¡Vacaciones! feat. the Ramos family

This past week was Semana Santa, which is Holy Week for Catholics throughout Central America, and a week-long holiday for everyone else. Most stores are closed and few people stay home. It is said that during Semana Santa, all of El Salvador goes to the beach, and if they are too poor, they find a river somewhere. :)

We opted instead to go to Apaneca, a quaint town in western El Salvador about 15 miles from the Guatemala border, from Tuesday to Thursday. The Loncho Ramos family also vacationed with us and provided us with transportation and helped us fulfill all our touristic needs. :) We were all very blessed that they were able to go along and save us the headache of trying to decide and plan our own trip, plus they were a lot of fun to be with! After our Apaneca trip ended on Thursday, I went home with the Ramos' and stayed at their place for the weekend.

Some highlights:

• Walking/shopping in the beautiful towns of Ataco and Guayua at dusk. There were painted walls everywhere and the late-evening light made all the tourist merchandise glisten and sparkle in the sun. Pretty much everywhere we traveled was at a higher elevation so the air was cool and fresh.
• Zip-lining in the mountains of Apaneca. Some of the cables were strung above canyons probably 500 feet below. Flying over them with nothing supporting you but a 3/4 inch cable is a feeling like no other.
• Talking and playing games until late at night and not needing to stand up (that's how I say it) until...well whenever you felt like it!
• Spending 4 days at the Ramos residence. The whole weekend I was worrying I wasn't doing enough to warrant a bed and food, and the Ramos' were worried I was bored! Whatever the case, spending the weekend at someone from my own church and being able to just let it all hang out was very rejuvenating. I adopted Kendrick as my little brother and made him behave the whole weekend. It wasn't an easy job. :) 
• Texting (via iMessage) and Skypeing with my family. My little sister is starting to talk now and I can't wait to see her and everyone else face to face again!

Below are some pictures of our vacation. I posted many more on our photo stream. There's also a link in the right sidebar of this blog.

Where we stayed for a couple days during our
vacation. A beautiful place to stay!

Pretty merchandise just waiting for a tourist to snatch up.

The zip-lining adventurers! Left to Right: Verónica, Mary Eva, Andrea,
Melody, Matthias, Kendrick, Samuel (me), and Elmer.

You can't see it, but's there's a lot of air beneath me!

Elmer, Matthias, and I. Some of my favorite people! 

¡Qué chistoso! A somewhat drunk individual paid us a visit at the park and
made himself look pretty stupid. Elmer kept fingering at the man's clothing
and eventually convinced the man that he was crazy. :) 

My little bro. Hey there, Kendrick!

After the week of vacation was over it was hard to get back in to the rhythm again, despite the fact that I missed my students. For one, I was short on sleep (isn't it ironic that people always seem to be tired after vacation?!) and doing some actual work again seemed a bit tiring, but I'm definitely not complaining!

School this week has been going well. I'm focusing on really hammering new words into my students. The first of three spelling competitions (more on this later on) is coming up in the beginning of May and we need to be ready. Jairo has been missing the last two days for unknown reasons. Let's hope he comes tomorrow ready to learn!

The rest of this week is going to be a bit different for several reasons:

• Melody's visitors are coming tonight and staying the rest of the week.
• Joel turns 8 tomorrow, so I won't have the class the last period. Instead I will give him his gift and we'll make ice cream to celebrate. I found some Lego's at a mall down here for really cheap and I know he'll like them. I about can't wait to give them to him!
• Also tomorrow, Nata's (the family that's in charge here) are going to San Salvador to get Visas for when they go to Mexico later on this summer. Matthias and Andrea are going along to work on their immigration papers (Melody and I are already done, praise the Lord!)
• On Thursday, we are planning on butchering chickens when the visitors are here. This means we won't have any school that day--instead everyone helps with the chickens, or tries to help as is usually the case for the little ones. :)

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the rest of this week and this year. God will help me if I have problems--nothing is too big for Him! He is the one that strengthens me!

Some prayer requests:

• Thank God that vacation went well and that He could help all of us teachers and students as we "get back into the grind"
• Jairo, that he could come back to school soon
• Joel, that he could have many more happy birthdays and that he could grow up to be a soldier for Christ
• Safety for our visitors as they travel

Many thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read! If there's is something more you'd like to know, or you would like to respond for any reason, feel free to contact me! My contact information is on the right sidebar. God bless you all for your support and prayers! Good-bye for now.