Current Events

Happy St. Valentines and Presidents Day Everyone:

Kathleen just returned to El Salvador from 10 days in Chicago; anyone familiar with the Windy City knows it's not first on the list of winter vacation destinations - no, Kathleen was in town to assist her parents whose home was badly damaged in a pre-Christmas fire last December (that's their place on the top floor in the photo below).

Firemen enjoying the view one floor down - from the condo that burned

Needless to say Kathleen and her mom had a very busy week in Chicago punctuated by a winter storrm (par for the course) and not much down time.

In January we helped out with a Habitat for Humanity build in a rural area near the city of Sonsonate, about an hour from San Salvador. It was hard work but lots of fun with a big group of embassy folks. A couple of pix from the build:

Kathleen builds a septic tank!

Mark puts his training to work sifting













We're now solidly in the dry season in Central America - often threatens rain but definitely won't until May. Our Spanish continues to improve (Kathleen's is definitely better) so we're seeing one of our goals come to fruition. Our travel schedule looks quite active in the coming months - Belize shortly with Honduras and Guatemala hot on the heels. Stay tuned...

Leave us a comment, we want to hear from you!

Mayan Kingdom - Copan

Hola Everyone

We traveled to Copan this past weekend, one of the most famous and well developed archeological sites in the Mayan world (5th through 9th centuries AD (check out the link - Copan History) with our friends the Wetmores. It was a spectacular experience for all of us, everything from the 4.5 hour drive (don't totally trust your GPS folks there's a place for a map in everyone's kit) to the macaw sanctuary just outside the cool little town of Copan Ruinas where we stayed. Take a look at the pix and let us know what you think.

Road Hazards not typically found on the Kennedy or Stevenson!

Part of a flock of macaws on the path into the ruins - their cries kept us company all afternoon

The "residential" section of the ruins           

Our fellow travelers

Stela - tells the Mayan story

Mayan Face

Copan - Que Chivo!

Macaw Rescue

Nobody will ever see us - silly tourists

Hope you enjoyed this post - Copan is totally worth the trouble if you're into the history and want to explore the ancient world. More Later, bye!

El Boqueron

Hi Everybody

Today we "climbed" El Boqueron one of the closest volcanos that last erupted in 1917, then stopped by the beautiful Cafe Miranda on the way back for a coffee and to look at their zip lines.

         Kathleen on El Boqueron

             
Volcan Izalco from El Boqueron - Kathleen climbed through the lava field  up Izalco a few weeks ago. (click on the photo for a better view)

It was very windy on the volcano today, look at these pine trees!

Mark at Cafe Miranda

It was a great day - clear, crisp and even chilly up high. Hope you all like the pix!

Leaving Comments

Greetings All

We just realized that leaving comments on our blog was impossible for some of you due to our settings (the problem being neither of us is particularly technically proficient). We've corrected that little issue so commenting should be a piece of cake so GET TO IT!
XOXO
K&M

Happy New Year

Hi Everybody and Happy New Year! This post reflects a bunch of events out of order (sorry); since early December we've visited the San Francisco Bay area, Panama City, Panama (not Florida) and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (no pix of that part yet). Take a look at the pictures below - December was a busy little month for us!

In the picture above we are at the Gatun locks of the Panama Canal - hard to believe the size of the ships, almost like seeing the Sears Tower sailing by. We could have stayed here looking at the 100-year old canal all day long. Amazing place.

One of the ships with crew members - click on the photo to see how much fun they're having!

One of the gates as a ship goes "All ahead full"

Here's Kathleen at a famous place...

Fort San Lorenzo in Panama, at the mouth of the River Chagres - easy to see why the Spanish put the fort here

Exploring Ft. San Lorenzo

Mark at the Fort

Here's the train we rode from Panama City to Colon - a wonderful trip through triple canopy jungle, complete with crocs swimming in the lake.

This was Manuel Noriega's private watering hole before he got tossed out of office - now it's part of a Smithsonian nature conservancy project on the Amador causeway. We got to ride bikes! Yippeeee!!!

A peresozo de dos dedos (two toed sloth) earning his name in a tree at the Smithsonian project

Mark at Limantour Beach, California December 2009

Kathleen & Mark at Point Lobos, California

The Holidays Upon Us

Greetings All! We're past Thanksgiving and well on our way to Christmas but the El Salvadorans are well ahead of us - they decorated all the traffic circles (redondos) the day after Halloween! We threw a well attended cocktail party the day before Thanksgiving, our first bash and we all had a great time. Our friends Woody and Gussie left their 'lil Corgie Maisy (rhymes with daisy) with us to dog sit for the weekend. She is a quiet, gentle creature and we had a load of fun with her.

Cool Corgie Maisy          
DON'T FORGET TO CLICK ON THE PIX

Sunday we took a road trip to Volcan National Park, also known as Cerro Verde, to climb volcan Izalco. We met our guide Patricia and our Tourist Police escort Qunitanilla and set off down the path... 400 meters down then another 600 meters up to the cone (truth in advertising, Kathleen made the hike up, Mark's knee is shot and he elected not to press his luck on the volcanic scree). Then 400 meters back to the trail head - everyone was tuckered out at the end.
Patricia on Izalco
 

Izalco volcano - still steaming. 

Izalco is one of the youngest volcanoes in the world - it didn't even form itself until 1770.

This is the view from the top.  That pointy peak in the distance is San Salvador volcano - which is right near us in San Salvador.

 

The hike was not relaxed - in order to hike here, you have to have security and they get off the trail at 4 each day - so there's no lollygaggin around looking at the scenery.  So we rushed down, rushed up, rushed back down - all kinda punishing for these 50-year old knees and thighs, especially on the loose volcanic rock.

We visited lovely Lake Coatepeque the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  It's most lovely from afar.  The truth is, you can't really get close as all the private homes around the lake have essentially walled off the place.  Here's a lovely picture from above, up on the volcano nearby.  Looks like Tahoe if you squint a lot.

Flooding & the 234th Marine Corps Birthday Ball - and MOTHRA!!!

We've had lots of inquiries and we are safe and mostly dry. The papers are reporting 61 deaths in San Salvador and 90+ country-wide due to the flooding, thanks for checking in on us.

We went to the Marine Corps birthday ball last night, a black tie event that takes place around the world and drew about 300 people.

We got dressed up! And took a self-portrait!

We have sliding glass doors all around the apartment, and no screens.  Mostly this is lovely for breezes and great views.  Sometimes, visitors enter.  One day a bird, last Friday night -- MOTHRA!!  This guy is about 4 inches across, and when Mark shooed him out of the apartment, he looked like a bat!

Click on the photo to see the beauty.  And hugeness.

Wednesday is Veteran's Day, the embassy is closed, and we are getting screens installed that day. Whew!  Just in time for my scaredy-cat bug phobia, I've just about had it with birds and bugs and mothra in the apt...