It's my second day in El Zonte, but due to the red-eye flight and adjustment to the time and climate change, I'd consider yesterday a wash. My niece, Eliana (5) and nephew, John (3) are so excited that we are all here ...and so are their parents. They now have some babysitters. I wasn't here 5 minutes before Eliana asked for that birthday present I promised her. Dang, that kid is a steel trap. Her birthday was in October but I couldn't make it to her party, so I told her I'd bring her present to El Salvador. Nail polish and lip glosses. So naturally we had to play beauty shop...she did my hair (according to her it was for my wedding...that's nice of her to be rooting for me, but her motives are appropriately selfish for a 5 year old. She just wants to be the flower girl again) while John put layers and layers of lipgloss in the near vicinity of my lips. But, to keep his manliness intact, he did use his remote control car to brush my hair. That'a boy.

Everything moves slow here...it seems like the days are more than 24 hours...which is awesome! And since it gets dark early, we go to bed earlier than at home but are up with the sun. My sister-in-law, Britt, and I got up this morning at 6 for a jog. For running on the highway, there weren't too many cars out and we received only minimal whistles and cat calls. But it's pretty humid here, so the lungs are going to have to adjust. We spent most of the morning in the pool...and then hit the beach to test out my new surfboard. I got one of those soft-top surfboards because they are cheaper, easier to paddle out and manuever, and can take beatings a little better. However...there is the issue of traction. I didn't put any wax on it, because I figured the foam wouldn't need it..FALSE.  That and the waves were overhead...which, for someone that hasn't surfed consistently in more than 10 years, is TOO big. I ate it pretty good about 8 times before calling it a day. But, I haven't given up. I'm going to try the wax tomorrow and hopefully find some slightly smaller waves.

Failure was kind of a theme today...I also failed to put sunscreen on my back. I had a rash guard on initially, so I didn't think about it. But since my surf session was less than successful, I removed it and spent the day playing in the water with John and Britt. If my computer would hook up to the internet here, I'd upload a picture. I'm pretty freaking fried. The positive spin I'm going with, is that I needed a good initial burn to maximize my bronzing.

Looking forward to another day in paradise tomorrow.