El Garitón part I

so after El Salvador i moved to a new tortugario (turtle park) in a village called El Garitón. cool place that makes you feel at home and everyone is superfriendly and cool.

gathering storm. have had some massive lightning and thunderstorms. twice while Kate and i were there by ourselves we had lightning strike within 150 m or so of us. had dinner indoors those days.

have finally come up w/ names for 'those two'. not sure about girl though. you will see a bit more of them soon. around christmas time or so i'd say. wink-wink

another beautiful sunset over El Garitón

after a Frank'n'Frank comic by the brilliantly talented Chris Appelhans

Kate saw a bird chase a crab around a coconut, around and around in circles, for about a minute. not the brightest of them

out one night in Monterrico for a party and there was a cool fire-poy dancing girl. at one stage i went outside to chill and sat on the lifeguard tower bottom rung just looking out to sea and up to stars (amazing sky there) when a huge wave came rushing up. i lifted my feet so they wouldn't get wet and in doing so lost my balance and fell back. not all the way but did get back of my t-shirt wet. not one of my brightest moments either

had a dream w/ a friend (she's probably coming over next year). these and other things happened.

David, from a family down the dirt road to main street. play w/ him and his sister Carolina almost everytime we go by. they are guaranteed to put a smile on your face and always excited to see you.

walking for turtles one night (baules/leatherbacks, which can reach 2.5 m, have started coming up early this season) kate and i were pretty tired and almost done w/ the 8km walk when about 100 m from the tortugario a massive wave came up. we just acted on reflex and ran and jumped up a cusp (sand hill) about one and a half meters high. woke us up thats for sure.. and made us laugh

Kate w/ some girls from the village after she´d painted their nails. go into town and you are almost guaranteed to run into one of them at least. one on left is supercheecky.

a little tiny hatchling. we do nest excavations after a few days of the nest hatching and most are out. sometimes you´ll find some deformed, albino, or stuck hatchlings... some dead as well. takes them a while to dig up and once they get out they go towards the light which is usually the waves, so strong lights on houses by the beach are bad for them as it confuses them and the females when they come to lay the eggs.

and here they are rushing out to sea

mosquito nets... another essential... actually that is a lie as i don´t use one in El Garitón but did in Hawaii... and when i was in Sri Lanka last year.

another cool cloud

David, one of kids from this really cool family down the road. Ruty and Angel are the granparents and they live w/ three of their sons and daughters Helder, Fabiana and Anyansy and David and Carolina who are grandchildren from another daughter. also have other sons. every time we go by we say hi and most times spend a bit of time talking and playing w/ the kids. they are guaranteed to put a smile on your face no matter how bad the day. unfortunately Helder, who was 20, died in a motorbike accident a week and a half before i left. went to the velatorio (wake w/ singing and praying on same day) and then the funeral the day after. sad few days, especially seeing them so distraught as they were always supernice w/ honest kindness to us. inviting us for dinner and if i was around for christmas i was invited to spend it w/ them.

till next time