Friday 8/24
Only 2 days left.....
So we stayed the night in Zacatecoluca in a motel that cost $17 for the night. We definitely got what we paid for. There were no blankets, just 1 thin sheet so we were pretty chili that night. We also enjoyed a cold shower in the morning. We went back to the Villalta family's eatery, which was right in front of our motel, to grab some breakfast, said our goodbyes and walked to the bus stop to head back into San Salvador. The bus came, completely full by the way, so we were standing up for the first half of the ride, but it was only about a dollar each so that was nice. We grabbed a taxi from the bus terminal to my fourth area called Soyapango. On the way there we asked the driver what were the most dangerous cities in San Salvador... he said, first Soyapango (where we were heading), second Apopa (my second area), third Mexicanos (my first area). These were my three areas in the capital so that was pretty comforting. But don't worry, we were 100% safe the whole time. We first went to a family's house who I was pretty close to. We baptized their granddaughter who died of cancer about a year later. The grandparents are great people and they take after all of their grandchildren when their kids are at work. We didn't tell them we were down there, so we knocked on the door and I yelled through the window that I was selling bread. One of the daughters and one grandson came to the window, and neither recognized me. They asked who I was and I joked back and asked who they were. They stared at me for a few seconds and Byron, the grandson yelled, "Elder RRRRicker." He ran to to the door and gave me a huge hug. Then the rest of his cousins swarmed me and gave big hugs too. Then the grandparents came and hugged me, and the kids moved on to swarm Heather.. They instantly loved her and were literally fighting over who got to sit by her on the couch, and hold her hand. They have tons of animals and took Heath around and showed her the animals one by one. There was a huge language barrier, but she says she could actually understand them because they spoke slowly and used gestures. We had a blast at their house, and we showed up right at lunch time so I think the grandparents gave us their lunch, and they ate something else. Then we went around and visited more families and had a great time.
Well, sorry I wrote so much. Now for the pics.
at the eatery
Heath's new best friends, and a perakeet
the grandparents
Tony and one of his many pets
another bird
the glasses looked better on them than on us
Byron and I trying to look cool
we all went for a short walk to my favorite chapel
walkin' up those stairs is quite the work out
que bonita verdad?
This a family we were teaching for a while. The lady on the right was like a mother to us, she hasn't been baptized yet, but her daughter got baptized while I was there, and recently got married in the Guatemale Temple!!
a group of good friends. left to right: Oscar, Oscarcito (jr.), Julio, Mauricio, some gringo, and Ester
out to dinner with friends. Flor, Aaron, Mosiah, Roger, Mauricio and I. Mauricio has a chronic sickness in his kidneys, and doctors say he probably won't live very long.
We had a great time in this area, and saw more people here than in any other area so that was excelente! Heath said that being with those kids was one of her favorite parts too.
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Saturday 8/25
Our last full day in El Salv
We woke up with plans to go to the beach, got ready and headed in to San Salvador to pick up Daniela, Molina's girlfriend. On the way there I felt really bad because I still hadn't had the chance to see some of my best friends down there. I couldn't get a hold of them and tried one last time on the way and got through to Deborah. She was at work and said that Heber, her husband was too. Things worked out that we would skip the beach and go see them when they got off work, and I am really glad that we did. They are both return missionaries and helped us out a lot with the work. To kill time until they got off work, we went to Pizza Hut one last time down there (so good) , and then we went and did some last minute souvenir shopping. We met Heber and Deborah at a mall and chatted for an hour or two. Not seeing them would have been my only regret looking back at the trip, but we got to see them, so that was great.
Pics
Heber and Deborah
Puspusas one last time.... for now
So we stayed the night in Zacatecoluca in a motel that cost $17 for the night. We definitely got what we paid for. There were no blankets, just 1 thin sheet so we were pretty chili that night. We also enjoyed a cold shower in the morning. We went back to the Villalta family's eatery, which was right in front of our motel, to grab some breakfast, said our goodbyes and walked to the bus stop to head back into San Salvador. The bus came, completely full by the way, so we were standing up for the first half of the ride, but it was only about a dollar each so that was nice. We grabbed a taxi from the bus terminal to my fourth area called Soyapango. On the way there we asked the driver what were the most dangerous cities in San Salvador... he said, first Soyapango (where we were heading), second Apopa (my second area), third Mexicanos (my first area). These were my three areas in the capital so that was pretty comforting. But don't worry, we were 100% safe the whole time. We first went to a family's house who I was pretty close to. We baptized their granddaughter who died of cancer about a year later. The grandparents are great people and they take after all of their grandchildren when their kids are at work. We didn't tell them we were down there, so we knocked on the door and I yelled through the window that I was selling bread. One of the daughters and one grandson came to the window, and neither recognized me. They asked who I was and I joked back and asked who they were. They stared at me for a few seconds and Byron, the grandson yelled, "Elder RRRRicker." He ran to to the door and gave me a huge hug. Then the rest of his cousins swarmed me and gave big hugs too. Then the grandparents came and hugged me, and the kids moved on to swarm Heather.. They instantly loved her and were literally fighting over who got to sit by her on the couch, and hold her hand. They have tons of animals and took Heath around and showed her the animals one by one. There was a huge language barrier, but she says she could actually understand them because they spoke slowly and used gestures. We had a blast at their house, and we showed up right at lunch time so I think the grandparents gave us their lunch, and they ate something else. Then we went around and visited more families and had a great time.
Well, sorry I wrote so much. Now for the pics.
at the eatery
Heath's new best friends, and a perakeet
the grandparents
Tony and one of his many pets
another bird
the glasses looked better on them than on us
Byron and I trying to look cool
we all went for a short walk to my favorite chapel
walkin' up those stairs is quite the work out
que bonita verdad?
This a family we were teaching for a while. The lady on the right was like a mother to us, she hasn't been baptized yet, but her daughter got baptized while I was there, and recently got married in the Guatemale Temple!!
a group of good friends. left to right: Oscar, Oscarcito (jr.), Julio, Mauricio, some gringo, and Ester
out to dinner with friends. Flor, Aaron, Mosiah, Roger, Mauricio and I. Mauricio has a chronic sickness in his kidneys, and doctors say he probably won't live very long.
We had a great time in this area, and saw more people here than in any other area so that was excelente! Heath said that being with those kids was one of her favorite parts too.
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Saturday 8/25
Our last full day in El Salv
We woke up with plans to go to the beach, got ready and headed in to San Salvador to pick up Daniela, Molina's girlfriend. On the way there I felt really bad because I still hadn't had the chance to see some of my best friends down there. I couldn't get a hold of them and tried one last time on the way and got through to Deborah. She was at work and said that Heber, her husband was too. Things worked out that we would skip the beach and go see them when they got off work, and I am really glad that we did. They are both return missionaries and helped us out a lot with the work. To kill time until they got off work, we went to Pizza Hut one last time down there (so good) , and then we went and did some last minute souvenir shopping. We met Heber and Deborah at a mall and chatted for an hour or two. Not seeing them would have been my only regret looking back at the trip, but we got to see them, so that was great.
Pics
Heber and Deborah
Puspusas one last time.... for now
Then we also had to have pupusas one last time, and they were deliciosas! We even brought some pack for the guys upstairs and a mission buddy. They were purchased on Saturday and they didn't eat them until Monday night, and they still said they were way better than the ones you can buy here. We really did have a great trip and we plan on going back. You are all invited to go with us next time.
3 comments:
Jay, you will not make it down there again without your Mother-in-Law... and I might just tag along too. Thank you so much for taking us through each day. Doing so made us enjoy your trip too... probably not as much as you and Heath, but nearly.
Jay and Heather,
You look like a giant down there Jay. You must be intimidating to everyone. Did you put any of them in the Pretzel? Looks like a great vacation. Those pappusus look pretty good. At the farmers market here is Iowa there is a stand where they sell them. I didn't let them sit around for a couple of days, but they were pretty good anyway.
Ryan
WOW! What an amazing trip for the two of you! Sounds like you took advantage of every minute you had there. I'm VERY jealous!
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