First days

It rained the first night. The roof still leaks. We have been unpacking, repacking for two days. Most of our clothes remain in a suitcase since we have no dresser. A few items are on hangers. We planned clothing for the city, mountains and plains. When we return to the US in September we will bring the cool weather stuff home and bring back more appropriate clothing for 85-100 degrees.

Sunrise is 5:30; we wake early with noise from the corn grinder across the street. By 6 am people are in the streets and commerce is in full swing. A little later, the children are on their way to the 3 schools in the community. Delivery trucks, carts and men on bicycles are hawking their products and services.

It’s 7:45 am and getting hot - we are both sweating. We have been pushing water since we arrived in Usulután, but we use it all up by sweating. Breakfast is early, lunch is our big meal at 1:00 pm, with a lighter meal in the evening.

We do some of our toiletries at the pila in the back yard. This is the typical location of food preparation, washing dishes, washing clothes and washing humans. We are fortunate to have a shower. But with all the rain, look out for scorpions and tarantulas. Nancy was bitten.

It gets dark by 6:30 pm. The vendors shut down for the day and the streets are quiet. Most commerce comes to an abrupt stop except for a few tortilla venders and cyber cafe. I secure the gate since we are not expecting any visitors. A cucaracha flies in the front door and lands upside down on the floor, David sweeps him back outside.

We have our evening meal at 7:00. After eating, washing dishes, putting everything away, it’s after 8 and shower time. Then we lock the doors and retire for the evening to a good book or to catch up on emails and documents.

It’s very quiet. Maybe a brief dog fight and a rooster or two during the evening, but after a while we tune them out.

Rain again (it’s the season). We wake to check for more leaks and find a crab apple on the floor. In the kitchen we find fruit stems. We have bats. We’re going shopping today so we add garlic to our list.

Before we leave, we will spray the bedrooms with “Baygon” Ultra to control the cucarachas and rastreros (scorpions).

As we are writing this journal, a leaf falls to the floor from the center vent of the roof. With bats on our mind, we were startled, but just for a moment.

David y Nancy