July 5th

I'm down to the final few days in El Salvador.  Jason and I have been doing a lot of traveling by bus/truck.  

A few days ago we were in La Playa Tunco where I took a couple more cracks at surfing.  The first day was challenging due to the stumps and wood debris to avoid in the waves.  It's always a bit intimidating to face a whole tree also "surging."  The next day the floating forest has washed on shore and it was just waves to contend with.  My arms are soar from so much paddling. 

Then it was on to the Sheraton in San Salvador for a 4th of July party (on the 5th).  There were tons of gringos here (100 or so Peace Corps volunteers) and the US Ambassador.  A few of us did chat up up the Ambassador until his punctual aid ushered him off to make his speech.  He's a Bush appointee - political appointment rather than career diplomat.  He came from investment banking so we chatted about the role private industry has in combating poverty in El Salvador.  

Now it's off to the mountains.  Ahh coolness. 

DAY SEVENTEEN – July 2 – Mi perro es su perro.

Almost all animals in the Barra are free range, particularly the dogs, chickens and roosters. The roosters kick in to their morning crooning around 4am. This morning I took a walk around 6am and noticed that at low tide pigs are tied to poles in the mud of the estuary so they can eat the crabs. Seafood ham anyone? I’ve noticed a few ducks, but they seem to run with the chickens, trying to blend in. A duck pretending to be a chicken is pretty comical. If only the ducks felt free to be ducks in world dominated by chickens.
Dogs have a tough life, most of them running free and fending for themselves. They’re not treated real well (kicking, rocks) because they’re pests trying to find the next meal. This makes them a bit mean and territorial. The Mayor has proposed an extermination program, but that caused an outcry from the town so the dogs stay.

DAY SIXTEEN – Premiero de Julio – Success!

Today abounded with technical successes. After 6 trips to the cyber café and one trip the San Salvador, but I finally got the office computer working properly. (needed a motherboard driver). The cyber café is open random hours, is always packed with 5-9 year olds playing Grand Theft Auto 4 (for free) and when the power goes out, which happens at least daily when it rains, the whole operation grinds to a halt for 10 minutes. These are challenging conditions, but determination won out in the end.
Two more days in Barra de Santiago. . . My leg is healing nicely so hopefully it will be in good shape for surfing on Friday.