Trinity arrives

Tuesday, 2-8-11

Today has been a pretty good day. I slept soundly throughout the night until about 4am when a crowing rooster woke me up, but I quickly went back to sleep. I woke up around 8am and went downstairs for breakfast. Bety served me eggs, toast, papaya, and hot water for tea. It was all delicious and I finished all of it. I told Bety that I loved papaya but that it didn’t grow in Iowa so this was a special treat for me.

Afterwards I went upstairs and rearranged some of the things in my suitcase for while. Then Kathy showed up around 9:30am. Yay!! We went downstairs and chatted until Alfredo came to pick us at 11:00am. We were on our way to greet the people from Trinity United Presbyterian in Indianola plus two other pastors. Kathy and I grabbed a quick lunch at the Pizza Hut that’s right outside the exit of the airport. Everyone arrived around 12:30 and them we all piled into the microbus to head for Los Pinos Guest House.

Once everyone had unloaded their luggage and changed clothes we were off for the Door of the Devil, which is a large park near San Salvador. It offered a beautiful view of the land below. I have been there once before in 2009 with my church. Kathy and several other people hiked a long way up to the top to see the view from above. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to make the hike with them, I stayed at the bottom. Although the bursitis in my hip has gotten better and I am physically able to make the hike up, I decided not to make the climb. I figured it would probably be a bad idea if it ended up causing more inflammation in my hip. That could really put a damper on the entire trip and set me back several months. So I stayed below and talked with Betty, Elizabeth, and Linda.

Once everyone else made their way back down I double-checked with Kathy to make sure it was okay to drink some fresh coconut water that they were selling nearby. She said it was fine and we all went to get some. They cut open the top of the coconut for us right there and stuck a straw inside. It was pretty good and very filling. We made time for a couple of photo ops and polished off our drinks. Then it was back to the van and we returned to Los Pinos.

Coconuts

View from Door of the Devil

Hiking back down

Drinking coconut water

Chopping open to coconuts

Cheers!

Scooping out the inside of the coconut to snack on

We rested a while after arriving at the guest house. Around 5:30 we all walked down the street to El Sopon Típico for dinner. It took us a while to go over the menu and decide what we wanted. I ordered a beer, a pupusa, and some plantains with cream. It was all delicious. I wonder if I’ll ever get tired of eating plantains and pupusas. There was also a cute little calico kitty that was walking around our table. I gave her some scritches and a little bit of chicken and steak off my plate.


After dinner we went to the ice cream shop for dessert but I was too full to eat anything else. I think my stomach must be shrinking. I know, I know…you have absolutely no sympathy for a person who complains of not having enough room for dessert. I also have a couple bug bites, but if you’re suffering the cold of winter in Iowa right now you probably don’t care about the problems that come with warm weather.

We got back to the guest house around 7:30 and took some time for a devotional and reflections about the day. Even though I didn’t do a whole lot today I am still tired. Must be the heat (ha ha to those of you in Iowa). Okay, that wasn’t very nice, but I just couldn’t help myself. Now it’s time for bed. Goodnight!

 

Eating dinner

Hola!

More food please!