Don't confuse the esfreezer and the locker

The other day I heard a radio program which basically pointed the finger at linguistic patriotism of the French and President Mitterand for the Rwanda genocide. Apparently the Frogs were concerned that the Tutsi lead Rwandan Patriotic Front , based in nearby Anglophone Uganda were likely to topple to Hutu dominated Rwanda regime and that this would be the first Francophone domino of many to fall. If the Frogs couldn't hold on to Rwanda, then they would be a laughing stock, and before you could say Merde! the whole continent would be speaking English, so thought Mitterand. So the Frogs sent military personnel and equipment to Rwanda to show the Hutus how to become effective killing machines using only basic farm implements like machetes. A couple of million dead hacked bodies later, and even as the Tutsi forces are advancing on the country trying to stop the genocide the Frogs allowed the Hutu elite to escape the country and even testified in favour of those Hutu who were later put on trial for crimes against humanity. The Frogs of course deny all this, no doubt with one of those Gallic shrug of the shoulder, who me? looks.
(All these allegations are backed up by detailed evidence in a report released by the Rwandan government last week.)

On a little more light hearted , I can't but help notice how widespread Spanglish is across Central America, (Spanglish is a combination of English and Spanish - mainly involving the use in original or modified form of English words or expression in Spanish) The dual the influences of the imperialist US media pouring its cultural schlock down the throats of Latinos and the influence of the millions of Latinos who have lived in the US and subsequently returned make Spanglish more and more prevalent. There are plenty examples, the particularly entertaining are when people start appropriating English words as if they were Spanish, even when there are clear alternatives in Spanish. There are the classics like parkear for park (as in a car), cathcear for catch, blokes for blocks, ticket for receipt
Without a doubt El Salvador is the country most effected, you can hardly walk down the street without somebody saying, What up white boy ?
My current favourite is cora - this is how El Salvadoreños pronounce quarter (US 25 cents) - now they use the US dollar as their currency. (It took me quite a while to work this on out)

I get the most laughs however when people go to the effort of actually writing these workds down in public signs. My favourite two examples of this phenomena are two signs that I saw in La Libertad:

1. A sign on the pier above some freezers read

Estos esfreezers son propriedad del cooperativo

2. A sign in a supermarket attached to the lockers for storing bags whilst in the store

No dejan cosas de valor en los lockers

What are the chances ? A piscine bullet

The other day I was out in the water, as I seem to be a fair bit these days, sitting about waiting for a wave to come my wave. As a small wave approached I bobbed down before it, losing sight of the horizon. As I bobbed over the wave, directly in front of me I saw three small fish, no larger than the size of a can of sardines, jump out of the water at great speed, in a flat arc slightly above the surface of the water, trying, no doubt, to avoid becoming the prey of something a little larger. I turned my head in an involuntary reflex action as I saw a fish coming straight for my face, and whack, the speeding bullet hit me just below my right eye. In the immediate aftermath I was too shocked to do anything, even feel the stinging pain in my eye. I had seen plenty of jumping fish before but I had never seen them strike anything. After a while I felt the stinging in my eye, but when I finally opened it I was relieved that I seemed to still have my vision. As there was nobody else out at the point, I sat there completely in wonder at the chances of a small fish being in the same place in my face given the expanse of ocean in which it had to roam. After a while the pain died down, a wave came my way, and I paddled on to it, and was soon focusing on making the next section.
However, sometimes now when I close my eyes I see that steely, cold, dark, black eye of the fish coming my way, fulfilling its date with destiny and my face.

Still doing it and still smiling

What more can I say ?

El Salvador magic

Well I finally managed to find some good, uncrowded waves in El Salvador.
I am in the east, camping on the beach, surfing every day and having a ball.
Counting down the days to the one year anniversary of the last time I had a job.
Life is tough in this part of the world !!!


Well