Hi everyone,

It seems amazing that I’m writing this entry on the last day of school. It only feels like we’ve been here 5 minutes and already the year has gone. Tomorrow we fly out to New York and then a bus to Montreal arriving Sunday morning for 10 days with Ged (Simone’s brother for those who don’t know). Then back to NYC for some time with Stevie K and old school friend. We are then back to the UK for a couple of weeks before heading to Spain for some sun and celebrate my birthday in Madrid. Very excited about the whole thing and will hopefully see you all soon.




To finish off it was the primary staff talent show today and I did my first ever gig as me and some other teachers did a cover of I love rock n roll. The acoustics aren’t great and I think the sound guy forgot to turn my bass mike up, but it was great fun. The kids make a great crowd and they aren’t too fussy about musical ability.



Watch the video here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQojbItMxAA

Ben & Sim

Better late than never Roadtrip, Part 3

So weeks have passed by again whilst I’ve been thinking “oh must finish writing about Easter road trip” and now it’s June! And two weeks Friday we’ll have completed our first year the ABC school. How time flies.

After we left the islands we drove up to the northern more mountainous region to a small town called Perquin. The area was once pretty remote, lots of hills and was a key area in the Civil War mainly because it was a guerilla stronghold. It’s now known as the “ruta de la paz” (peace route) on tourist info but strangely only mentions the peace in terms of the nature and serene scenery.

We went round the museo de la revolucion, where former guerillas show you round, tell you what they were fighting for, how they were affected and all the awful things that happened to them and the civilians caught up in it all. Then we went round a guerilla camp in the hills and saw how they lived on the move at the time. Sure, it’s a one sided museum but very informative and a voice of the side you don’t hear elsewhere. The next day we visited the Mezote Memorial to the thousand or so civillians, mostly form the same village and surrounding area who were brutally killed by the army in December 81. After seeing the list of names of children, (some as young as a few days) on the wall of the memorial garden and then the names of all the families and the family member who died, don’t think anyone can leave there without feeling moved. (Google El Mozote for more info- it's a long story and what happened there was denied for years and to some people it still didn’t happen, despite the one survivor trying to tell her story to the world)


We also put Monty’s off road tyres and skills (and maybe kate's and my nerves) to the test again and did a bit of exploring. We had hoped to find some waterfalls but since was still dry season we weren’t so lucky.

After the few days in the mountains, we headed back down to the coast for a last bit of tropical relaxation with Kate and Gav. The usual: beach, beer, books and a little bodyboarding and surfing for Ben. All in all a great roadtrip!

So there you go, all up to date on our adventures. Looking forward to a summer of more adventures and catching up with friends and family. Hasta luego!

Spingtime in Salvador

Greetings!

Well it sure has been a long time since I wrote anything on here. Apologies if anyone has been expectantly looking here regularly only to find nada. Since Sim's last entry plenty has happened so I'll start with my second appearance for the El Salvador cricket team on the Easter tour of Belize. We were soundly beaten in both matches although I was second highest scorer in the team with a mighty 23, Roger high scored with 49 and we were the only two to get double figures so I guess defeat was inevitable. Day 2 out for a golden duck although I did get a mention in El Salvador Cricket's magazine for my efforts in the field. Like a young Jonty Rhodes I was.

Here's the team outside our luxruious team hotel. The tour also included the longest bus ride I've ever been on 17h hours each way. Still it was pretty good fun although I'm not sure I'll be going on tour again it was pretty expensive and it's not like I spent hours batting. Sticking with cricket some more recent news. Last week I agreed to become the new club captain for my league team the Cuscatlan Chiefs, so that will be a challenge.

After returning from the cricket tour Dad and Kim arrived. The last of our visitors for the year. We first headed off to Antigua in Guatemala, the highlight of the trip being climbing up olcano Pacaya. which was spitting flames as we walked down in the dark. Very exciting. See the video on youtube by clicking this link. Pacaya Volcano . Of course this is the volcano that recently properly erupted, covering Guatemala City in ash and killing seveal people, including a journalist reporting for TV. In fact about two weeks after we went up two american tourists were killed when they wandered off from their guide and strayed on to a thin pice f lava rust and fell through into molten lava. Might have been a little less keen to go up there if that had happened before we went up. The fact that it rained all the way up did not dampen this intrepid explorer's enthusiasm.

On the way back we spent a couple of days at the beach, which was a nice relaxing end to the Easter Hols. While there we did some kayaking down the estuary which  was pretty cool but most of the time was spent lying by the pool drinking cold beers and doing a little bit of reading.

Monty shows off his 4x4 skills.

If I sit at the back it's easier to avoid the hard paddling work.

Dad obviously had the same idea.

Unfortunately, the trip to the beach ended in disaster for Monty. Home on the back of a rescue truck.

Obviously the next day it was back to school for Simmie and I . Dad and Kim spent the next 4 days exploring San Salvador before jetting off to New York where they got stranded due to the vocano in Iceland (right next to the frozen peas).

Since then no more guests so the house has been kinda empty. Lots of time to practice my drumming and of course plenty of end of term work to do at school, reports etc... Able to write this blog today because at the end of last week, during which time it seemed to be constantly raining, we were hit by Tropical Storm Agatha. All the schools in El Salvador are closed and although it hit Guatemala worse there has been deaths here unfortunately and lots of people evacuated. Rain has thankfully stopped nowso probably back to school tomorrow. Only 13 day to the holidays and my first gig, which hopefully someone will video. Then off to Montreal, New York, London and Madrid, where hopefully we'll get to see everyone.

More soon, ciao all xxx

Rest of Roadtrip

Hello,

I'm back AGAIN, just deleteted Ben's comments about waiting months for next post! So where did I get to last time?  We'd made it down to the coast closer to Honduras, spent the night at some interesting  accomodation and left early the next morning for La Union, a port town where we would get a boat to Isla Meanguera. So we arrived in La Union in good time. Parked the car up in some bar restaurant car park and eventually walked round the corner to the "port". Luckily I'd phoned the hotel who'd told me to look for or phone "Don Santos" as it was pure port chaos. I say port but more of a little harbour full or smallish boats, kids trying to carry your luggage, lots of kids swimming in the really clean water, lots of shouting, lots of people in boats, lots of people wading out to the boats already full with lots of people and their bags, boxes bags of veg, eggs, ice, chairs and gas bottles and lots of people hovering around selling a variety of snacks for the journey. Or the wait for the journey as it turned out.

The first boat our luggage was lead to looked rather full, was leaving early and didnt belong to Santos and could've been going to any of the islands so after lots more shouting (not by us) the luggage came back.
Luckily around the same time a girl who'd been doing the hotel's weekly big shop  spotted us (4 gringos so not difficult) and told us Santos was on his way. Santos' boat seemed to arrive before he did and we were the first on soon to be surrounded by lots more people, lots more bags, lots more of everything...

so after sitting on the boat for about an hour we finally left and had all the comfort you expect for a journey lasting about an hour and costing three bux. So we reached the island, dropped off a few people and each time we stopped we had the saga of someone's bags being at the underneath everyone elses. So we were quite glad when it was our turn to get off at the hotel.

The hotel was right next to the sea and we spent the next two days doing very little.Well plenty of eating, good fresh fish and drinking (the weekend coincided with Gav's "stagaversary" so of course Gav and Ben weren't going to let that slip by) . We did manage a kayaking trip round the little island opposite which at one point got a little rougher than we'd bargained for but we all made it back without capsising. In the afternoon we got a boat to the beach and spent a few hours there having "beach fun" (see below) before returning for some (stop!) Hammock Time. All in all was a great spot for a few relaxing days doing not much.

 lounging area for hammock time

  playing in the sea                                                      another rammed beach

 a continuacion ....

While the Cat's away...

While the cat's away, Simmie will try and play ... well with the blog at least. So after a few comments about me never blogging (to be fair I think I did once... well maybe  a few lines? was gonna actually do one a few weeks back but Ben still beat me do it. He's more proactive, whilst I am more of a procrastinator (really Sim? I hear you say sarcastically) See I'm already wiffling and over-using brackets. Another reason for Ben to write. But still in the words of Magnus I've started so I'll finish. (whether in one go we'll see!)

So it's April already and time just keeps on flying by. As I write I hear the gentle the sound of rain again, not quite full on rainy season yet but a reminder it's soon on its way, feels like dry season only just began. But makes me strangely nostalgic, like Easter weekend in the UK, dark and rainy, though luckily ( and smugly?) for us, still in the high twenties!

Easter Sunday and I must be one of the few people in El Salvador not "al mar" for the long weekend. Still, having spent some of last week and probably at least every other weekend there recently, I'm not too put out by this. In fact, am enjoying the quietiest weekend I've had in a while, reading, faffing, hammocking and watching really crap TV.brilliant. The house feels strangely quiet and empty. Ben is "on tour", not as an internationally aclaimed drummer, but an an international cricketer again, this time playing Belize. So I'm sure he'll do some blogging about that. Sounds like they've had fun even if the  bus journey was long and a few hiccups along the way.

House also feels empty of visitors as we've been pretty booked up these last few weeks, well months.El Salvador tourism figures must be on the rise as a result. Kate and Gav just left yesterday.
Since Mum and Dad left we've had my mum's cousin Maria Elena here, She was out here for work so caught up with her after not seeing her for a few years. She pretty chocka with work but we managed to show her a couple of sights, well the beach and nice places to eat!

Then the evening after she left Kate and Gav arrived (brummie-brisslers for those of you who havent met them in person) Their arrival also concided with some friends' party so just popped by for a bit  as travelling all day and partying all night isnt really condusive to making it to the beach the next day (well done Kate and Gav for holding out for another couple of hours who by then must've been up for well over 24hrs)
So we made it to the beach and spent the day making the most of the nice hotel facilities,pool, boozie jacquzzi  and Ben and I resented having to go to back to work the next day.  Kate and Gav spent a couple of days there and we joined them after work and then all came back later in the week.

 We did all the usual things we offer on our "first time El Salvador" package. Volcano, restaurant with view of town, local food delights, unlimited use of hammocks and beer fridge and we finally made it to our Easter Hols after what felt like another long and busy term.

Top of Volcan Boqueron

We headed straight off on Friday afternoon to the "Oriente", the coast we hadn't made it too before as quite a bit further down towards Honduras. And after a few hours we arrived hot and tired in el Cuco. It turned out to be quite an experience. We arrived in the middle of a power cut, so was very dark, at a place right by the beach in what was in effect a bungalow with mosquito screen walls and roof (they called it an "upgrade") Sure this was where Gav began to be inspired for his horror film idea. After dinner and beers (well a beer as apparently some group had drank their bar dry at lunchtime,didn't go down too well with the boys.) we were all in bed by 9.30 in our outdoor rooms.
By 6 am we were all awake having been awoken by the crashing waves and dawn though I don't think any of us slept particularly well (crackly plastic under sheets and security guard wondering around with his torch and for some the threat of bugs and creatures who were able to crawl through the gaps) . But short of actually sleeping on the beach it was a pretty unique way to way up, palm trees above your head, sun peeping through them in the distance and hearing the sea. Wondered down to the sea and had the wake up invigorating dip and amired the endless, vast beach.

We left early with plenty of time to get the boat across the Golfo Fonseca.So will sign off there as will be way too much to read in one go... still got another 6 days of roadtrip to cover! Next episode Pacific Island. Hasta luego.

Jules & Rita visit.

Another busy fortnight whizzes by and I think to myself where did that go? Sim’s folks have been here visiting and we managed to enjoy some time down at the beach, a visit to Suchitoto and they made good use of our car and the local “buses” to explore plenty of the San Salvador area. Unfortunately, two weeks just flies by and it felt like they were leaving having only just arrived. They had a pretty good time though. Jules was lucky enough to spend his 60th birthday watching the four best cricket teams in El Salvador battle it out in the end of season deciders for the league title and Rita managed to leave with a better tan than me and I’ve been here for nearly 8 months. No big surprise according to Sim.

The beach at La Perla. I hate it when its busy like this!

Relaxing by the pool.

The hotel in Suchitoto. Slumming it again.

Breakfast in the garden.

Mum & Dad

What catalogue did you say this was for?

Auditions for Pop Idol El Salvador were well attended.

Jules and Rita getting involved in the cricket taking charge of the scoreboard.

And Judge dispatches a short ball toward the boundary. (Unfortunately to where a fielder was stood)

In other news school had their annual Spring Fair a couple of weeks ago. Annoyingly on a Saturday morning and attendance isn’t voluntary. Although it’s only Primary staff, so Secondary staff have no obligation to work on weekends. We’re all on the same contract so it seems a little unfair to me, especially as we had visitors from the UK here at the time. Still it wasn’t the worst day of my life, just inconvenient and by the end I was pretty bored, 4 hours is way too long.

The crowds of people lining up to dunk me in the tank were huge.

Simmie was in charge of a dressing up race. The QPR kit proved very popular with the locals.

I’ve also at long last got round to buying myself a drum kit. Not quite ready for a video performance yet, but hopefully soon just give me some time to practice. It’s been a while.

Hasta luego B & S xxx

Antigua, Guatemala

Hola,

Life continues it's non stop whirlwind of work, visitors and excessive amounts of alcohol and food. Mum leaves on Friday and as I write this Sim's Mum and Dad are in the air from Housten due in about 90 mins.

Spent last weekend in Antigua, Guatemala which is an old Spanish colonial town, not disimilar to Granada in Nicaragura. More tourists in Antigua though and more of all the stuff that more tourists bring. Still a very nice place though with a really nice feel about it. We spent quite a few hours just sitting in the main square watching the world go by. Sim and I will be making another visit in the near future. we'd quite like to climb the live volcano nearby and just spend a bit more time there.

This is the garden of the hotel we stayed in. Very nice.

This is the cathederal in the main square. Interestingly the burial place of the Spanish historian and Conquistador Bernal Diaz. The man who was a member of all three Mexico expeditians, including the one with Hernan Cortes that led to the destruction of the Aztec Empire. 

 

Mum relaxing in the main square.

There were some lovely views almost around every corner.

And again with the volcano.

Antigua was the capital of Guatemala from 1541 until a large earthquake in 1773 destroyed large parts of it. Much of it is now preserved as ruins.

Cobbled streets and a lovely clock tower Tourist heaven.

All the streets pretty much look like this one.

Unfortunately we didn't manage to get any footage of our little gig- ben on the drums and sim singing.