Miscellaneous El Salvador Updates

I can't believe I am saying this, but I will only have a few more "Life in El Salvador" posts left to write this year. The end of our time in El Salvador is coming so soon! It's really quite amazing how quickly June is approaching. So, here are some updates before I forget what cool things we had done in this beautiful country.

Somewhat recently, a bunch of us went on a night tour to the Cemetery of the Illustrious. The place was huuuge and had a lot of really ornate graves and tombstones.



One of the most interesting headstones was this unlabeled one of an old fascist president, Maximiliano Martinez, who had caused the slaughter of 30,000 natives during his dictatorship and had chosen to have a nameless tombstone in fear of post-mortem retaliation.


To fully appreciate how special these "illustrious" tombs are, I think you have to understand what "normal" Central American cemeteries look like. Below are some pictures we took of a regular cemetery, which we had walked past during a hike in February. These local cemeteries always have a lot of colorful flowers surrounding the tombs, and they are far from the gothic feel of the Cemetery of the Illustrious.



Here are a couple of other pictures from the February hike.

The hike itself was long (maybe 6 hours up and 3 hours down?) and not totally scenic. Pretty uneventful, I'd say, except that you come across trenches that are remnants of the Salvadoran Civil War (which ended in 1992, very recently), and in the end you also come across this terrible sign, warning of land mines ahead:

The hiking guides told us that after the war, Belgian experts had to be brought in to remove the mines with special equipment. Not just on this mountain, but on other nearby mountains as well. It serves as a reminder of just how recently the war had ravaged this country.

Then, most recently (today), I tagged along with some friends to whale-watch in Los Cobanos! I like Los Cobanos a lot, because it's a deserted beach with a chill hostel (whose owner is a great hostess and an awesome singer) and there is a food hut right around the corner from the hostel that serves delicious grilled fish, stuffed with cilantro, garlic, peppers, and salt. YUM.

Anyway, we stayed overnight last night to hang out at the beach, and this morning we woke up bright and early to go whale-watching. Mission accomplished!!






If you can't tell from the pictures above, there were two whales that we saw -- a mom and a calf. They were swimming around us peacefully for about 5 to 10 minutes, periodically sticking their backs/fins out of the water -- sometimes at the same time! In the end, the mom whipped her tail into the air. It was beautiful!

On the same trip, we also saw a variety of other wild life -- (large black) dolfins, a sea turtle, various jumping tuna, and birds! We also got to swim for a good while, and it was SO NICE to hang out in the warm ocean water.





...That's all the updates for now. :) Our next big trip will be to Roatan, in Honduras. It'll very likely be our last international trip before we move!! Que lastima!

Christmas Sunshine

Having really warm weather for Christmas makes me feel like a kid again, as though I had never left California. (In SoCal where I grew up, it was not unusual to have 90+ degrees of sunshine on Christmas Day.)

Anyway, thought I'd take this ample free time (now that we're mostly set for going away on Friday) to put up some updates of what we've been up to in San Salvador. :)

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We recently climbed Santa Ana, which is the tallest (not steepest) volcano in El Salvador. It last erupted in 2005, which by nature's time frame is like a second ago! (So, I think that makes it tied for the second most active volcano we've climbed in Central America.)

Here is what the rim at the top looks like around the crater. Pretty steep when you try to look into the crater (left). Those little specks are people up ahead.


This particular crater has 3 strata, formed from 3 different eruptions over (a long period of) time. It's stunningly beautiful, and you can see all the layers even from afar. Down at the bottom there is a green boiling crater lake. Our friend Greg kicked a rock over to see how far down the crater is. For almost a full minute, you can still hear the rocks rolling/rumbling down below.



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Sometime in November, we went to the Marine Ball (again). It was fun to play dress up (putting my $20 dress to good use), but I think I've officially gotten it out of my system. This year, the good thing is that we got a deal. Dinner + dancing + open bar for $40 ain't bad at all.


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Lastly, some other time in November, the German embassy sponsored an Oktoberfest. It was pretty cool (especially because there were some social dancers there, tearing up the dance floor), but it was a teaser for the real thing we want to go to next year. :)

Here are pictures of us, with Will and Andrea, two of my favorite gringos:



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That's (really) it for now. We're super excited about going to Argentina!! :) We leave on Friday, and will be gone until after New Year's. On our agenda are glaciers!! -- and maybe some dancing and some wine tours. And definitely lots of eating. Argentinian steaks are supposed to actually come from happy (free-range) cows. :)

Thanksgiving with the Coxes

Geoff and I spent the last four days playing host to his parents. It was AWESOME - I actually never imagined that it would be possible to jam pack so many things into four days, in El Salvador. We saw a beautiful beach (and did a whole all-inclusive thing) that had a stunning salt-water pool, a jacuzzi, and many very large and luxurious pools. We had an oiled massage (here they are $15 per hour... very affordable!). We took the Coxes up to a beautiful (and very delicious/intimate) fusion restaurant at the top of the mountain, overlooking many mountains and the city while the sun was setting. (The owners came out and talked to us, and one of them told us the story about how the restaurant came to be, and also played and sang some tunes on his guitar. Geoff's parents LOVED that!) We visited an old Spanish colonial town, saw its church, had a drink by the lake, and even hiked down a bit to check out the awesome hexagonal-prism shaped rock columns that are completely natural. And on the last night, we went to a beautiful restaurant that's already all decked out in Christmas spirit, on top of Torre de la Futura. (Geoff's mom LOVES Christmas, so it was a special treat for her to see the whole place decked out already.)

All in all, it was an absolutely lovely weekend. Happy Thanksgiving, and may we all be thankful for family and for love.

Mumble Jumble Peru Mumble Jumble

Geoff and I are counting down the days until we go to Peru! We are supposed to be hiking and camping for 5 days / 4 nights and ending up at Machu Picchu. I am excited!!! :) I am a little nervous about the whole altitude thing, since we won't have a lot of time to spend in Cuzco before embarking on the hike. (The timing just doesn't work out that well, even though we know that it is recommended to arrive early in Cuzco to let your body adjust to the altitude before climbing to higher grounds.) But, we'll see how it goes!

This past weekend, we went down to Costa del Sol, which is a ritzy beach area where the rich and the powerful Salvadoreans bring their families on the weekends (to stay at their luxurious villas). It was Geoff's and my first time down there, so we drove around for a while before we found Hotel Bahia del Sol, which we had read mixed reviews of. It turns out that they only offer all-inclusive deals ($69 per person per night, which is pretty pricey by Salvadorean standards), but since we had never done something like this before, Geoff and I decided to spring for it!

As you might imagine, we had a really lovely time. :) We actually didn't spend much time in the ocean this time, but we did lie under the coconut trees on the warm sand for a while. The rain managed to hold off for the most part -- it drizzled a good amount during the evening that we stayed there, but not enough to spoil our spirits. The rest of the time, we dipped in their lovely pool (it was shaped like a circular river, and even ran underneath a bridge at parts) and relaxed. Geoff also drank like a fish, because he felt the need to get both of our money's worth. :) So, it was amazing! Definitely a do-over at some point, maybe with more people next time.

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After our trip to Peru, things will definitely pick up their pace! The new hires will arrive, and the year will start to glide into gear... If I can get myself motivated, I'll try to work my way through some Geometry researching / planning this week, while I still have time to myself.

Also, I am back on the yoga bandwagon.* My goal for this week is to be able to consistently hold my headstand for 1 minute, so that I can start working towards 2 minutes! :)

*My yoga teacher is officially on maternity leave! She hasn't actually delivered her baby yet, but she's putting off yoga instruction for now. I am sad and relieved at the same time. Up until a few weeks ago, she was still doing some demonstrations and spotting people on their scorpions, etc. Some of the girls in the class were more scared of accidentally kicking her than they were of falling!

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I remembered this morning a story my mom had told me about how poor the people were in Taiwan when she was growing up. Only when they had guests over, would her mom send her down to the store to buy one egg. They would stir-fry the (one) egg for the guest, and all the kids would stand by enviously as they watched the guest eat. They also bought cooking oil by the scoop. It wasn't until she was much older -- maybe high school? -- that eggs were sold by the dozen, and oil by liter-containers.

I've been thinking about writing down some of these stories, because I am very forgetful and, at some point, they will be lost from our family. You might read about some of them here, as I feel randomly inspired to transcribe them.

Lovely weekend

Geoff and I had a lovely July 4th weekend sans BBQ and fireworks. :)

Despite it being the rainy season, the weather turned out to be beautiful all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Friday night, we went out for a dinner and a movie, and watched Kick Ass, a cheesy but very entertaining film about wannabe superheroes. On Saturday, we checked out La Puerta del Diablo, or "Devil's Door", a famous site for executions during the Salvadorean Civil War. It was interesting -- we met a coconut vendor who speaks flawless English, and he initiated a very frank conversation with us about El Salvador's present and future. Much of what he said corroborates my existing belief that there is little hope for foreseeable change in this country. He confirmed for us that the police fears the maras and added that the government's lack of funding in education means that the poor is without hopes even in the long run. So many people sell things on the street, he said, because that's the only job they are capable of doing. It was a profoundly depressing conversation...

On Saturday night, after a failed attempt to locate a house party (the host had sent out very poor directions), Geoff and I went to Alambique for a drink. We ended up drinking a bottle of wine between the two of us, dancing a bit, and then deciding to come home. We hung out and talked in the hammocks, under the soft lighting of our patio, until it got to be really cold and really late -- about 4am! Finally, we went to sleep, and blissfully slept in on Sunday.

Sunday was a beautifully lazy day. We got up late. Geoff played his guitar while I hung out in the hammock next to him. Then, we took a walk to a nearby park, ate a delicious lunch at Kreef (--YESSS for Prosciutto and salami baguette sandwich!), and then took a long nap and watched some TV before going grocery-shopping. We dug up a recipe that we liked for a dish called the "Drunken Tuscan Pasta," and used a whole bottle of wine to cook our meal. --It was delicious! By the time we finally cleaned up after dinner and were ready for bed, somehow it was already 11pm.

I love aimless weekends spent with Geoff.

The magic of teaching; El Trifinio

I've been cruising during the last couple of weeks at work. In between teaching increasingly difficult algebraic topics, I sprinkled in some fun Geometric activities, various pep-talking, and some small-group tutoring to help my 9th-graders get through this time. For Geometry, March and April are our last push of heavy algebra before we move on to hands-on 3-D geometry stuff, so at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It helps that this period of heavy algebra coincides with kids working harder on their own to stay afloat during the second semester -- I cannot tell if this is a result of this being a private school or if my various pep talks throughout the year have finally started to pay off. But, the other day, when a kid had not completed his homework assignment, before I could say anything, another kid turned to him and said in an imitation of me, "Herbert, you're not making good choices." It cracked me up, and I think that it's a good sign that the kids are at least partially internalizing what I say to them...

Some of my Algebra 2 Honors kids are lobbying for me to move up with them to teach Pre-Calculus Honors. The word on the street is that I'll be teaching only Geometry (both regular and Honors) next year. I am excited about the prospect of teaching Geometry Honors, now that I have (close to) a year of experience under my belt in teaching regular Geometry. The second time around, I think I can make the Geometry topics a lot more fun than they had been the first time, because I have been collecting various teaching materials and ideas throughout the year. But, I will miss my older students. So, I am taking the stance of sitting back and seeing what comes out of their lobbying, even though I'm pretty sure they won't be able to influence the school's plan of letting me teach Geometry full-time. (I don't really know, but I would guess that there is probably some small bit of politics involved in moving "up" to teach Pre-Calculus and Calculus. Especially in a department like mine, where I am the only teacher under the age of 35, I try to stay under the drama radar.)

In other news, Geoff and I are going to Costa Rica soon! The Holy Week is coming up, which is a big deal here in Central America. We teachers actually get 10 days off -- weekend to weekend, plus the following Monday. Since I need to get a tourist visa to China before June, I had been on the phone with a guy from the nearest Chinese embassy, located in Costa Rica. He assured me that they will open their doors to allow me an appointment during Semana Santa, so I went ahead and purchased my tickets to go to Costa Rica. Geoff will join me and spend a few days there as well, so that we can look around. --I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!! Costa Rica is supposed to be a lush tropical jungle, Jurassic Park-style. I cannot be more thrilled to go there. :)


By the way, our friend Colleen recently organized an amazing trip to the Montecristo National Park. We drove up there (Geoff and I drove in our sedan, which was not a pretty picture on those mountain roads), camped out on Saturday, and then did a day hike on Sunday to summit the point where Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala borders all meet at El Trifinio. It was a foggy day and the view wasn't great, but the hike was amazingly comfortable through the serene forest. I had missed being outdoors!

Oktoberfest, El Centro

Geoff and I have had a few very uneventful weekends, because I've had to catch up on work before the quarter ends. By this weekend, both of us were going stir-crazy and wanting to go away somewhere for the weekend. But, we had promised our friend Andrea that we would go to her Oktoberfest party, so we decided to stick around the city...

We decided, instead, to make the best out of Andrea's party. We went and bought a ton of beers (a mix of cheap and nice beers), bought two giant beer mugs, got some plastic cups for beer pong, and made jello shots! Andrea's party turned out to be totally fun, even though the Americans mostly turned in somewhat early. We ended up partying with her Salvadorean friends, plus Jon, after everyone else had left. We taught the Salvadorean girls how to play flip cup and beer pong, and they taught us how to play Vikingo and Marcas. And we silly-danced. It was pretty awesome times. :)

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One thing we did try to do this weekend was to go down to El Centro to visit the Palacio Nacional, the Catedral Metropolitana, and the Teatro Nacional, which are all on the same block in El Centro. We got inside the cathedral, and it was pretty neat, but both the National Palace and the National Theatre were closed to visitors. What a shame! We were also warned by our taxi driver to not walk around past the 2 block-by-3 block area, since El Centro is not at all a safe barrio. Anyway, the cab driver said we'd be OK if we stayed around the very bustling parts of town, so we didn't press our luck. We left pretty soon after visiting the cathedral, since I wasn't feeling very safe. Afterwards, Geoff said that he felt like people were giving him pretty unfriendly vibes. I am not sure whether I had felt the same, but it was definitely a very impoverished part of the city. As soon as we had gotten out of the cab, a waft of something in the air had told me that there were homeless people nearby; and sure enough, you could see them every few feet, huddled next to a building or holding out their hands to beg for money. According to things I've read on the internet, El Centro suffers from a lot of street violence, and isn't really safe to visit at any hour.

Generally speaking, I'm feeling a little frustrated by the security situation here. Some days, it seems like we cannot really go anywhere. Even on our way down to a popular bar one night (La Luna Arte y Casa), a kid jumped out in front of our taxi cab in an attempt to stop us -- probably for no good. The cab driver eventually drove around the kid, and the cop car behind us picked up the kid and took him down to the station, but it's hard to say that we're going to keep being so lucky.

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Anyway, the first quarter is already over! Can you believe it?

I need a break. We've only had one long weekend since the school started. The next 3-day weekend will be the weekend of Halloween. I cannot wait!

Day trip!

As part of the welcoming process for the new international hires, the school organized a day trip led by a Salvadorean Spanish teacher who holds a Master's in Salvadorean history and who had worked for years at the national museum. As it turns out, Vicky is brilliant in both historical and current knowledge and was very kind to tell us all kinds of wonderful stories about her people. It is apparent that she takes a lot of pride in the culture of El Salvador, even though she has lived through some hard times here.

After a couple of quick stops, we stopped for lunch at a local food festival. Geoff and I gorged ourselves on grilled meat, chicken, shrimp, and sausage links. They had really amazing spices on them, and were one of the best meals we've had yet. On our way out, we had a bite of Jon's order of armadillo! It was very interesting. The meat is smooth but dense, and it has a strong salty aftertaste. Next time, I will keep my eyes peeled for "cusuco," which is the Spanish word for armadillo. :)

After lunch, the gang headed to Ataco, which is a very charming little coffee plantation town up in the mountains. There were some really cute artesan shops and cafes here, that the group decided we would stay here for the rest of the day. Geoff, Colleen, Eric, and I hiked up to the cross that we saw up the hill, and en route saw some interesting creatures -- big spiders and what looked like a flying ant hive.* Here in Ataco, we also bought some delicious goat cheese, a beautiful stool, and a couple of pieces of hand-painted art.

All in all, it was a really fun trip. :) Since we didn't have time to go try out the indigo-dying at the museum, Vicky promised to take us on a separate day trip just for that. --I can't wait!

*You can check out pictures on Flickr. Just click on the Flickr app on the right of your screen.

Weekend Excursion

Geoff and I spent the weekend by ourselves, because the rest of the new international teachers were busy settling into their apartments. In El Salvador, we have thus far met a lot of really nice locals, but because of the disparity in income, we think that many of them would not be able to afford the lifestyle that we want to have, ie. going out regularly. To give you an idea of what a "regular Salvadorean" makes in income, Geoff and I could go out and have a FULL meal -- with two pupusas and a drink for each of us -- and the total for BOTH of our meals would be around $2.50. And many "restaurants" and snack stores are holes-in-the-wall that are run literally out of someone's home or front yard. You can get a chocolanana, or frozen chocolate banana, for around 35 cents. Clearly, that's not a very high profit margin; the vendors make those right at home and sell them through a little window that faces the street, in order to keep their costs low.

International school teachers are considered upper-middle class here. In truth, my salary here is far lower than my salary back in NYC, but because the cost of living is so much lower here, our life is much more luxurious than what we once had back in NYC. Geoff and I could afford a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom apartment here, with a pool and 24-hour security, in a nice neighborhood. In NYC, for the same amount of money, we couldn't even get a single room in a shared apartment in Manhattan!

Anyway, on Friday, we had gone out in Zona Rosa, which is a posh partying district here in the city. After having a delicious steak dinner and drinking in an outdoor bar typical of this area, we checked out another indoors bar, Riconcitos, which had an awesome vibe and a cover band. The band's music was upbeat and diverse -- I think they started out with some electronica and ska, and then wrapped up with some reggaeton and salsa. The crowd was young; here in San Salvador, high-schoolers can go out and drink and party as well, and you definitely can spot their young faces in the hip bars around town. Afterwards, Geoff and I went and danced in another cool little spot across the street, where they were playing some American music, mixed with a lot of merengue. --All in all, a really fun night. :)

We ran some errands on Saturday, and then headed down to the beach. We had our minds set on going to el Tunco, which is a beach named for its giant pig-shaped rock. (Actually, the rock looked awesome, but it also looked more like a whale to us than a pig.) This beach is a famous surf spot, but we didn't get to surf this weekend. Instead, we swam in the ocean and had some delicious pupusas and seafood. We also stayed with a semi-creepy artist at his guesthouse, and that was very interesting. While we were hanging out with him on his porch, the electricity went out for the whole village, and momentarily we were sitting in complete darkness -- with a creepy guy who had already demonstrated his prowess with his machete and had reiterated his love for Asian women! Yikes. ...Fortunately, everything was OK in the end, and we even ran into our friends Alison and José the next day at the beach! :)

On Sunday night, we drove our rental car back to the city and went to a barbeque at the school's complejo, where the rest of the international hires live. That was fun, because teachers are almost always a social bunch. I'm hopeful that once they are settled in, they'll be up for going out and exploring the neighborhoods with us. :)

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A pictoral illustration of a crazy bus that went into the lane of on-coming traffic in order to pass cars in our lane; it eventually gave up and came back into our lane. (Taken on the way back from the beach.)




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As you might have read, the swine flu has been in full-swing in El Salvador for 4 months. Well, the ministry is closing schools for two weeks -- this week and next week. What that means is that we are not allowed to go into the school itself, and all of the paperwork and professional development meetings we were supposed to have this week have been moved to another location. School will be delayed at least one day in opening, which I'm certainly not complaining about. Other teachers are keeping their fingers crossed that the school will be delayed even further, to allow us a last long weekend before school re-opens.
We'll see about that, I guess. I'm not too worried.