El Salvador Delegation 2025: Random Photos

June 17-24, 2025

Just photos this post...stuff that didn't end up somewhere else.

The pila (concrete water tank) where clothes and dishes are washed by hand. At the left end is the propane gas griddle where the cacao beans were roasted and tortillas are cooked. The stairway at the right leads up to where my room was.

The Casa is surrounded by a profusion of plants and flowers. These are outside the door to the chapel.

The peak in the distance is San Vincente, one of 6 active volcanoes in El Salvador.

The price of eggs in the store where I got my Coke Zero. They are sold by the flat (30 eggs) for $4.75, half a flat (15 eggs) for $2.40, or a half-dozen for $1.00. And yes, those are U.S. dollars, it's the official currency of El Salvador, since about 2001.

An oriole nest. We saw a number of the birds, but the nests hold still for photos much better. At least some of the orioles we have in the States overwinter in Central America.

This tree/shrub in the foreground is oregano. If it doesn't winter-kill like it does in Iowa, oregano can turn into a tree. I did not know that. Blanca took a small branch from it and said that she was going to stick it in the ground around her house and it would grow. They use oregano in traditional medicine, less so for cooking.

Idalia making tortillas.It's not a Salvadoran meal without tortillas, so they always need them.

There are so many plants here that I'm used to seeing as houseplants. But here they grow wild or planted outside and reach sizes I've never seen before.

Mary bought a machete at the market on Sunday and encouraged this photo op.

Another mural from around town. Too many times I'd see a lovely one but it's impossible to get a photo of it from the back of a moving truck. I walked by this one.

Ditto the mural pic above.

This is a cafe in Berlín. I didn't go in but I liked the way they'd painted the wall outside.

A closer picture of how the palm fronds had been decorated for the procession Sunday.

Walking on our house-to-house visits. The community people did most of the carrying of the bags.

A kitchen inside one of the homes we visited. The round comal leaning against the wall on the left or the pot with the lid is placed on top of the round or rectangular support. A fire is built under it to cook whatever you're making. The grind stone on the right is used with a sort-of cylindrical stone to grind corn.

Cecilia saying hi to some pet birds at one house. A number of people have these little birds (conyers?).

Alejandro, the Team's mechanic and driver, among other duties as assigned.

This is a latrine I used. I didn't realize the "door" didn't actually cover the opening until I got inside. I am standing on the concrete floor of the latrine. It was a lot nicer than some.

No idea what this flower is but I just loved them.

A woman carrying the 2 bigger bags of stuff.

This was at one house that didn't have water tanks. They store water in these. They need to take them to be filled, then carry them back to the house. It's time-consuming labor, and expensive if they have to pay for the water.

It's a tropical country. You can often hear and/or see the geckos on the walls or ceiling. This one decided to crawl on the light fixture of the ceiling fan in the dining room.

2 of the 3 tortoises that wander around and through the Casa. I had to get into the habit of looking under the table before I sat and where I put my feet down. More than once I didn't pay close enough attention and almost stepped on one.