Augostino - excursions and new friends

"Augostino" is a national holiday celebrated on Thursday and Friday of this week - and is a week of holiday for the school. My understanding is that every town has a patron saint and the day of the saint is celebrated annually; San Salvador's patron saint is Jesus Christo which is being celebrated now. This week we have had a few adventures and some good hanging time in the Complejo and at our home - all of which has included connecting with international teachers and other EA staff. All of the international teachers have been coming in this week, so we have been meeting & greeting more people - one couple who also met in Peace Corps in an African country.



Monday, August 2nd we went with a group to the coast - Diane, Ken and their visitors and Carol (Director of Trojan Learning Center at EA). On the way, we stopped in the town of Libertad at a fish market along a pier. We will definitely be coming back here to buy fresh fish! This time Cole and I came prepared for our trip to the beach with the bug container - ready to catch a few sea creatures. At the beach we made our way to a rock outcrop and caught two small crabs and snails. Later on in the showers I found a larger crab (about the size of my palm) and eventually we were able to rescue/capture the crab (largely unscathed - crab was fine and I got a small nick on my finger from the pinchers) into our make-shift atrium and release it. Once the larger crab was on the rock outcrop we were better able to see it - muy grande and bonita (red and purple in color). Rich caught a few waves - we will get a boogie board and surf board (may be) down the line...

Tuesday we joined other staff at EA to drive up to El Boqueron (national park of the San Salvador volcano) and hiked up the top portion to look down into the crater. El Boqueron is our view, so it was nice to experience it up close and personal. The Director of the Middle School (Bob) and Carmen (MS Assistant Director) set up the trip and brought their families (spouses and/or kids) along with the EA Librarian (Sherrie), Diane, Ken and their visitors. We had a really nice time on this outing getting to know folks outside of the school environment. BTW - the library at EA is really wonderful - we have already checked out books for me (Daughters of Fortune by Isabelle Allende) and Cole (bilingual fairy tale books and nature books) and nature DVDs. After the morning excursion to the volcano we went to a restaurant on the way down - the grounds were spacious with a playground, mini-soccer field, playhouse.... and a beautiful view of San Salvador. Carmen's son Daniel showed Cole around and played with him and we met some other kids/families from EA there as well. Connections...being made...


Wednesday, Rich and Cole joined Ken, Diane and visitors on another outing (we appreciate their inclusiveness with their excursions/visitors) to the Mayan ruins, while I met up with Carol to talk about the staff retreat that I will be facilitating next Tuesday and get a few supplies. One of the spots they visited was Joya de Ceren ~ one of the most notable archeological sites in the country. This is the Pompeii of Central America. An entire village buried beneath a volcanic eruption about 400 years before the Spaniards arrived. http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~kbruhns/cihuatan/othersites.htm

And...perhaps the biggest news for the day was a significant step forward for Cole in swimming. We went to the pool across from our house in the complejo and Cole was jumping in the water on his own and swimming underwater and on the surface to Rich. He is primed for swim lessons - and we know there are a couple of options that we can do here - now that the readiness and timing (settled in a place) are there.

Thursday we had a relaxed day - joined Carol and her husband Rob at their club on a lake where they (including Rich) went golfing. Cole and I joined them for the first 9 holes and then went to the swimming pool...and had a great time. Who's that cool dude in the shades?

Friday and the weekend will be less travel and more hanging out with folks at the complejo. Our neighbors - the Melendez family - arrived Thursday night and they have three kids (Elise - 1st grade; James - 4th grade; Eric - 8th grade) and Cole is psyched. Friday Cole went swimming with them and spent a good part of the afternoon hanging out and playing. Friday evening a group of us went to a Fair within walking distance (at the Convention Center) from where we live and checked it out --- it reminded me a bit of a state fair (amusement rides, food stands, various items being sold, music...) without any farm animals and was interesting culturally to see and taste the foods, "people watch", and experience a Salvadoran celebration.