Seventh Installment - Another Fun Weekend!
Well, things are rarely simple! The San Miguel team planned a day at San Diego beach near La Libertad with the San Salvador team. Besides being a beautiful area, the beach house is owned by the brother of one of our personnel contact people. He has been instrumental in getting our second site in San Miguel and likes us to use the property. We are happy to accommodate his wish. However, our transportation friend called early Saturday morning to say there was a little problem. The van was broken down and he was looking for another. All I could think was that it was a blessing that the van broke down BEFORE leaving town rather than half way on the 3 hour trip to La Libertad! The other van arrived at 9:00 so we started out 1 1/2 hours later than we hoped. We also dropped off one of the volunteers with her family in San Salvador, which shouldn’t have been a big deal but the driver went through the city during heavy traffic instead of taking the bypass.
We got to the beach in time to go to a restaurant for a late lunch. The seafood was great, but I think they had to ship the fish in before preparing it – 2 hours later we finished and we’re off to the muelle (wharf) to watch the fishing boats bring in the catch and see the vendors set up on the dock, selling everything from huge shrimp to dried fish to various unidentifiable critters. About an hour later we had to leave to pick up our volunteer and get back to San Miguel. It was frustrating to have so little time, but what we had was great, and the scenery on the long drives was beautiful.
Sunday worked out a lot better – our San Miguel team went to El Tamarindo beach for lunch at the home of one of the patrons/shareholders at the private university where we are working (UNIVO.) The water was warm, and hammocks were ready for us when we wanted to rest. We sort of had a faculty meeting out in the ocean. This is a fishing area, and the shrimp/fish lunch was wonderful – everything was fresh and delicious. We’re pretty careful to drink only bottled water, so instead we were served fresh coconut milk through straws stuck in huge coconuts. What a way to live! In late afternoon we reluctantly headed back to San Miguel.
Next Installment: The Grand Finale
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