Shawn and Ivan arrived at CICS in the first hour (yes, just after midnight) of Friday, July 5 and stayed until the following Thursday night. I was a little tired doing the driving late at night both times, but it was worth it!
And lest you think a week is too little time to get much done, let me tell you about what all we did in those six short days!
We had work lined up for them before they came, but since they came so early on Friday, we had mercy and let them sleep in. :) Later that morning, they came out to school then for a short visit. They got to see a bit of my classroom and the students.
Then on Friday afternoon, we headed to the guest house in San Salvador ready for a long weekend of relaxation! After arriving at the guest house, we went in search of some "restaurant ". Shawn was adamant that there be no "American" restaurants included in the search. He wanted to "experience" a good El Salvadoran restaurant. Unfortunately, I didn't really know of any good El Salvadoran restaurants, so we decided on the next best thing--a fancy China Wok. It wasn't El Salvadoran, but at least it wasn't American!
The next day we packed up again and headed to the beach where we spend a few hours splashing around in the surf, getting sand in our shorts, and eating. Yes, we packed snacks and were we ever glad we did!
At noon, we had enough of the Pacific, so we headed to another sightseeing spot, the volcano El Boqueron. We spent some time viewing the crater and then headed a bit further down to a coffee shop and a nice restaurant that has arguably the best pupusas in El Salvador. From that point on, Ivan and Shawn were hooked on them.
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| A little boy offered to take our picture. His dad told him he should keep one so he could sell it for a lot of money. :) |
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| View of the crater and two nice gentlemen. |
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| Enjoying a snack at the coffee shop with the city of San Salvador in the background. |
Then came the what-do-we-do-now time. In the end we decided to go to a fancy mall, La Gran Vía, and ended the day by getting a snack at *gasp* at McDonalds. (Shawn was converted after seeing how much nicer they are here. And it is a fact.)
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| 'Cause who doesn't like minions? |
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| The outside area of La Gran Vía. |
The rest of their time here was spent mostly working in the forenoons while I was in school, and then exploring in the afternoons with me. During those times exploring, we rode a few packed buses (ask Shawn and Ivan about them!), ate at pupuserías and other restaurants, bartered for hammocks, and did a lot of walking.
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| Helping Elmer spread gravel on the driveway. |
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| Oh, no he's taking a picture. I gotta make it look like I'm working hard! |
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| Shawn swinging a machete. And let me tell you, you didn't want to get anywhere close to the hurricane of destruction that was Shawn! |
And when the time came to leave, we enjoyed a final hurrah, by again eating at that China Wok one last time before leaving for the airport.
I really enjoyed having Shawn and Ivan come. It was great seeing my friends again and perhaps gave me even a bit more homesickness. They sweated a lot while they were here and greatly blessed us with all their hard work. And for me they brought a bunch of gifts including bacon, candy, and waaaay more oreo cookies than I'll ever eat by myself because "they were a good deal at Sharp Shopper". :)
Thank you so much for all your prayer and support in various ways! I feel super blessed to have friends like you. Again, thank you. I don't even know who all to thank always, so if you read this, consider yourself thanked!
