Izalco

I have been spending a lot of time in Izalco lately, as I carry out the research for my dissertation. Part of my work involves spending time with the wonderful people of Izalco, learning about their daily lives, their preoccupations, their hopes for themselves and their families. I have been particularly touched by the willingness of people to share their lives with me and feel indebted to continue to learn about them, to provide a channel for their voices to be heard. I want to take this opportunity to thank the people of the town who have welcomed me and spoken to me so openly and want to assure them that I share their dream and want to see their families, their town and their country flourish.

Gracias y muchas, muchas bendiciones al pueblo de Izalco.

-JGM

Say what?!

So, we've been here for nearly 3 weeks now and I think it is time for another instalment of Say what?!

• When asking if this fruit is ripe (madura), don't gets mixed up with the word madera (wood). I.e. Is this mango wooden? Huh???

• The other day, I asked Levi if he wanted chicha, which is an locally made alcohol made from corn. Oops! I meant to ask if he wanted chiche (the breast).

• Our four-year-old nephew Josue David, is a real bundle of energy. So much so, that his grandma does not like to take him out on errands because he is a real handful! I wanted to say that he is a mischievous little boy, so I asked Berto if I could say Josue es picarón. To which he emphatically replied "NO! Picaro! Not picarón!" Apparently one means mischievous and the other word means a naughty flirt! Yikes!

That's all for now but I am sure more inadvertent language mishaps will ensue! Stay tuned.

More celebrations

So Levi had a birthday on Friday...ok a half-birthday really. He turned 6 months old! Time sure flies by. He has already been a part of our lives for half a year! Though on the other hand, it seems like he has always been with us. What a little sweetheart he is! We thank God for him!

Look how mush he has changed from the beginning! (You can click on the picture to read the text.)

First few hours of life!

For Levi's fans!

So for those who have asked for more pictures of the little guy, here are some of him just before we left for our trip, as we were preparing to go.

Levi nearly sitting on his own. He can do it now for a few minutes without being propped up before getting tired and falling over.

Levi entertaining himself in his exersaucer while we were packing away.

We're all packed!! Ready to go!

Only in Latin America...

...Would alcohol sales need to be banned the day before, the day of, and the day after elections! This way people stay more level-headed to vote and for when emotions are high after the results come in.

Momentous day!

So, Sunday was election day here in El Salvador. This means that it was a national holiday and most workplaces were closed. We saw tons of buses and trucks crammed with people heading off to vote. There is a carnival atmosphere at the polls, with vendors selling ice cream, snow cones, corn on the cob, watermelon, mangoes, and other treats! It's like a family outing when you go vote. I also found out that there are 9 political parties to choose from! Crazy!

Sunday was also my 31st birthday! I tried to keep it quiet but the family still somehow found out. I like people to acknowledge it is my birthday but not to make a BIG deal out of it. Thankfully, my husband was able to tame the family's plans. Originally, they were going to serenade me at midnight and then at five am. Not such a good idea, for a sleep-deprived mother who already gets up every few hours to feed her baby! I don't think I would have been too gracious had they done that.

Instead, we drove to Cerro Verde, a national park up in the mountains, and had a picnic of Pollo Campero (the Salvadoran and better-tasting version of KFC). Then we went on a hike. The views were beautiful: lush greenery,colourful flowers, tiny towns below and volcanoes craters in the distance. I would love to share some photos

but we accidently forgot our camera. Boo! We will try to go back another time and take some pictures.

We did however bring back a dried leaf from this

really cool tree! It's leaves have holes in it so that the sun's rays can shine through to the other plants below. So cool! It was really nice to seem some of the country and to escape the heat. It is really a perfect temperature in the mountains, hot sun and cool breeze!

Afterwards, we drove back to town and had a delicious enchilada dinner with all the family, courtesy of Marina who is a great cook, at Nelson's house (Berto's other brother). Slavadorean enchiladas are different than the Mexican version North Americans are familar with. They are an open-faced fried tortilla with ground beef, veggies, tomatoes, courtido (cole slaw) and slices of hard-boiled eggs. They also often put avocado on them. They look like this:

The family had decorated the house with balloons and happy birthday banners. They gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses. And then we enjoyed an ice cream cake for dessert. It was a perfect birthday...not too much fuss.

~Sylvie

I'm walkin', yes indeed!

My in-laws bought Levi an andadera (baby walker). At first, Levi did not like to spend much time in it. I think he got tired of standing and didn't know that he could walk in it. But he figured it out today! And now he is unstoppable. Watch out world here comes Levi!!!

Levi's adventures

Levi has been enjoying many new experiences in the last few days. Although he is breastfeeding lots because he is so thirsty, we've been letting him try some fruit (when he reaches out for it). Here he is trying some fresh, juicy mango with Mama Lidia. It was slippery and kept falling out of his hands but he seemed to like it, though he did make a face a few times.

And here he is trying another exotic fruit: Guanaba (also called guanabana). It is a fleshy white fruit with black seeds that comes in segments that you just pull off the peel. They also make it into a delicious juice! This fruit he seemed to like even more than mango.

Regular pampers are wayy tooo hot here for Levi's little bum, so we bought some traditional cloth diapers for him. They have jungle animals holding a different letter of the alphabet on them. Super cute! He fussed less in the hot afternoon heat yesterday and I think it was because diapers he felt cooler in the more breathable cloth.

Levi loves taking his afternoon nap swinging in a hammock. It is just like the swing we have a home!

It is freakin' hot here!

And that is all I have to say about that!

The eagle has landed!

So, I am writing this post while sitting in my borther-in-law Wilfredo´s kitchen (or brother-in-love as Berto´s Dad says). We arrived yesterday afternoon after a five hour flight that went really well. Levi ate and slept and played well in the plane and only fussed a little when he was sleepy. We were met at the airport with two truckloads of excited family! It was great to finally meet them and have them meet Levi! Of course he is a big hit with everyone, though he seems a little overwhelmed with all the new faces cooing and hands reaching for him.

Then we drove to Santa Tecla where Wilfredo and family live and decided to stay for the night since we were pretty tuckered out. The hot 35 degree weather sure takes it out of you! Thankfully, the evenings are nice and cool and it is really nice to see blue skies, green leafy trees and colourful flowers. We visited with some more family last night and this morning and now this evening we head out to Sonsonate, where we will stay for most of the four months, with my other borther-in-law Alvaro and his family.

We´ve also already enjoyed some delicious traditional meals (more on this later) and fruit...yay for fresh mango and jocote! As they say here, que rico!

~Sylvie

At Pearson

We're at Pearson at the moment and to be honest, it hasn't quite hit me yet that El Salvador is around the corner. Yet, our journey has undoubtedly already begun. In fact, this is Day 3 of our journey. At this point we've already gone through a blizzard, faced a roadblock on the 401 due to an accident, and an ice storm.

BIG THANK YOU to Juan, Norma, Meaghan and Andrew who helped to get us here!

-berto