Adventures in El Salvador

Last Monday Pastor Jorge came home from his trip to visit his daughter in San Pedro and said we would be leaving on Tuesday for El Salvador.  He also came home from this trip with his daughter Vicky, the most pregnant woman I have ever seen.  She will be staying with us until she has the baby, which could be anytime now.  I had known the trip to El Salvador was coming in order to renew papers for Junior and Norma because the Cerritos are originally from El Salvador, but thought we were going in about two weeks.  Instead, we left right away because Vicky had to come with us to renew her papers as well and of course, we wanted to try to get her there before the baby.  So we piled 9 of us into a Suburban and were on our way.  Along with us were Jorge Sr and his wife Annie, Junior and Shirley and Pablito, Vicky, Norma, me, and Wan (the Korean American who hangs out with us).

The first obstacle came when we reached the border of Guatemala, when they discovered that Wan's 90 day visa in the country had expired by 2 days. They said the only way to fix this was to go to Guatemala City the next day, get it renewed, and pay a fine. However, they eventually let him out of the country, and we proceeded to El Salvador.  I was sitting in the back of the truck that you can see in the picture here, and it was funny to cross the border like that because the guards come through with their lights and open the door, peer inside and see Junior, Pablito, and then me and Wan and give strange looks, like hmmm...these two don't fit.  It felt like we were being smuggled in or something.  But, it really did turn into a problem because of Wan's visa, and we waited for nearly an hour and a half before he was allowed to pay a fine that allowed him five extra days to get it renewed.  So, we were on our way again, this time to find some dinner!  Finally, after stopping for dinner to eat pupusas, which is apparently an El Salvadoran specialty that is like 2 tortillas stuffed with cheese or meat or beans, we arrived at our destination around midnight! 

Other adventures included going to the mall, playing the most competitive game of monopoly ever, traveling with 2 pregnant women and a 2 year old, a baby shower for Vicky, going to the beach, and drinking out of a coconut.  We had planned to travel back on Thursday, but received word that 2 of the border crossings were closed, leaving just one open, and because of so much rain, the roads would likely be treacherous and full of traffic. So, we decided to wait until Friday, which allowed us to go to the beach!  It was cloudy and windy, but very fun to see the Pacific Ocean, with huge waves and full of debris from the storms they've had. After we got home from the beach, there was an earthquake!  A short one, and no damage, but strong enough that I felt us shaking.  Pretty scary!  And now I know that in an earthquake you are supposed to leave the building, something I did not know, so did not do! Apparently the center of the earthquake and strongest place was right where we had been, at the beach!  

On Friday morning we received word that the border crossing we wanted was open at that time, so we prepared to leave. However, I had to get used to traveling with a different family from my own!  My dad, the organizational person that he is, (Someone, I can't imagine who, may have accidentally called him an organizational freak once) would have had us out the door by 6 am, but it is a bit different here.  We took time eating breakfast, getting ready, fitting everything back in the truck, making 2 different stops, and then we were on our way.  But WAIT!  We're on our way out of town and the brakes on the truck went out!  So we pulled over into a mechanic shop and they said they'd start working on them while we waited.  Of course Vicky, who ate like every 45 minutes because "the baby is hungry" :)  was hungry, so we walked to a restaurant for lunch, took our time, and then sent Vicky, Norma, Annie, and Pablito to Abuelita's house (Senior's mom) in a taxi to rest until the truck was done. And then we waited.  Thankfully, the brakes could be fixed, and we were officially on our way again about 3:30.  HOWEVER, by this time, for some reason, only one border crossing was open again, it was the longest route home, and it would likely be packed.  Naturally.  But we kept going and hit traffic about a mile and a half away from the border, where tons of semi trucks were stopped.  Annie and Junior got out to see what it looked like in front of us and saw that there was a restaurant with pupusas, since surprise! Vicky was hungry :) and it was dinnertime, so Wan, Annie, and Junior went ahead to order pupusas.  In the meantime, we started moving a little and ended up ahead of them!  After we had gone ahead and then stopped for a minute, I asked to get out and take pictures and stretch.  At the same time, Norma asked if she could get out and see if she could find a bathroom. Junior misunderstood and ran me all the way back to the pupusería and said here you go. I said "But it was Norma who had to go! I just wanted to take pictures!" So he ran back to get her.  And we continued to wait for the pupusas! And the car kept moving.  Long story short, Wan, Annie and I ended up walking a mile and half to the border in the dark, surrounded by truckers!  Thanks for your prayers, because it was scary!  And the pupusas were delicious!  :)

After we crossed the border there was a huge back up of semi trucks, a traffic jam that ended up lasting 4 hours.  Waiting in that traffic jam was pure torture.  I felt bad being grumpy about it when everyone else seemed to be taking it in stride, since there was nothing we could do, but it is what it is. I was grumpy. I was uncomfortable, and hot, and even though I love my family, I wanted to be alone!  More thoughts about this in a later post. 

When all was said and done, we made it home at 4:30 am.  Many obstacles, many trials, many laughs, many jokes and stories, made for a great adventure to El Salvador! Biggest blessing, besides making it home safely, was that no babies were born!  :)  I fully expected Vicky to go into labor, which would have been very traumatic for me :) so I'm glad she made it.  Thank you everyone for praying.  Please continue to pray for language acquisition and relief from culture shock, as I struggle with all the differences, missing things from home, getting used to being dependent on other people for so much--rides, communication.  Also pray for Vicky and her health and the health of her baby. 

I'm having trouble uploading photos today.  So I'll try again tomorrow!