Today, the newcomer's Spanish class took a field trip! I was more of a cultural lesson than a language lesson, but any good language teacher would tell you that the two are intertwined. First, we went to downtown San Salvador, which is the older part of the city. Street vendors and markets were everywhere, and I will return to them for sure. But our first destination was the Bibliotheca Nationale, the home of a considerable collection of old and new Salvadoran literature. Digital, braille, and hard copies of many texts are available.  There was also a large painting of all the presidents of El Salvador:

That's Patrick and Hudak looking presidential; the brass plaque is a key to who is in the painting.

Then we went across the square to the Palacio National, which is the center of the government. They seem to have been on a hiatus, as it was mostly closed inside with no tours possible.

From there is was a short walk to the burial site of Msgr Oscar Romero, a pivotal figure in the fight for independence here. The tomb was somber, and clearly a site of some national importance and pride.

Even more important and heartfelt, however, was the place where he was killed. He lived and cared for a hospice center in San Salvador. He was an activist for the poor of El Salvador, and because of that, he was a target. While he was serving mass, a gunman fired a shot from a car in front of the church, through the open doors, all the way to the altar, where Msgr Romero had just lifted the chalice. One shot to the chest killed him.

More on Msgr Romero soon.  (There is a movie: "Romero" on Youtube)

Te rest of the day was taken up with opening a bank account and getting a debit card. And a quick swim in our pool before the thunderstorm. 

Only a few minutes to spare between meetings and Spanish lessons, but I did promise a few snaps of things so far, so here are two: our little house in the complejo, and the EA soccer field with the volcano in the background. Some view, eh?

It's Thursday morning, and the sun and I have been up for about an hour. Carol is still asleep, Grace is on the couch with me, and Helou is supervising from the dining room table. We are all comfortably at home.

We now live in a small, two story house, with two bedrooms and two baths upstairs, with a kitchen downstairs that overlooks a dining room/living room combination will a wall of jalousied windows that faces East. Outside there is a covered patio and a little yard. 

Grace and Helou have not lived at ground level since they were on the street, and now Grace has gone into full hunter mode as she stalks a bird hopping just outside the window.  She won't be allowed out though, there are unfriendly critters out there. Both cats made the trip well; she did her usual hide-out-in-a-tiny-space routine when we got here, but he spent his time exploring. Grace finally left her little nook (on top of the refrigerator), but is still on alert for noises, strangers, and, of course, birds.

It's Thursday afternoon now, and the day has been full of meetings, Spanish lessons, a big shopping trip to a hardware/housewares store, and now it's time for an icy glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Amazingly, the local Costco franchise carries our usual wine selection from Concha y Toro, a Chilean winery. 

We haven't done a big grocery shopping trip yet, that's in the plans for tomorrow. We really don't expect to be buying a lot of American stuff (it's more expensive) Salvadoran coffee will be just great and certainly local produce (Avocados 4/$1), mangos about the same. I did bring some shiracha, and I might buy Hellmans if I see it, but beyond that, local will be fine!

OK, no grocery shopping means dinner out, so we must explore.

Photos soon.

Stay tuned.

Mercury in Retrograde

Today was gonna be the big day! It didn't quite turn out as we expected...
After having packed Nicholas' van on Saturday night, here's how it went:

4:00AM Alarm, showers, last minute pickup, find cats, last trash out,
5:30 Meet Nicholas in the parking lot and we're off!
5:50 Record time to the airport! Drag all the bags in, present papers, etc
5:55 Oh, you're going where?? El Salvador? hmmmm...
5:56 International flight, you should have been here at 5, and you have cats, that takes even more time.
5:57 No, we're just getting a flight for Atlanta
5:58 After a long time on the phone, the clerk informs us that we aren't getting on the plane, and that
our connection was so close in Atlanta that even if we made it (big if) our bags probably wouldn't.
5:59 Hey Nicholas? Have you gone back to sleep yet? How would you feel about another ride to the airport to come and get us? He's awake, and he doesn't mind.
5:20 Van reloaded and headed back to CF.

The agent was able to book us on to a flight to Atlanta on Monday and another from there to El Salvador on Wednesday. Both have civilized departure times, and we will be arriving well ahead of the two hour limit.

We will miss the beginning orientation at EA, and some settle-in time, but the  silver lining is that we got to catch up on some much-needed sleep today, and overall, the travel schedule is much kinder.

And Nicholas can take us to the airport tomorrow!

Dinner

At 6PM it's 92 in Central Falls (down from 97) and it's 82 in San Salvador. That sounds pretty nice to me!  The cool-off should arrive tomorrow, hopefully without a lot of destructive weather.

We're in countdown mode now. Mostly packed, what remains to do it just organizing the loft so that it's a place we're happy to come back to in December.

Tonight's meal was a Rhode Island celebration: Lobster Rolls, a little potato salad, sliced tomatoes  and Dark & Stormys. D&S is the official summer drink of Newport, ginger beer and Gosling's dark rum with a squeeze of lime.)

Tomorrow for breakfast, we may head over to the Modern Diner, a Pawtucket landmark, for breakfast. There will be many weekend specials possible, but Lobster Benedict is a leading contender.  There will be plenty of time for a healthy diet of fresh fruit and veggies in ES.

I'm sticking to the keys, so I'm done for now.

Getting Close!

The Weather Gods are playing a joke on us! For the past several days, and more to come, it has been cooler in San Salvador than it has been in Central Falls! SS has a little more humidity, but the temps have been much higher here. 94 here, 88 there... It has even been cooler in Beirut!

 But, departure preparations continue, no matter how hot it is. So, yesterday we finished up the details of taking Grace and Helou to ES. They needed to be wormed and de-flead (even though they had neither) and then certified by a (thankfully) nearby USDA Vet center. So I guess we have USDA certified prime kitties!

 Today was for organizing bill-paying, talking to CVS about prescriptions and seeing Isaac for haircuts. Isaac has been cutting Carol's hair since 1975, and I became a convert some time after that. He's worth the trip! Inbetween all that, we went to a great Greek restaurant in Newton called the Garden Grill. They have all sorts of Greek specialties; today we went for two Gyro salads, meat and chicken, a side of tzaziki and a small orzo salad. It was all good! It was too hot for anything but a salad, and I'd like to go back on a cold day for a big slice of moussaka or pastitso.

 The sun is down now, and the breeze a bit cooler. We were out on the deck for the hot time (6 to sunset) and I enjoyed some Goslings dark rum on the rocks. More sensibly, Carol had a wine cooler. What's on for tomorrow? Wait and see!

The Beginning

The Mighty Blackstone! In 1966 I took a summer job in Rutland, Massachusetts. In 2011 I moved to Central Falls, Rhode Island. What connects those two locations? The Blackstone River. Rutland is the northernmost watershed of the Blackstone, and Central Falls is the penultimate city through which the Blackstone flows. Pawtucket gets the credit for being the end (after the falls at Slater Mill the Blackstone becomes tidal). And Pawtucket gets all the credit for the industrial revolution in the US (Slater Mill) even though the chocolate mill in Central Falls preceded it. The Blackstone has flowed through my life so many places! Rutland, Worcester, Grafton, Uxbridge, Cumberland, Central Falls. And yet I have taken many paths (streams?) that have taken me to other places. This blog is a tribute to the Blackstone, its role in my life, and my travels near and far. I’ve blogged before, but things have changed, so this will be a learning experience for me. Adding photographs, and text, and links, will all take some time; be patient! To begin, we start with a trip away. On Sunday, we fly to El Salvador, for a two year position at Escuela Americana (both of us). We’re packing, so stay tuned.