It is so, so grismal and dreary out that once again, I resort to posting a photograph of sunny San Salvador, El Salvador. The country is in the dry season right now; it won't start getting rainy until mid-March. Right now, instead, it is hot, dry, dusty and sunny. You can figure on temperatures in the high 80s or low 90s in San Salvador, about 4000 feet above sea level. Get down to San Miguel, closer to sea level and it is hot (but not as humid as Panamá, for example).
This photo is of the Catedral Metropolitana, the place where San Romero de las Americas is buried. When I first saw this building in March 1994, in the lead-up to the first open elections after the signing of the 1992 peace accords, which permitted the opposition party, the FMLN, to be a part of the balloting process, it was unfinished.
Romero had been dead 14 years and the bishop after him also decided not to spend the money on finishing the cathedral. The big earthquake of 1986 also did structural damage. In 1994, the cathedral was closed, though at the rally, people had climbed up inside and had draped a huge poster of Romero from the towers (I took this photo a week after the rally). Toward the late 90s, a new bishop was installed and set about to completing the façade. People now call it the towel, after a popular Salvadoran beach towel. Putting up the tiles cost about $35,000. Over the years, the façade and catedral have gotten a bit dingier -- in a semi-tropical place like El Salvador, mold and mildew take over, so there is creeping mold on the front. Still, it is a holy place to visit and I usually try at least once every trip to El Salvador to get downtown and spend some time there.
Here in Vermont, it is so gross out that I have absolutely no drive whatsoever. It's hard to putter around when I have a happy cat sitting on my lap. This is quite unusual, actually. Two of the three never, ever sit on my lap; the younger one does occasionally. I think he is trying to tell me that the house is too cold. As soon as I get up from this chair, he will take over it, because I have that nice quilt on it. For right now, he has his head on my right forearm, making typing a bit difficult.
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