traveloehrs

The loudspeakers boomed- Fresa! Pina! Aguacate! Mora! Lechuga! Manzana! Naranja! Uva! Papaya! Ajo! Pepino! Zanahoria! The first time we heard it we went to investigate and were pleasantly surprised to find a small pickup truck packed to the brim with fresh fruits and vegetables. After Junebug and Lennox learned what it meant, they were like Pavlov’s dog as the piercing, methodical broadcast approached our rental each day.  “Daddy!!! Mama!!! We have to go now! The fruit truck is coming!”

The truck’s arrival time fluctuated each morning.  It didn’t matter because we could hear them approaching from several streets away. The kids loved the experience of running out to the dusty dirt road and digging through all the treasures that the truck would bring essentially to our front door.

The blaring loudspeakers of the truck and the kiddos imploring us to catch them became one of the daily elements of our time in El Zonte. Other sounds we became accustomed to included dogs barking all day long, mangoes and rain clattering on metal roofs, chickens clucking, roosters crowing, tons of new bird sounds and cows mooing on the walk to the beach. Out of all of these, I must admit that my favorite “noise” from El Zonte was hearing the loudspeakers of the approaching fruit truck and seeing the twinkle in the eyes of Junebug and Ploops as they would run up to me saying “Dada, the fruit truck is coming!”