into pretty yellow flowers and then sell them on a stick, how fire flower/flor de fuego trees are in full bloom in May (photo below), how people here earn about $10-$20 a day, but seem happier than most North Americans, and how Salvadorans seem to value taking time for people over the “time is money” mentality.

A couple months ago, we had another cat clinic near the beach, and I brought a couple more street cats to get fixed. We named the timid black and white female “Luna.“ As the vet was handing her cage back to me after the clinic, she said in Spanish,

“It was hard to do the surgery on her because she has a bad infection in her ovaries. She’ll need antibiotics for the next 5 days…”

I handed her the money for the antibiotics and deworming meds, and then she handed my money back and said,

“Actually, we want to give you these. You guys are doing so much good for the street cats here.”

I was pleasantly surprised, thanked her for the work she too is doing, and left.

As I was driving home, I thought,

“How on earth do I give antibiotics to a timid, ferrel cat for 5 days?”

Then I had an idea. I messaged my friend when I got home.

“Could we use your dog kennel to help a street cat take antibiotics? We’d need it for almost a week..”

She jumped right on board, letting me know they’d be happy to lend it to us, and had it cleaned out for me within an hour.

And so, that’s how we had Luna living in the dog kennel in our sun room for the next 6 days. She was so groggy after the clinic that she couldn’t start taking meds till the next day. She deemed me her worst enemy, hissing at me and backing into the corner anytime I’d open the cage to put food or water in. But after the week was up, and we set her free, she decided we weren’t so bad after all. Especially since she knew we’d probably feed her. She is now one of our outdoor kitties, and is quite sweet.

With avocado season in full force, we’re eating 10-12 of them a day. We’ve been sharing them with friends, and can hardly keep up with freezing them for future smoothies before they’re overripe. But the hardest part is getting them from the tree. We got a bunch by standing on our bodega roof and using the fruit picker to reach them. Last week Tom also climbed up in the mango tree to pick some, since the trees are so close together. And today he got way up in the avocado tree with the picker (photo below) and dropped lots for us to go find on the ground—like big green Easter eggs hiding under leaves! It takes a LOT of work for us to get a bag of avocados…but it’s sure amazing to bring them home! Like last year, we need to hire a local who’s not afraid of heights to go up with a harness and pick the ones at 25-40 feet up.

We’ve been spending some time at our property, doing a beautification project recently. It’s so fun to see the results! We planted several fruit trees, plants, and flowers near our storage shed / bodega and lining the pathway up the hill, and it’s starting to look quite lovely up there.

We recently sent our girls to a school in the city for a week. It was such a learning experience for them…and for us! Acton Academy was started in Austin, Texas by a couple who wanted their boys to get away from an education system where kids sit at their desks being lectured to, where “facts” are taught and memorized, and where there’s little room for critical thinking.

Our girls brought so many great ideas back with them after just a week of being part of that school. To start the day, the kids there do “Socratic discussions” where they share ideas and opinions about a topic. They use online resources, such as Khan Academy math, to gain more knowledge. My girls decided they want to learn to type “like the Acton kids” since attending. And they want to do more online learning about different topics of interest.

Unfortunately it’s too far for us to drive up to the city on a regular basis, considering we had to drive 3 hours a day to make it work. But we gained lots of insights, and are so thankful we did that trial week. The director is actively looking for a location here on the beach to open another school up for all the expat families settling down here. Even once we move up to our land, it would be a great place for the girls to come a couple times a week, not just to learn, but to see their friends.

One thing I keep doing is taking some time to think, pray, and process. Every morning, even on days when we have to leave the house early, I walk up this hill to my “happy place” at the big pool.

Since it’s usually already hot enough for us to be sweating at 7 am here, I jump right into the deep end and swim about 10 laps. I stop occasionally to take in the ocean views, breathing in as I watch the waves crashing onto the sandy shore in the distance.

Then I sit and journal and read and often write a bit of my next post for awhile. I NEED this time, as a busy homeschool mom. It’s sometimes my only “uninterrupted” time of the day.

This season in El Salvador can be so draining with the extreme humidity and heat near the beach. It’s been raining a few times a week now, which helps a lot. But I realized this week that I get “heat anxiety” if I have to go outside for more than a few minutes between 11 am and 4 pm!! Seems a bit ridiculous, I know. But it’s been an unusually hot year. I often prepare myself by having a cold shower and putting my wet hair up to help keep myself cooler. Even with wet hair, a person is sticky in the humidity within a few minutes of being outside. Yes, the heat and humidity here has been that intense!

We just spent the night up in the mountains nearby. It’s an hour by car to get up there, but since we’d stayed there 2 years ago when we first came, we knew the cooler air would make the trip worth it. We drove up early Sunday afternoon, and opened the car windows for some fresh air, once we reached a higher elevation. It’s around 1100 meters. We arrived at our little mountain home, which looked like something out of the book, Heidi.

On Monday we enjoyed sipping our coffees in the crisp morning air. We’d traded dripping with sweat for wearing pants and long-sleeves, and it was so refreshing! We’d also traded the usual noisy morning traffic for the peaceful sounds of chirping birds and crowing roosters. Looking out over the dense jungle with green hills in the distance, I took some deep breaths, basking in the fresh mountain air, feeling grateful.

After breakfast, we did a little hike with the girls down the steps of the steep hillside to the little “rio” that winds through the bottom of the narrow, green valley. Descending the hill through the little coffee farm, taking in the lush plants and views, we got to the bottom in about 15 minutes. We then stayed on the narrow winding trail, using the carefully placed rocks to cross over the tiny river in various places. There are huge banana trees and all sorts of amazing tropical plants and flowers growing happily in that lush green jungle.

While up there, we checked out the cabin where we’d stayed 2 years ago, with the hope of possibly staying there again, this time for longer. It‘s a smaller place than we have now, but with the option of storing some things up at our property in the “bodega” we’re hoping to find a way to make it work. The girls all voted unanimously to move up there—they’re tired of always being hot and sweaty, and hardly being able to go outside to play after 10 am. They miss being outside. And the house we’re in right now is pretty dark, so it almost feels like we live in a cave. We’re all ready to be outside, breathing fresh air and enjoying the outdoors again!

Another reason to make the move is that we haven’t been utilizing being at the beach much lately at all. It’s gotten down to once a week or less. A few weeks ago, my 3 girls and I met up with a friend down at the beach. Us ladies were boogie boarding while the girls jumped in the waves nearby. After about 15 minutes, my middle daughter, 8, came up to me looking beaten up, and said,

“Mommy, I just got flipped around 6 times under the water! I could barely get up. It was crazy!!!”

I hugged her, and told her, “I’m SO glad you’re ok, sweetie!!” Right away my mamma bear kicked into high-gear:

“We’re getting out! Let’s go!! C’mon girls—it’s not safe!”

I could hardly believe the rip tide was that powerful!

Just 2 days later we were at a water park north of the city, and I was chatting with a local lady. She was telling me about her family, and how she’d had 5 kids, but one daughter had died when she was only 7 years old. I told her I was so sorry, and asked how she’d died.

“She died in the ocean.” she told me in Spanish.

I’ve never had as much respect for the ocean as I did after that experience and that brief conversation. And I told Tom I don’t want to bring the girls out in the waves during the “big wave” season anymore without him. He agreed that it’s not worth it.

And so, we’re leaving the beach soon, after 18 months here. We’ve had so much fun, but it’s time. We’re all sad to leave our close friends behind. But we’ll come down at least once a week to visit, and combine it with the girls’ weekly archery class with their friends.

It feels like a season in our lives is coming to an end. But at the same time, a new one is beginning, and we’re so thankful for this one…and hopeful for the next. Thankful for every friend we’ve been able to make here at the beach. Thankful for each time we’ve enjoyed the sand, the waves, the amazing sunsets, the hermit crabs, and the shells. And hopeful for this next year of living in a cooler place, while building our future home.

Romans 5:3-5

Change is a necessary part of this life, and we’re ready for the next chapter!

Thanks for reading friends!

Nos vemos pronto 💚