Our Adventure: El Salvador-Monday, June 13th

Eliana is our happy traveling baby.

Monday: Monday was the last full day for the Oklahoma team, so we joined them as they ventured to Paso de Alaska. It is a resort over an hour away that is high in the mountains. The drive is stunning with the lush green mountains and clouds gently misting the hillsides. We stopped to see a gigantic lake that was breath taking. Green is my favorite color, and it is very green here. That is in part from all of the rain. We had thunder storms the first three nights we were here. I love the sound of the rain on the tin roof above us. With all of the beauty of God’s creation, you also see poverty everywhere. Barbwire is a common thing to have around here, not as common as it was in Afghanistan, but it is still here. The buildings often don’t look pretty or even painted on the outside. However, the outside is often decieving because on the inside can be nice things and decorations. Graffiti is everywhere. Electricity is expensive here, so you often see lines of clothes drying. However, I was surprised to see paved roads, traffic lights, nice grocery stores, and cell phones stores where you can get a cell phone for $15 and add money for minutes as you go.

Now, I’ll go back to talking Paso de Alaska. I find it a little funny that the missionaries here, some who have been here for 26 years, have never been there before. There is a high ropes course which Kyle and I successfully accomplished, a rock wall that Kyle made it to the top of and I nearly made it to the top of, and a zip line. The zip line was pretty intense since I had never done it before. I was in a harness connected to the zip line that was several stories above ground. For the first line, I had to use gloves to push down on the line to break myself before coming to the second platform. That turned out to be the hardest thing for people to do. Some people got so nervous that they used the gloves too much and got stuck in the middle. Then they had to pull themselves into to the platform. One guy got so stuck that to propel himself, he let go of the line and that shot him forward as his feet went above his head. Thankfully, he was able to get his balance a little so he didn’t land completely upside down. I enjoyed the second line the best because you didn’t need to use the gloves to break. I also remembered to look around. I had been so focused the first time that I only stared at the platform. Plus, using my hands to break caused my arms to jerk back and hit my face smashing my glasses into my face.

Lunch was expensive for here, but very tasty with steak, shrimp, chicken, potatoes, beans, fried bananas, steamed veggies, salsa, carrot slaw, bread, and soda. There are other activities people can do at Paso de Alaska, but we didn’t have time to go look at the animals. We’ve had to be creative with Eliana’s naps while here. Many of her naps have been taken while traveling places. While at Paso de Alaska, we brought the pack n’ play and set it up in the back of the bus. Kyle laid down for a nap in the bus too to make sure Eliana would be okay.

That night we had dinner with the team at Wendy’s. It was good to hear snippets of their trip as they worked in schools, did evangelism, and helped finish off the church building. Kyle’s Spanish came in handy as he helped others to order their food. Eliana continued to light up people’s lives as she babbled and enjoyed eating.