We've arrived

Bueno! It's Saturday morning and it has been a relaxing and fun 2 days in El Salvador. I'm getting the chance to blog bc some of us are still asleep this am. Here's a quick (hopefully) rundown of some of the activities (with commentary, of course :)) we have managed to experience.

1. Stopping at a road side vendor for some coconut water. A local woman used a machete to carve out the top of the coconut and stuck a bright green straw it it and for $0.50 we were locals! I had tasted coco water in Honduras and at room temp like we had... it must be an acquired taste. Haven't gotten there yet.

2. Getting caught in a torrent of rain on the road and hopping out of the truck to load our luggage in the back seat with me and Tab so we could avoid wet laundry. When you're from AZ, getting caught in the rain is FU- UN!

3. Taking a walk up by Dave's condo (pretty comfortable digs) with Tab and getting some great views and pics of the city. Very green, lush landscaping and humidity you can taste. We met Ricoberto, a 60 y/o patrolmen with a shotgun slung over his shoulder who carried on a 40 minute conversation in Spanish with us. Did I mention our Spanish is almost non-existent? He was a pleasure.

4. Local restaurant where we had tortas & tacos for $3/person.

5. Poker night at a co-workers house. Seems like the US airways, Southwest guys, and TACA team all get along :) We met Jenny, a fabulous El Salvadoran who I'm sure we will see again.

That was all day 1!

Yesterday, we relaxed at the ocean on a beach down by a mountainside. Nestled in the mountainside were restaurants, hotels and homes and we got our own private little area strung out with hammocks and chairs. The sound of the waves breaking against the rocks was our own loud, real-life "relaxation sound machine". The sand was black but very fine and soft under our feet. Bliss.

After sundown at 6pm, we went home and managed to get all the sand off of our 1000 body parts and it was on to a Japanese restaurant that David (who lived for 2 years in Japan) has proclaimed authentic and the best in El Salvador. I ended up ordering the Volcan Roll- yummy.

Some of the best part of the trip has been spending time chatting and enjoying each others company so I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we finally found ourselves dosing off after midnight after laughter and some ribbing between Tab, Reid, Dave and myself. Hey, most of the ribbing happened to be at my expense....hmmmm.