Hola, amigos ☺️
It’s voting day in El Salvador. Depending on who gets voted in, this could change the trajectory of our future. 🇸🇻
It’s been another few weeks of life here, with its highs and lows. On Friday, we had a bit of both—Tom got the official approval for our electricity to get put in at the property…after months of challenges—Hooray!!
And tragically, just as he was there getting that good news, our sweet kitty, Nico was run over right near our house, before our eyes, as our friends were pulling in. For some reason he was excited and went to the wrong place at the worst possible time. The girls were SO devastated, and we are all still processing our loss. Life is such a mystery. We’ll never fully understand it. It can end so suddenly and inexplicably. We only had sweet Nico for four months, since the girls found that cute little fuzzy orphan kitty in the construction site next door. He brought joy into our world with his snuggles and his sweet spirit.
“Grief is the last act of love we give to our loved one. Where there is deep grief there is great love…
—Chaplin Robert Orr
I explained to the girls that they feel so much pain because they loved him so deeply. I wasn’t expecting to have to write about losing another kitty…but it was weighing on my heart and mind heavily as I was getting ready to post this.
I’m going to switch gears now…
Over the past few months I’ve been thinking about how many things here were different for us when we arrived, but have now become the norm. I’ve written about a lot of them, but thought it would be fun to compile a little list. I’m sure I could write a few blogs on ALL the differences, but these are a few highlights I came up with, with the help of Tom and a few of our friends here.
Depending on whether you live in Central America or not, you’ll find some of these normal OR surprising…
When we first drove here at night, we noticed there are a lot of cars driving around with blue tail lights, colourful strobing tail lights, or no tail lights at all. Night driving can be a little like living on the edge!! What I’d like to know is: Who is at fault if you rear-end someone at night who doesn’t have tail lights…?!
We've gotten used to the ground or the house vibrating with tremors and earthquakes every once in a while here. We had one at midnight just last week, in fact. It woke up some of our friends nearby, but we all slept right through it. Earthquakes are pretty commonplace here in Central America, because it is located where several tectonic plates meet…and this also causes much more volcanic activity.
Fun fact: El Salvador has over 170 volcanoes, 14 of which are active. In such a small country, that means we can see volcanoes almost everywhere we go!
As I’m writing this at 7 am, I can hear the fruit and veggie truck with its loudspeaker announcing what they’re selling… “Manzanas, manzanas, manzanas…tomates, tomates, tomates…sandía, sandía...” We love the huge variety of fruits and vegetables they carry around.
One thing we’ve had to get used to is the incredibly noisy fire crackers and fireworks whenever there’s something to celebrate. Whether it’s a birthday, Easter, Christmas, or a Salvadoran holiday, there can be noise similar to gunshots until 1 am, and it often starts up again at 4 am! The whole month of December, the nights were filled with excitement, as the fire crackers sounded, often 4-8 in a row, reminding everyone about what time of year it was! Let’s just say, I was thankful for my earplugs at night.
Salvadorans are very industrious, and often know several trades. Like the guy working on the house next door who used his welding rod to fix our cast iron frying pan. Our cat had been on the counter and knocked the frying pan onto the floor. Because our floors are solid tile, the handle hit at the wrong angle and broke off. Feeling doubtful, I took the pan next door and asked him if he might be able to fix it. In just 20 minutes, he did! A few days later he also did an electrical repair for us, and he had all the right tools for that too.
Many workers here also have a “side hustle” or a second job in order to pay their bills, partly because of the low wages paid to labourers.
A lot of people here ride around on motorcycles, even with multiple kids. And others ride standing up, with 10 to 15 others packed into the back of a truck.
There’s no time change here. And if you’ve travelled to places near the equator, you’ll know—it gets dark at around 6pm every night of the year, and light again around 6am.
We have only 2 "seasons"—RAINY from May or June until October, where it mostly just rains in the evenings and during the night, and is more humid during the day. DRY season is the rest of the year and is less humid. It can be cooler with more wind in December and January, but then it gets pretty hot from mid-February to April.
We’ve noticed that most people are more concerned with being kind and taking time for people than with getting things done at warp speed. It’s a different mindset.
Random facts of life here:
We can’t flush toilet paper without risking it clogging the pipes. It was the same in most of Mexico.
Never stand under a coconut palm! Its no joke—if a falling coconut hits you on the head, it could kill you!!
Tap water isn’t safe for drinking. You need to buy your drinking water or purchase a good filter.
There are skunks and possums around at night, and they sometimes come into our backyards…some friends here throw scrap fruit and veggies to two skunks and a possum who come by every evening. We also have the odd snake or scorpion making an unwelcome appearance. The other day a scorpion stung our friends’ dog—poor guy! Later they found it in their kitchen—thankfully, before it had stung anyone else! Since my horrible scorpion experience, I highly recommend that if you ever see one, you grab a shoe…
Banana and papaya trees (and many others) grow like weeds here, because everything grows that much faster, with warm weather being almost constant. My papaya trees planted last March are about 7 feet tall now and full of fruit!
We have access to delicious tree-ripened fruit and fresh vegetables all year-round, and have tried many exotic fruits we’d never heard of before. Some we’ve loved, like guayabas and anonas. The papayas here are so sweet and delicious, with bright pinkish-red fruit—not like any we’d ever had in Canada.
There are lots of double-lane roundabouts here, and you have to drive in the inside lane unless you’re taking the next exit. Someone can cut you off at ANY time if you’re in the outer lane. As a foreigner you may have to learn that the hard way—like we did.
Did you know that there are tons of words in Spanish that are almost the same as in English, you just have to say them with a Spanish accent?! Like conversation—“conversación” or car—“carro.”
But then there are some that are completely different than the English word…like the word for popcorn. It is “palomitas” meaning “little pigeons”—haha—I guess popcorn does resemble little pigeons! Some words here make us smile, because you can definitely see where they came from.
Others really confuse us, just like I’m sure a person trying to learn English is constantly confused with there, their, and they’re. Or “No!” versus “I know!”
There are a lot of homes here with an open-air concept. Some of our friends live in places with an outdoor kitchen, living room, or dining room. Often those rooms have fans to help you stay a little cooler. As you can imagine, living in the sweltering heat of the tropics, we close the doors to keep the HEAT OUT, when we’re running the a/c. Back in Canada we had to close the doors to keep the heat IN and the COLD OUT for half the year. It’s a different lifestyle, living in constant heat. Showers are so refreshing.
Speaking of showers…we have dozens of snails in our shower…and we don’t know where they keep coming from! Occasionally the cats enjoy one as a crunchy snack. Mmmm…
Because we’re by the ocean, there is a great fish market nearby in Puerto de La Libertad (aka “freedom port”) where we can buy reasonably priced, delicious fish. The other day we got some red snapper fillets—one of our favourites. It’s such a treat to have access to all these amazing fish.
In the last 18 months of living here, we’ve noticed so much change happening! There are shopping centres going up everywhere—with Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dollar City, and some Salvadoran chains like La Neveria, an ice cream shop. These changes can be good, but they also make us a little sad because it means there will be less coconut and watermelon stands along the road. There will be less ladies grilling delicious bean and cheese pupusas with their homemade curtido (coleslaw) and tomato sauce.
A few days ago, one of our cats had a fever, and she was struggling to breathe, wheezing loudly, and very lethargic. Rather than take her to the vet, I decided to go a different route. A friend told me I could get antibiotics over-the-counter and we looked up the dosage for our kitty. So, I went to the local farmacia and got some amoxicillin for less than $3. Amazingly, after just two doses on Wednesday, she woke up on Thursday a completely different cat! She could breathe and had her energy back again. Not having to deal with all the “middle men” and pay all those extra fees is so refreshing 😊
Several weeks ago, on Christmas Day, our friends asked us if we’d like to join them at the pool in their community. As we entered the beach club, only a brief walk from where we live, I was awe-struck. How do we live in a place that’s similar to a gorgeous beachfront resort?! The beauty of the ocean just behind the pool, with exotic trees in the foreground.…WOW! I just felt so much gratitude.
There are dozens of other neat things here that I could write about, but I’ll save them for another post. Whether you live in India, Peru, or Kenya, I’m sure you could compile a huge list of all the idiosyncrasies of where you live too. It’s funny how even when we mention to people here about how we had 2-3 feet of snow for half the year back in Canada, their eyes bulge in disbelief!
Life is never dull, no matter where you are. Often driving at night or seeing the snails in the shower can make us laugh. There are so many aspects to life in a developing tropical country that make it an adventure, keep us on our toes, and remind us that we’re in a completely different place than where we grew up.
We’re thankful that our kids get the opportunity to experience a unique culture and learn another language. The people here are incredibly generous and friendly. They have made us feel welcome in their home country. And for that all we can say is…
“¡Muchas gracias, es muy amable!” 💗
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As always Emily... thanks for sharing your stories, of all types, so eloquently. Many of us (probably most) have experienced the immense joy of sharing space and time with beloved animals, and then the tragic heartache that accompanies their passing... it's a very deep grief that affects us profoundly, Especially for children. I wonder if we gain even greater depths of love thru these early losses of our furry pets.
Sorry for the traumatic event with your kitty. Sadly, outdoor kitties often have very short lives.