The final days...

We've met some new people around here lately...a couple in their 60's, Gordon and Anne, from Maryland; a 60-year-old surfer, Jay, who is the epitome of a vagabond (born in Amsterdam, raised in Australia, and lived everywhere in between); and a young couple, Colin and Sunshine, who originate from England and Michigan, respectively. Not to mention all the folks from Montreal learning to surf. Contrary to my post from Libertad, there seems to be quite an influx of whiteys in the El Zonte area. The surf hotels bring in the majority. You can tell when a new crop has come in...there will be a whole new group of blindingly white people on the beach...then a couple days go by and all you see is sunburned bodies...and then the cycle repeats itself the next week.

And on the subject, I need to amend my comment from my previous post about white people being called, "chiles." Turns out it's "cheles," a kind of reversal of "leche," which is the word for milk. For those of you still having a hard time connecting the dots...milk is white, thus making this an accurate nickname. I guess just calling us "leches" would be too obvious...so they switched it up...similar to the widely used (at least among Valley Center Middle School students in the mid 90's) putdown, "renob"...the oh so secret (opportune time to pick up my sarcasm) way to call someone a "boner." Other people tried to spread "noitcere," but it never caught on...didn't have the same ring.

Anyway...I first met Anne last week when I went out for an early morning swim. It was high tide and the waves were a little rough, but once you get out a ways, it calms down. I like to swim out relatively far past where the waves break, and then swim parallel to the shore for a good distance in either direction. And I often just float around out there because the water temperature is so perfect, the views of the coastline are breathtaking...and the thought of the unknown sea creatures swimming underneath me only freaks me out every once in a while. Apparently, this activity is found to be odd/dangerous by many in these parts, including my new friend from Maryland. After swimming around for about an hour, I came back into shore, and she came down to meet me with a look of concern and astonishment. She asked if I spoke English, and then proceeded to tell me how worried she had been about me swimming so far out there and all by myself. She told me that she decided she wasn't going to leave until she knew that I was safely back on shore...she was a mother, after all. I thanked her for her concern, but assured her that I swam and played water polo in high school and have lots of experience swimming in the ocean. I don't know what it is, but many people, including the locals, have commented on my swimming and I guess it's just not common. You would think that the locals would be really good swimmers, but aside from the surfers, a lot of people I've met are scared of the waves and tend to stay in the shallow water close to shore.

Turns out that Anne is Salvadorian, but moved to the states many years ago where she met her husband and raised her family. They own one of the houses that are right on the beach here and come down for about a month every year. They are super friendly and very hospitable. When I got back from my morning swim on Saturday, they invited me up for what turned out to be an incredible breakfast spread...platanos, bacon, eggs, beans, pancakes, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Since she is originally from here, they know a lot about the country and are great contacts to have. Their house is pretty awesome too!!

Jay is here for 6 months, living with an American friend of his that owns a house on the other side of the river. We're assuming he's one of those guys that has no family and never really grew up. He's got to be at least 60 and just never stops traveling. Mike met Jay out surfing, and became further acquainted on one of his photo delivery runs. Although Mike's back prevented him from surfing for a couple of weeks, he still longed to take part in it somehow, so he became even more obsessed with my camera and taking surf shots. I seriously think that I've used my camera once in the last 3 weeks. I told him I'd leave it here with him if he buys me a new one...and, even though he'll never use it after this trip...he's seriously considering it. So, with his newfound hobby, he's been sucking up to the locals by printing out 8x10 photos of their surf sessions and doling them out up and down the beach. Because he's already gotten a reputation here of being "Senor Enojado" (Mr. Mad), like his employees at home affectionately call him, he's trying to use my camera to win friends. He doesn't realize how often he has a scowl on his face, so he's working on smiling more as well. And now, surprisingly, he's becoming Mr. Social around here.

Colin and Sunshine are staying at the hotel where Claudia works and have been traveling all over the world for the last 12 months. Mike met them because Colin has the same camera as me and his battery charger wasn't working...so they came over to the house with some Pilsner, to use my charger and hang out. They're here for about 2 weeks.

I had the perfect Saturday to finish out my time in El Salvador. Went for an early morning swim. Had a typical Salvadorian breakfast with our Maryland friends. Went home, got my book and headed to Las Olas, the hotel where Claudia works...to hang out with her during her down times and read in their swing hammocks. Had one of my favorite drinks here...Jugo de fresa de agua. Watched 3 huge whales swimming right out front. Finished another book (I have now finished 7...so I still have 4 to go, but I more than accomplished my goal of half). Went back out for another swim. Britt came down and had lunch with me at Las Olas...shrimp ceviche and french fries...so good. Went for another swim...with more strange looks and people concerned that I might just run into the whales if I keep going out so far. Chatted with Claudia and set up another trip to Libertad for Monday...although I'm not getting my hopes up about the follow through just yet. Headed back to the house...went for a swim in the pool, hung out with the kids, and read them their bedtime stories. Pretty good little Saturday. Definitely going to miss this!