YAY! A New Sink!

Yay - the new sink is installed! It's a miracle! Something actually done on time! The new salon is up and running and it's even better than the one before - great location and in the middle of all  the action! I will post pics as soon as I see it up close!

Only in Latin America...

We just moved our Hair Salon location in El Salvador to one more visible and right on the main street of Playa El Tunco - just a few paces from the old one.  Only after all the salon furniture had been moved into the new place and handing over the lease money, does the landlord inform my husband "Oh, by the way, the water only works from 8am to 12 noon every day."

Really? Seriously?

Apparently they are now trying to work out a solution with some water pump configuration.

EL SALVADOR POSTAL SERVICE - NO MAN'S LAND

I've put my leave of absence from November 30th on hold yet again! Reasons? Well, trepidation for the challenges of living in El Salvador; job prospects for a non-spanish speaking person, education system for the girls - so in a nutshell the financial hurdles are the main reason. 

We have been working very hard to get a Visitor Visa for Douglas to come back here for a time - really hoping for Christmas (if it is approved at all)!

I sent some important Immigration documents with a money order for $100.00 U.S. via Canada Post, Express Post, Guaranteed with signature upon delivery over 10 business days ago. It was guaranteed to be delivered within 7 business days.  It was a small envelope and cost me about $55.00 to post.

I have sent a few letters and packages to him in El Salvador and only ONE ever made it to him - it was the most boring item I had posted that miraculously made it.  So, am I surprised this "guaranteed" delivery didn't make it?

Let's just say that we all kissed the package farewell before we handed it to the Postal person.  I don't blame Canada Post - in the tracking it shows it as having left Canada safe and sound and on time. 

Now they are instigating a trace on the package in El Salvador - which I am told can take up to 2 months to do ???

The money order is another problem to be dealt with! I have to pay to have a trace put on that now. 

So, in in the interim.  I was going to wait a few days - see if anything is found under a rock or a palm tree and then if nothing found, I plan to drive to the airport and pay a stranger waiting in line to fly to El Salvador to carry my small envelope to San Salvador. I think that is the safest way. 

Come on El Salvador - what is wrong with your postal service?

We Met KAT VON D!!!

We bought her new book - she signed it and also signed Avalon's sock monkey and Trinity's cast.  She was just as beautiful in person. 

Too Many Kartwheels!

At Cheerleading practice, Trinity broke her ankle. She is hobbling all over - but at least she blinged out her cast!

Cheerleading Competitions

The girls belong to a local competitive Cheerleading troupe.  They have competitions all over - some will be in the U.S. - so we are looking forward to those.  The girls' did well at their first competitions - their teams placed 1st and second.

Our little Avalon is third one standing from the right.

Trinity is the first one standing on the left hand side.

Our Baby is a Teenager!

Our bootiful baby recently officially became a teenager, although because of her love of fashion, hair, & makeup it feels like she's been one for a while.  Trinity is a joy to have as a daughter and we love her with all our heart! She practically grew up in a salon, with Daddy giving her highlights starting at age 7 - so she has had years to develop this quirky lollygoth cutesy style of hers.  She is a leader and not a follower with old-fashioned values like her mama - so I hope that sustains her through the "teen years"!

 

Trinity wanted only one small thing for her birthday - an iPhone 4.  Ya, just a small little thing.  I broke down, against all my years of telling her she was too young for a cell phone, when I decided that the "face time" feature would be great for her and her Daddy to use, since Skype didn't seem to work so well for us!

Trinity's Aunty baked her a wonderful cake (this is Trinity's #1 favourite cake).  As her Aunty GB was driving it over to our place, her daughter had the very tall cake (about 5 levels) on her lap.  Everything was fine until they went over a bump and the cake "slipped" out of her daughter's hands, did a complete flip, and landed upside down on the dashboard! She managed to salvage some of it - it still tasted divine - but she had to drive home with chocolate frosting all over the dashboard and window! ha ha

We celebrated Trinity's birthday as well with her friends and went to Canada Wonderland's "Halloween Haunt".  It was in the evening from 7pm-midnight. It was chilly, especially whipping through the cold air on rides, but a great time was had by all.

Historic House Event

We went to an event at an Historic house built in the mid 1800's in Burlington.  We usually go there at least once a year.  It's a nice modest farm house, usually with ladies downstairs baking apple pies and such from scratch. We went for a tour of the house one weekend and had a blast making floral arrangements for $3.00.

The well in the kitchen is covered with glass for us to see it clearly, but it is a bit freaky to walk over it.

The kids had a blast getting airbrush tattoos.

Good Fun!

One Less Brick in the Wall

Well, it only took the RCMP a little over 6 months to process his fingerprints (she says sarcastically).  Apparently, if his fingertips were here in Canada, they could have done this in 24 hrs, but because said fingertips are down in El Salvador, and because the Immigration officer that processed his removal was an ignoramous who did not inform us that he should do the prints while his fingertips were still in Canada, we had to submit the fingerprints by ink the old fashioned way. 

So, finally after numerous emails, calls from our MP to their offices, phone mail messages never returned by the RCMP,  the day has finally come that we have received the documentation from the RCMP.  I think I should have a party.  Now the next couple of steps will take the next department anywhere from 6-12 months to process.

Then and ONLY then can we even submit all this to the Immigration department in Guatemala City - so right now, the Immigration person handling our file is sitting in limbo waiting for the LONG DELAYS of the various CANADIAN departments that take sooooooo long to process!  I mean, really, I don't understand why it takes so long to process this paperwork.

Oh, this is soooooo draining.

BLOG ACTION DAY 2010: WATER

After living in the day to day among the local people of a third world/developing country, we had the unique perspective of experiencing water on a different level.

Today thousands of bloggers from over 125 different countries come together to write about water issues in their communities around the world today.  Please visit change.org - a really interesting website.   Some interesting facts from the website:

• Every WEEK nearly 38 thousand children under the age of 5 die worldwide from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions.
• Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence including war.

 WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE.  WATER IS A GLOBAL ISSUE.

In Canada we do not have true poverty.  We are fortunate to live in a country that does not lack water and the water that we do have is filtered through sanitation filtration systems. A study conducted last year in a Toronto paper investigated whether the municipal water supply is safe - some municipalities had "safer" drinking water than others. Some had lead in the water due to old lead pipes in the older homes, prescription drug toxins and bacteria were found at different levels, but the overall message was that the water was safe to drink.

I read these facts today that really blew me away: The basic water requirement for one person is 50 litres. The average Sub-Saharan consumption is 10 to 20 litres per person/per day.  In Europe it's 140 litres per person/per day. In Canada, the average consumption is 335 litres per person/per day. I was reading all the "tips" to conserve water.  I absolutely understand the need to conserve and I understand that we waste a lot of water here. Bring in the rain barrels! I swear I will turn the water off when I am brushing my teeth, but I cannot turn the water off in the shower when I "lather" - that ain't happenin'!


In most of the world, water is not in such plentiful supply.

It's trivial, but in El Salvador, we couldn't even use the running water from the faucet to brush our teeth. The smell of the water and the warnings of impending "yellow teeth" from Americans were heeded.We also would never have ice in a drink, shaved ice treats or anything that was washed in water that was not from a bottle. (The latest movement in diminishing plastic bottles, thereby reducing oil consumption etc) is not even on the radar in El Salvador. Bottled water is a necessity in this country.

In wiki - it states that 90% of the surface water is contaminated and that the industrial waste water spews into the creeks and rivers without being treated. The photo above is where the locals do wash their clothes and themselves.  Running water is not available in the shanty villages.  There are some wells, but most women and some men can be seen walking along the roadsides with their vessels on their heads carrying water back to their homes.

If you are lucky enough to have running water - it's not unusual for it to be turned off for days - especially during the rainy season.  The limited filtration systems can't take the muddy waters, so hence the water turn offs.

To turn your water off  for a couple of days is to experience a fraction of life experienced by most of the world's population.  In the first world countries, we should be very grateful for the running water in plentiful supply.

The Simple Life in El Salvador

Trinity and Daddy lived in an isolated Rancho by the ocean for a couple of months until it became apparent that they really needed to move on.  

Douglas found a new place to move into in July right on the ocean where all the little bohemian beach villages are located.  The social networks are all you have in these little villages - so we enjoyed meeting travellers from all around the globe - in particular some really nice guys from Israel and a fiesty Swede.  It's a very cute little place where everybody knows every one in town.  There are cobble stones  - where you have to be careful not to break your ankle while walking and a main "pedestrian street" covered in sand where all the surfers walk with bare feet down to the ocean waves.  The ten foot cable was apparently stolen not once, but twice, and thus we had no cell or internet service for a good part of a month.  I will have to remember to pack a cable in November.

Our little Casa/Rancho is very cute, but has some challenges in the "kitchen" area, namely that it is an open area where insects and animals can forage.

We love the pool!!!!!!  Avalon has become a Mermaid!

The view of the coconut tree from our living room. There are deers, turtles that Tequila loves to dig his paws into, geckos and parrots and a little baby possum that forages in the garbage every night!

The salon looks great - I brought up suitcases filled with products to sell in the salon.  Some images of the Salon:

Some images from the village Playa El Tunco:

The tides were very high, so unfortunately, there were only a couple of days that the girls were able to swim in the ocean.

Goofy Kissface!

We went to a very interesting little colonial town in Northern El Salvador - Ataco.  A bit dicey with the directions, but three hours later up in the cloudy mountainous region, we finally found it.  It was worth the drive:

My sister asked me why he was crying - I think because the milk gives him the runs and the butter tastes like crap - sorry El Salvador I just had to get that out of my system!

Unfortunately, we were traveling in the dark on the way home and had a flat tire.  It was a bit scary - we limped along the dark highway on the rims looking for help - there isn't exactly the CAA that we could call for help.  As we were arranging through our cell phone for a taxi to find us and bring us back home (we were about 2 hrs from home at that point), we happened to come upon the Policia.  As we pulled over to them on the curb, they then took off.  Douglas flashed his lights and honked his horn to no avail.  We limped back onto the highway again and pulled over to the curb when we came upon the Policia again.  Apparently they were chasing down some gang members when we had pulled over.  They dealt with their situation, told us it was a very dangerous area where gang members can form lines to stop traffic and pull innocent victims over.  So after that reassurance, we paid them to change our tire to the donut, as Douglas has only ever done that once, and then off we went back on the highway. We made it back home late that night in one piece.  Of course it was all my fault because I "love to gallavant around" - well true.  So, the next daytrip will be better planned and we will find a hotel to stay in overnight!

We ventured to the Muelle - fish market down by the pier of La Libertad.  The "major" town about 6 minutes down the road is stuck in a 1960's time warp, dirty and run down, but quite interesting.  We especially loved the filleting of the sting rays by the ocean.

The girls and I just made it back in Canada to the balmy temperatures of 10 degrees!  Just in time to run around getting their uniforms and "back to school" paraphernalia in order.  Trinity was with her Daddy for over three months and was ready to come back to Canada. Unfortunately, besides swimming, surfing, and watching movies on TV(no cable), there wasn't much else to do.  She was always wanting to go to the malls of San Salvador - but this became an expensive past time. Avalon was there for the month of August and thoroughly enjoyed all the swimming - we had to beg her to get out of the pool in order to go to the mall or grocery store.

I am now counting the days until November 31st, when we will be back with Douglas in El Tunco.

Got Hair?

Finally after only a couple of months of waiting for a Salvadoran Hydro employee to connect hydro to the Salon - it is up and running!!!

Douglas goes by the nickname of "Onyx"  - hence the name of the new Salon.  The salon is located in Playa El Tunco.

Two Peas in a Pod

The sisters together again after almost three months apart! Douglas took these pics inside the Salon - "Onyx Hair Studio".  Yesterday was a fantabulous day - not only because Avalon arrived safely in El Salvador, but also because, after two months of waiting, the HYDRO was finally installed in the salon!!! Yippee!! The salon has been painted, furnished and decorated - ready to go since June - so this is wonderful news.  I sent down all the marketing brochures and business cards with Avalon - so now he will officially open the salon this Friday!

I Managed to Pry her from My Hip

It took a little convincing from her big sister, but Avalon finally agreed to leave my embrace and travel to El Salvador ahead of me by ten days. (So, I'm childless for 10 days? What will I do with myself?)
We left at 2am for the Toronto airport, handed her over to the escort and her flight took off on time at 6:30am.  For some reason they didn't charge me the $60.00 fee for the bags - perhaps because I was already paying the $100.00 unaccompanied minor charge?? Anyway, I certainly didn't point it out. She was flying in first to Atlanta, Georgia to get her connecting flight to San Salvador.

She arrived safe and sound - when she phoned me she said that she "was practically sitting in high class" because she was one row behind the 1st class passengers. They kept offering her food on the flight, which she kept declining and then finally relented and said she would have some "M&M's" - ha ha.

Daddy and Trinity (and Avalonka the II - Trinity's second Iguana - the first one died) were there to meet her.  After she doled out the envelopes filled with money (like a little Santa Claus), Trinity decided she really wanted to go to her favorite mall in San Salvador! (Now how is it that Avalon has a better tan than Trinity?)