Three Weeks in El Salvador pt. 2

It took two nights for Kelsey and I to adjust to El Salvador time.  It's not the time difference that we needed to adjust to since there's only a 1hr difference (with no difference when Utah's not on daylight savings time).  It's the fact that the sun always rises at 6 am and sets at 6 pm.  When the sun comes up the noises start.  Birds, traffic, honking horns, construction, you name it.  The first two mornings we slept in till 9:30, after that we've consistently woken up between 6 and 7:30.  Normal for some people, way early for me.  The neat thing about waking up with the sun, is that you get to see the parrots.  They come out in flocks at sunrise and sunset.  There's a tree across the street from my parent's apartment where they perch.  They make a lot of noise when they're flying.  They sound crazy, kind of like... like, well, a flock of parrots.


We finally decided to go swimming in the apartment pool.  We were hesitant because the pool is so cold.  It's not quite hot enough here to want to jump in to a  shock of cold water.  We braved it though, and I decided that as long as you're moving, it's not too bad.  Once the pool's in the shade, though, it's time to get out.  Kelsey got to wear her body glove built in floaty swim suit for the first time.  It doesn't keep her upright if you just let her float so no lazy parenting allowed while toddler is in the pool.  She gets really nervous when I carry her out into the deep water, but she's happy as a mermaid when she can touch the bottom.

We went to the beach on Saturday.  My parents have some really nice friends who let us use their beach house, which means we get a private pool, private hammocks and private beach.  Every now and then you'll see another human being walk by.  It's pretty awesome.  The only problem with the beach is getting there.  It's a fairly scary hr 1/2 drive.  Pedestrians along the sides of the roads and randomly crossing, huge potholes, random speed bumps, crazy drivers, big trucks, etc.  It really keeps you on your toes.  By the time you get home, after a life-threatening drive home in the dark, you're kissing the ground and sending prayers of thanks heavenward.  Is it worth it? Of course!  If you never takes risks you're not really living.. right?

We've gone to a couple of playgrounds for Kelsey.  Nothing like the States.  Even the really nice ones are really ghetto, rusted, creaky and probably not child safe.  We had to inform my dad that he was lifting Kelsey too high in the swing and she was about to slip out the bottom, seeing as there was nothing holding her in between her legs.  The tropical gardens around the playgrounds are always really neat though.

Monday we had a brunch at our place for the "Gringo" women of our ward.  It's half mission wives and half wives who follow their husbands abroad.  FBI, embassy, company etc.  It's all a very familiar scene for me, but one I will probably never have to live as an adult... but you never know what the future holds.