Another Encounter with my Arch-Nemesis!

…& lots to be thankful for 😅

Dec 12, 2024

Feliz Navidad, amigos✨❤️

It’s my favourite time of year! Celebrating Christmas with family, remembering how Jesus came to earth…closing out a year full of memories…and getting ready to welcome in a new year—like a fresh slate. A lot like the expectation and joy a sunrise brings to a new day!

Sunrise in our community, featuring **Volcan San Vicente**

Life has been exciting here in El Salvador. It’s been a month since I last posted. Let’s see, in mid-November, Tom was away from the girls and me for 4 days straight. He was helping run a Bitcoin Bootcamp down on the beach at the Airbnb we help manage.

It felt a bit weird being a single mom, and we all missed Tom. For 3 of those 4 days it was raining...HARD. So, I did extra house cleaning, and the girls did more projects. We watched movies with popcorn, and they pieced together the bones they’d found on the trail down to the river—we’re still not sure what this animal is, but we think it may be an opossum.

It doesn’t normally rain here in November, but sometimes strange things happen with weather patterns. We had a freak storm, and when I got up for my run on Monday at 6:00, EVERYTHING was wet. Even my running shoes were somewhere between damp and wet from the day before. It was beyond tempting to stay inside, make a coffee, and postpone my run.

BUT, then my husband’s words came back to me…

“I hope it rains for my run!”

Yep, he said that—he’s a little crazy. He follows David Goggins, an insanely hardcore ultramarathon runner, and former marine seal. Tom is working on doing things to harden himself physically and mentally, so he’s always trying to challenge himself these days. More on that in a future post.

I grabbed those stinky, damp shoes, and told myself,

“This WILL be worth it!”

Then I set out, up the hill, 3 excited dogs following close behind me. I stopped up at the park to do some stretches in the wet grass, as the rain fell on my face and back. Then, the dogs and I ran down the cobblestone hill on the other side of the community to the coffee farm trailhead. The rain was coming down hard, and I was almost soaked through already, but I was determined. No turning back! I’ve got this! Having the dogs with me definitely helped with the motivation factor.

We started down the rustic dirt steps, and I noticed that soon there was a mini-river flowing down the middle of the steps! In some places the “river” was so big, I had to run alongside the steps in sticks and mud.

I thought to myself,

“Wow, I’ve sure changed—I would’ve never done this by-choice in the past!”

It was a sloppy, wet mess out there! I often had to slow myself down—just so I wouldn’t slip and fall. I took the stairs back up. “They’re harder, but I’ll get home faster!” Out of curiosity, I counted them—ALL 467 of them…ooof!

When I got back to our cabin, I was basically a wet rat—water dripping from every part of me. I wondered for a moment if I was crazy.

“Nope, I feel good! Like I OVERCAME something inside myself. Some sort of mental weakness. And now I can reward myself for that!”

I’d proven to myself that I could do something hard—out of sheer determination—even if I absolutely didn’t feel like it!

A hot shower was exactly what I needed—I was COLD! After putting on some warm clothes, feeling quite satisfied, I sat down and thoroughly enjoyed my cup of delicious steaming coffee, from the nearby farm Tom helps to manage. It was heavenly!

Since we traded beach life for the calm and cool of the mountains, it’s been so refreshing. But in the last couple weeks it’s been…anything BUT calm outside. The wind has been INTENSE. I had to start wearing a long-sleeve for my runs, and on mornings when I wasn’t running, I’d get up, put on a t-shirt, followed by a hoodie…followed by my winter jacket, until around 10 am when the air was finally a bit warmer. I even wore my hoodie ALL day for a few days, which I’d never done up here before. I know, that sounds funny, coming from a Canadian, but when we lived on the beach for 18 months, I NEVER wore a hoodie down there once, not even in the evenings!

Some local friends of ours told us that the wind usually becomes stronger in October, but we’ve had a different sort of year. When we had that crazy rain storm in the middle of November, it put a big damper on the second day of the Adopting Bitcoin Conference. Tom and I had attended the first day—well, for me “attending” was selling cookies, energy balls, drinks like Jamaica (hibiscus flower) tea, tepaché (fermented pineapple juice), beach bags and pouches that I make, and my girls’ jewelry. For the conference, I started a new line of pouches—Bitcoin B pouches…

I was thankful to part with most of them that day, and also a few of the big Bitcoin bags I’d made. We’re using the proceeds for our mission of helping stray cats and dogs. It was a fun day, chatting with people from around the globe, many of whom want to move here, or have already made El Salvador their home.

Some of our friends on the beach who come to visit us up here in the mountains probably wonder why we’d choose to live so far away from our social network. And why we’d drive so far—about an hour—on switch-back, narrow roads to get up to our little mountain cabin. But we still love it up here. The climate makes us sigh in relief many days when we’ve spent several hours down in the heat, sweating non-stop. It’s improved our health and even our mental health to live in a place where you can go running and not be too hot and sweaty, and where you can go outside at any hour of the day and it feels good. Our girls are still loving playing outside in the cool air up here too. The cabin is a little small—around 1100 square feet—but we’re making it work, and also trying not to over-stuff it 😄

I discovered that poinsettias “pascuas” grow in the wild in El Salvador, and are in bloom this time of year in the mountains. Here’s a bush that grows on the coffee trail on the way down to the river, and brings us joy!

We’ve also noticed that the mountain people (in general) look healthier than other Salvadorans. Most likely because they do lots of walking uphill, and breathe the fresh mountain air all day long.

Helping to manage an Airbnb is far from a walk in the park—Tom is doing a lot behind-the-scenes these days, and sometimes it’s challenging. I help out when I can too. Picture me driving 30 minutes in traffic to the local market to buy flowers and fruit, greeting smiling vendors in the hot, crowded, indoor market, procuring some “flores bonitas y frutas ricas.” Then—arms full and sweat dripping down my face—making my way back to the car, and returning to the beach house to arrange them. My grandma ran a flower shop when I was a little girl, so flower-arranging can be nostalgic for me ☺️

And, helping out does have its perks. Last week we got to spend a few nights down on the beach at SOUL (click to check out photos) house with Tom’s parents, and it was just incredible and felt luxurious.

Being right there, watching the waves, enjoying the ocean breeze, smelling the salty air, was all simply amazing. We could walk down a few steps and be on the sandy beach anytime of day. Time stood still as we collected shells and dead crabs, jumped in the waves, and caught some of them with the boogie boards. The sunsets alone were just breath-taking…

Having mis suegros (my parents-in-law) here for the whole month, visiting us from Canada has been great so far. We love having them around, and the girls are loving their month off school, and spending every day with them. Our beach vacation for a few days was lots of fun, and almost felt like we’d gone to another country.

Back up at our mountain cabin, Tom and I set up a little bed on the dining room floor each night for ourselves…and it works. We’ve realized we don’t need 3-4 bedrooms. We can get by with 2, for now anyways!

Do you ever think life is going along smoothly…and then you get an unpleasant surprise?! I can relate...

On Monday, Tom found a towel that had been left on the girls’ bedroom floor for a few days (while we were at the beach), so he threw it downstairs. I said I’d hang it up and wash it later. Grabbing it, I brought it outside, and just as I was about to hang it in the sun, I felt a HORRIBLE stinging sensation—starting at my left pinkie finger, going to my whole body.

I recalled that feeling all too well…

SCORPION!!!

I immediately let out a shriek—Tom knew it was bad, and came running. So did the girls. I couldn’t get ice on my finger fast enough! Tom shook out the towel, and found the beast…it was huge.

I took a Benadryl, a paracetamol, and some ibuprofen, hoping to calm the painful sting. But only the ice seemed to help. Meanwhile, Tom got rid of the perpetrator, so we didn’t get a photo. I saw it briefly, and this is what it looked like—about 3 inches wide, and maybe 5-6 inches long with its tail out.

I recalled ALL too well my incident with a baby scorpion in Mexico. That was in April, 2022. So, this was my second—and hopefully LAST encounter with one 😝 Once again, it took about 3-4 hours for the awful sting to subside, and only then could I finally stop applying ice. I did sleep incredibly well after my second dose of Benadryl though—out like a light at 8:30! 😴

My oldest daughter and I were recently at the Bitcoin farmers market and I was reminded again how hundreds (or is it thousands?) of people are coming here to find freedom, better health (think endless ripe fruit and veg, and lots of sun), a place where Bitcoin is used as a currency, and, most importantly: to find a country with similar values to theirs. One young guy we met on Sunday had recently landed from Cyprus, and seemed keen to ask me LOTS of questions. It was fun to share our story and experiences with him, and he kept saying how he might just stay here for the long haul. Great—we need more people here who share the common vision! Bienvenidos, amigos 😊

We look forward to a quiet Christmas in the mountains with Tom’s parents.

We’re thankful that we have so many blessings in our lives:

family visiting from Canada
amazing friends here who share our values
fresh mountain air
the beauty of nature 🌺
good health
a great place to live…with hot showers!
delicious local coffee ☕️
fresh tropical fruit and veggies
sweet animals who rely on us and bring us all joy
everyday challenges to help us grow
living in a place where our kids can learn a different language and culture
a life that is far from “boring” 😄

Muchisima gracias/ a huge thank you to all of you for all of the encouragement and support this past year! ❤️❤️❤️

To close the year out, I’d like to share Mary’s song from Luke chapter 1. It’s one of my favourite Christmas passages…

“My soul glorifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty…”

Mary is such an example of child-like faith and simple trust. When tasked by an angel with being the mother of the Saviour, rather than worry about all the what-if’s involved, she said,