Using bleach to clean vegetables

This is what I learned last night - that all of the vegetables and fruits that are bought anywhere here are first soaked in salt for 20 minutes and then in bleach for 20 minutes.  I just can´t wrap my mind around the bleach.

This is what I learned this morning - that mothers day here - el dia de la madre is celebrated starting with fireworks at 4am and then every 20 minutes or so following that.  Yolly bought a pastel - a beautiful bakery cake that we will enjoy at some point today.  That (might) make up for the chocolate chip cookies.

fireworks at 4am and every 20 minutes thereafter

The food here is really pretty good - and I am so relieved because I expected something like Nicaragua where there was so much food it was obscene.  Here my breakfast is panqueque - which seems to be cornmeal based but it really good - with strawberry jam on top AND a bowl of cereal which is something like really sweet oatmeal with bananas.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and and has been soemthing like tortillas, rice, chicken, potatoes, carrots, etc. both days.  Since there are so many people for meals we end up eating different things - and most of the locals eat a more standard breakfast of black beans, boiled or scrambled eggs, tortillas, and coffee.

Dinner has been different every day - last night it was a sort of fried rice with peas, eggs, and salsa de soya (soy sauce).

In just a minute we are heading to Fuentes Georginas, which is back up by Zunil - and is a bunch of natural pools of water heated by the volcano.  This is the trip that I did not really want to do on my own, so am glad for the school field trip!  More mas tarde!