(Los Pinos)
We arrived here at the guest house about 9:30 last night. We moved into our rooms then gathered downstairs to decompress before bed. It took me a bit to get to sleep but then I slept pretty soundly for the rest of the night. I got up a little after 7, showered and then enjoyed the veranda until breakfast time.
Part of the time I spent watching a ceiling lizard stalking a moth in the corner of the house. They’re called salemandres (or something like that) there. They make me think of geckoes except that they’re very blah tan. They live up in the corners and crannies of ceiling spaces and make a clicking noise. Most often, you don’t see them, just hear them.
This one was hanging around over a floor lamp that had attracted a moth. As the moth would flit around it would swivel to follow it. Then, when it landed, the lizard darted closer and then slowly began working its way toward the moth. When it got just a couple inches from the moth, it darted forward and caught it. The moth flapped a bit and then fell to the floor. I don’t know if it struggled its way out of the lizard’s mouth or if the lizard decided it didn’t want moth for breakfast after all.
After breakfast and before our driver arrived, we walked to SuperSelectos (a supermarket). I bought 3 bottles of wine and some strange Tang packets…’barley cinnamon’ being one. Who would even think of something like that?!?
Joe got a carton of cigarettes that were less than half the price of the same in the United States.
(Berlin)
Alfredo picked us up at the guest house and we went to an Office Depot to pick up some office supplies for the water filter project. Then we went to the artisan market to shop for crafts to sell at the various fests we have a presence at.
Apparently, the power was out, at least at the market…I don’t know how wide-spread other than that. All the booths were dark and it was hard to see things on the interior. A number of times there was something that I thought looked interesting but when I took it out into the light decided it only looked good in the dark.
I got an embroidered shirt, a couple of scarves, 2 rings and 2 magnet bracelets ($27 total). One of the rings was to be my “Salvadoran wedding ring” since I always leave my wedding ring at home when I travel. Usually, I wear a different ring but I’d forgotten to grab one so I got a coconut shell ring to wear for the week.
While we were having lunch at the market, a group of 15-20 high school kids from North Carolina joined us. They were doing mission work in the Costa del Sol area.
At a gas station stop, I took my usual ‘price of gas’ picture. It’s about 75-cents higher that what it was when I left the U.S.
We spent way longer at the market than we had scheduled. Kathy called the Casa to let them know we’d be later. Then we stopped at a vivero on the way to Berlin to pick up a couple of planters as a gift for the Team.
Our vehicle was absolutely stuffed. Kathy had one of the planters on the floor in front of her with her feet in it. Joe held the other on his lap.
We arrived at the Casa, unloaded the bags and purchases, paid Alfredo, chilled.
We had a meeting with the Pastoral Team and then gave them the planters.
(after supper)
We had spaghetti with broccoli for supper. I asked Blanca and Cecilia if they wanted some wine. They said yes so I asked red or white. They wanted red so I opened one of the reds I bought in San Salvador. It was a type I’d never heard of…Carmenere, a Chilean wine. It’s sort of Shiraz-like but with less peppery overtones and a bit more tannin. It was quite nice.
While we were finishing supper, the power went out. With the lights out, it’s REALLY dark. We lit some candles and a few minutes later the power came back on.
I worked some more on the bootie pattern.
It’s only 8:30 but I think we’re all ready for bed. Joe stayed up all night before we left so he’s about dead on his feet. It’s been a long day and it’s already been dark for 2 hours. Being so close to the equator, the day length just doesn’t change much over the course of the year there.
