Good morning and happy Saturday everyone! It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a cartoon about my own childhood. So a little backstory.

My parents come from a generation of Salvadorans who grew up in populated areas that had not been completely urbanized. We’re talking the 1940s and 1950s. If a home didn’t have a pila, then families would take their clothes to the local river. In my mother’s youth in the 40s, she remembers the Río Úrbina that would flow right in the middle of San Salvador. With modernization and large hydroelectric projects in the 1960s, many of these local rivers dried up, depriving neighborhoods of potable water they had readily available for generations.

Now here’s a question: How many of you Central Americans grew up hearing the phrase in the cartoon?

Translation:

The Most Hated Phrase from my Childhood

Mother: Chh! Hurry up! We have to go to the river today!

Me: Noooo!