Wild kingdom, El Salvador style

                       Well, we're knee deep in the wilds of Central America now.



 We were relaxing in the outdoor bar/restaurant at the hotel when this gigantic flying creature entered the patio area. He bobbed and weaved through us as we gringos leapt up, awestruck, at this amazing sight:

           The beautiful and gigantic Owl Butterfly is named for the large eye on his wing, which
         resembles an Owl's eye.  He rested on Mick's hand for several minutes while a few of us
                          approached in silent wonder. His wingspan was several inches across.



                                                     Welcome to Central America!

                       Zach the toad whisperer corralled this little (or not so little -- he was about the size of a Double Whopper with cheese...) guy from under a bush and carried him around for awhile as his adopted pet. It is unknown whether Zach licked him or not. Only Zach (and the toad) knows for sure...

      These Soclal Flycatchers are as ubiquitous here in El Salvador as sparrows are in the states.
   We love them because, as their name entails, they help keep the bug numbers down. Bless them!

                        This super-cool and stealthy fleet of Bat Rays sailed in near perfect precision
                          under and around our boats in the Chiapas marina for several days

          Lastly, during our last passage we tripped upon a large school of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins.
      As their name implies, these polka-dotted Flippers only hang out down here in the tropics.
                             So it was a special treat swimming amongst them!


That's it for now on the nature front. But I'm standing by, binoculars and camera at the ready, and will be reporting back as we discover new and exciting wildlife here in Central America!

New photo round-up/El Salvador

                       A friendly San Salvador policeman shows off his fancy cop duds.
                                                          Note the Nazi-esque knickers!

        We were stunned to find this pine forest halfway up the volcano Santa Ana. Who knew there were pine forests in the tropics? They were so beautiful and really reminded us of home in the American West.

                                    This cool treehouse was at the volcano national park entry area.

         Here's another cool treehouse. This one is on the Isla Cordoncillo, right next to our mooring.

                 Check out this cool playground, also on the volcano national park grounds.
  It had a sign that said "Para ninos solamente." (Children ONLY!)   Aw, shucks! Lucky kids!

                            This billboard ad in San Salvador advertises American-style homes.

         This is the pool here at Bahia del Sol where the cruisers hang out every day. For $14.00 a week               per couple we can use the pool, the showers and the internet. As you can imagine,  some sailors plan on                   staying here for months!

                 Now here's a lawn jockey you probably wouldn't see in the states (that's a beer bottle in his hand, in case you can't make it out) -- if you dared put this on your lawn in the U.S. the "politically correct police" would drag you down to the squadroom for serious questioning!

               This is our lovely little mooring field here in Costa del Sol, El Salvador.
                           At $100.00 a month, as you can imagine, it's very popular!

                         Chris peruses the rickety (but charming) dinghy dock onto Isla Cordondillo

                     Another beautiful tropical sunset in the estuary...

Getting in and out of jams, El Salvador style

OK, it's Friday the 13th -- so you guys up in the states, watch your step today!

But since the legend of  "Friday the 13th" is an American one, it's not valid down here. So we'll be breaking mirrors and walking under ladders to our hearts content here in El Salvador.

See? International travel has it's advantages!  And YOU worried about US?!?!?!?!?    ;-)

         In other news, we're pleased to report that we've found a hardy group of fellow musicians here in El Salvador -- and we've gotten into a few jams (of the musical variety) in the process, as seen above.

     This is a happy development.

Science shows us that joy and laughter are crucial elements of a satisfying life. But the thing about these emotions is this: they can't be forced. You can take drugs, which work like gangbusters in the very short term, but of course the long term consequences often involve frustration, stress and depression (or worse), which tend to cancel out the "joy and laughter" part.

   Which brings us to music. Ah, sweet music!

 You can listen to it, you can sing along and dance to it, or best of all, you can make it yourself. And the end result is often an unlimited supply of joy and laughter -- the natural way, free of side effects.


 In other news, living here in El Salvador for a time, my mind rushes back to the 1980's, when the civil war here dominated the news in the U.S. and around the world.

 For those too young to remember, a military junta came to power here in 1980 in a violent coup. A guerilla army formed in response. The U.S. supported the government forces, and Cuba and other communist countries supported the FMLN (the rebels).

An exceedingly violent civil war ensued, which held this small country hostage for 12 years, finally ending in 1992. 170,000 people died.

The military junta had "death squads" which assassinated leaders, including clergy, who spoke out on behalf of the rebels.  They even wiped out entire villages who housed or supported the guerillas.

  
            The 1989 film "Romero" portrayed the true story of the murder of Archbishop Oscar
     Romero by the Salvadorian government. His crime was speaking out on the side of the rebels.
      
          The rebels were also quite violent, and they murdered many military men in their aim to overthrown the government.

  
             The 1986 film "Salvador" by Oliver Stone chronicles the dangerous adventures of two journalists (James Belushi and James Woods) in El Salvador during the civil war. This, in particular,
                                     is a powerful film which I strongly recommend.

 The U.N. finally intervened in 1992 and put an end to the suffering and death.


      Yesterday we toured El Salvador with our friend Ernesto, a Salvadorian who was a young boy during the war.

                                                                     Our driver Ernesto

     Over a lunch of papusas (the national dish of El Salvador) in San Salvador, he shared
that his parents sided with the government during the conflict. When he was 8 years old, he
was on a bus with his grandmother when two guerillas boarded the bus and shot dead two
military men right in front of him and the rest of the horrified passengers.

     I asked him about the murder of Archbishop Romero by the government death squads and he calmly shook his head and said: "Oh, no, the military did not do this. He was actually murdered by the guerillas, who then blamed it on the military, to gain sympathy for their side and end the war."

   Well.

So there you go...

    In happier news, Ernesto drove us up to beautiful Lake Coatopeque, in the shadow of the Santa Ana Volcano, the tallest in El Salvador.

                               Lake Coatopeque is actually a crater of a long extinct volcano

        We're still working on the art of the "arm's length self portrait." It's harder than it looks, people!

                        See the little island in the middle of the lake? The President of El Salvador
                      has a mansion there. Typical!   They always get the best real estate!


                    We then hiked on a beautiful trail around the base of Volcano Santa Ana.

                                      

           The government provides an armed policeman for gringos hiking in the backcountry
               of national parks. This nice young man looked out for us during our hike.

          Even though we weren't near the top of the volcano, the mountain was shrouded in fog.



       And finally, our friends the Doolittle family aboard their sailboat "Jace" decided to change their boat name to "Knee Deep."  We all participated in a name-change ceremony here on the dock in El Salvador, which featured their young sons JP and Mickey each taking turns ringing the boat bell as dad Ben read the words of the ceremony (basically invoking good will from Neptune for the vessel as she continues to sail the seas).

      Then we all sang the song "Knee Deep" together, which was the inspiration for the name change. Check out the lyrics below, and I think you'll see why they chose this song:


          KNEE DEEP --  (featuring Jimmy Buffett)

Gonna put the the world away for a minute
Pretend I don't live in it
Sunshine gonna wash my blues away

Had sweet love but I lost it
She got too close so I fought her
Now I'm lost in the world trying to find me a better way

Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Wrote a note said be back in a minute
Bought a boat and I sailed off in it
Don't think anybody gonna miss me anyway

Mind on a permanent vacation
The ocean is my only medication
Wishing my condition ain't ever gonna go away

Cause now I'm knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky

Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

This champagne shore washing over me
It's a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea
One day you could be as lost as me
Change you're geography
Maybe you might be

Knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Come on in the water it's nice
Find yourself a little slice
Grab a backpack of lies
You never know until you try
When you lose yourself
You find the key to paradise

Shar

Full Immersion in El Salvador

Chris and I celebrate with the locals at El Salvador's soccer win over Costa Rica    

   I remember the scene in "Eat, Pray, Love" where Julia Roberts enjoys a televised soccer game in an Italian piazza surrounded by locals and fellow expats. They all jump up and down and celebrate together when Italy scored the winning goal.

   This scene inspired me. I wanted to experience such a communal activity in my world travels!

   Well, imagine my happy surprise when I learned that the Latin American soccer championships would be played less than a mile from our anchorage right here in El Salvador!

I even became a face painter!

    OK, OK, it wasn't normal soccer -- it was beach soccer (a growing sport), but it was a big deal here in El Salvador -- nationally televised in prime time.

    A group of us walked the half mile to the constructed beach stadium and had a ball! Unfortunately the game was sold out, but just outside of the entrance was a grainy TV with tons of chairs all around for communal viewing of the game (Just like Julia Roberts!).    Mission accomplished!   :-)

   In other news, we took a trip into the nearby Salvadorian town of Zacatecoluca a few days ago with Ben and JP of "Jace."

                                              The boys fantasize about buying machetes --
                        evidently they see much rain forest bushwacking in our immediate future.
                         Fortunately they thought better of it and laid down their arms...for now.

This was an interesting sight under the bars of an impoverished Salvadorian home. What to make of it?

This adorable baby rests on a bed of greens for sale in the Zacatecoluca mercado. Parsley, anyone?

You know, you see scenes like this in mercados all over the third world. I would love to consider buying something but...hello? There are no labels on anything -- not even in Spanish! Sigh. I've got so much to learn. Fortunately, there was an American style grocery store in Zacatacoluca...

It's not a real visit to a third world country until you run into young American Mormon missionaries, as we did in the cookie aisle at the supermarket. They graciously posed for this photo for me (editorial comment: I think it's a bit cruel to make these nice young men wear long pants and ties in tropical countries!).

OK, so as we perused the aisles of the supermarket, you can imagine my shock when I tripped upon this sight in the coffee section:

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The coffee here is less than $2.00 a pound! (They use American dollars here in El Salvador.) $1.69 a pound for world class, locally grown fresh coffee!

O. M. G. 

I don't have to tell you the price of coffee in the states. 

We had had a tough few days aboard Espiritu -- a broken toilet, a broken macerator, a grumpy husband, a broken AIS and a whiny, fearful wife...(Captain Chris reminded me to add that the toilet, macerator and AIS have all since been repaired by his able hands...)

But when I saw the price of coffee in Central America -- (all of the brands were the same low, low, low price), I literally danced in the aisle! I ran around looking for other gringos to share this exceedingly good news with...I wanted to throw my arms around my new young Mormon friends and share the happy news, but then I remembered that this would only be cruel, as coffee is not on the agenda for them (another slightly sadistic item for these guys, IMHO)...

In other news, yesterday Chris and I explored the small island of Cordoncillo. We are moored right next door. 

It's a lovely, tranquil place:

Several fishing families live very simply on the island. There is no electricity -- after dark it is pitch black.

OK, this was super-freaky: check out these 2 inch bug carcasses along the bark of this coconut palm.  At least, I THINK they were carcasses -- or maybe they were just sleeping? They didn't move. Anyway, there were thousands of them all over the island. Were they gigantic bees, or cockroaches? We didn't know what in the hell they were. But they freaked me out. Welcome to Central America! (LOL)

A rather rustic and small volleyball net in the center of town

And of course, there's a soccer field. Not the low-tech goals, sans nets

A simple family dwelling on the island

Another island home

It was literally raining mangos in this wild grove on the island

Our wild mango booty

                                                               

The Man Tree? (There goes my PG rating for the blog...) 

We found this old broken cassette of Christian music (in English) on the ground in a distant corner of the island. Evidently there have been missionaries in this remote outpost as well...

   

Fishing provides the basic sustenance of the islanders 

      
                             

Another humble island home

                                             

A pretty little Isla Cordoncillo beach

This little beauty was my official introduction to tropical wildflowers.
 I have no idea what species she is -- but she's lovely, isn't she?

 One last thing: I've updated the name of this blog to "Diary of a Wimpy Cruiser" -- because I AM wimpy.  I'm Dorothy, the Small and the Meek. I'm afraid alot. It's how I've always been.  I worry. About my loved ones. Maybe I even worry about YOU. I worry about global warming. About the mast coming down. About my fellow cruisers LIKING me (how pathetic is that?!?!?!?!?).

 So on this trip, I seek courage. And self-reliance. I'm finding it, I think. It comes in fits and starts. Anyway, the journey continues...thanks for coming along!