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?)

Summer Projects

Our house is still “packaged up” in storage, still vacant and the contractors are STILL working on the renovations that snowballed and took on a life of their own. At the end of August it will be exactly one year since I started these renovations – apart from having a gorgeously fresh new house all updated to the nines, is the fact that the sour real estate market that existed when I started the renos is now a very positive seller’s market in my area. The interest rates are very appealing right now as well. It is practically a brand new house now. The renovations were extensive: brand new flooring throughout, wallpapered/freshly painted throughout, new lighting fixtures, new furnace, new water heater, new appliances, new skirting boards, new decks, new balconies, new kitchen counter tops, new cabinetry, new sinks and faucets throughout, entirely new bathroom, foundation repaired (yes flooding due to all the rain storms was a set back), chimney repaired, etc. We tried to do what renos we could ourselves to save the money – thanks to my handy parents! So, now in light of the fact that we have about four months before I would leave for El Salvador, the heat is really on the last contractor to finish up the last reno that is taking place on this bloody house so I can pop it on the market and get it sold!!




Trinity is still loving her time in El Salvador – although she does miss her sister. But no amount of begging will seem to pry Avalon away from my hips to join them down in El Salvador. Avalon is busy this summer attending a Theatre Arts Programme at Theatre Aquarius in another city that is close to us – Hamilton. She is becoming a “Triple Threat – Dancing, Singing and Acting” and all up in her own koolaid!

Avalon and I are flying down to El Salvador in August for a three week visit. I will now use it as an opportunity to start applying/sorting out work permits, resident status, (whatever it is we need to transition smoothly), research affordable schools for the girls and get them registered in a school. Thank god for the internet in assisting us with planning this stuff.



Douglas thinks that he has found a nice little Bilingual Parochial Private All Girl's school for them, so we will be able to investigate it further when I am down there. From what I can ascertain, the Public School system in El Salvador is substandard; some schools not able to even afford desks or books for their students, so unfortunately this is not an option. As well, they don’t speak Spanish, so of course that would have been an extreme challenge for them. They attended Bilingual (English/French) school up here in Canada, so we were hoping that it would help them to pick up the Spanish a bit easier. The admission fees for a Bilingual Private School in El Salvador are a few thousand, depending on the school and the fees range from $4000.00 a year all the way up to $15,000.00 per year. Yikes!



Douglas is in the process of trying to find a larger home for us near El Tunco - one that isn't so isolated and "open concept" that invites all the bugs and scorpions in. Trinity is having fun looking through all the homes and telling me all about them and which one she prefers.

African Lion Safari

We have season's passes to African Lion Safari - so we have been trying to get our money's worth and have been quite a few times now.  Besides a water park, animal shows, train ride etc., there is the actual "safari" where you drive your vehicle through animal enclosures - but really we are the ones enclosed in the vehicle watching the animals roam free.

The baboons are the best! They jump all over your vehicle - sometimes they poop on it! They always sit on the side mirrors hoping you will feed them a morsel.  We were naughty and fed them a granola bar.

 

Queen Birdie

King of the Jungle having a nap!

An elephant ride  - her name is Lilly!

 We drive past these sunflower fields on the way home - we had to refrain from picking them!