Yes, we're here! I'm sure some of you have been wondering, especially those of you who don't have connections to our family! We called both our parents when we arrived and they, I'm sure, passed it around to the rest of the family. I want to apologize for not posting sooner. I know I said I would. Two days before we left, Santos called and said the impeller for the motor on our dinghy was bad, and to see if Jim could get the part and bring it down. Jim couldn't find one around Traverse City. Santos has been trying to locate one here ever since, but to no avail. So we've had no "car" if you will, to get around, which means not being able to get over to the hotel to post anything. Jim could of rowed us over there in our dinghy but with the tide, it's quite a job, and if you wait for the tide to be going in the right direction, it's a 6 hour or so wait from one direction to the other, and rowing against the tide flow is not an easy task. We still don't have a working engine yet, but we were able to get over to a boat we have met that is closer than the hotel, and try to get a signal. We met the dad and his daughter Sarah right away within a few hours of arriving and met mom, the next day. Bridget and Sarah who is also 12, hit it off right away, you'd think they'd been best friends for years! Anyway, they offered for us to come over and use our computer on their boat, but that didn't work either. Santos tried this a.m. to get an impeller working that possibly might work that we picked up yesterday, but that one wasn't the right one. So now, we finally rowed over to the hotel, desperation is kicking in, plus Jim needs to pay some bills.
So about our past few days, in a nutshell....
The flights down went pretty well. Even though most of our 10 checked bags weighed anywhere from � lb. to 1 � lbs. over, they didn't make us take anything out. We made it to both flights with only minutes to spare. In GR, we had 2 of our 4 carry-on wheeled bags checked, one of them, in the rush and extremely lack of sleep those previous few days, I packed a bunch of liquid, cream type items without even thinking and not realizing they were in there, so I didn't even claim them. I was trying to be so careful not to pack any of those restricted items so we didn't have to claim and take them out. Well, the Continental guy who scanned that bag and took it over to search it was EXTREMELY understanding and NICE! Let's just leave it at that! The kids did so well on the whole trip down, carried their own bags most of the time, no whining or complaining, helping each other and Mom & Dad, I couldn't of asked them to be any better.
Once we arrived in San Salvador, we got through Immigration with ease, the Foreigners lane of course is short, so very little waiting. We got all 14 pieces of luggage with no trouble- 10 original checked bags, plus our 4 roller carry-ons had to be checked below in Houston since there was no room left above in the cabin. Even the one that I had to sit on to latch and we had a luggage strap around it, came without the strap, and it was still closed and appears everything was in it. I was shocked it was still in one piece! Honestly, God was watching out for us the entire way- had been praying for that for a long time!
Santos informed us on the dinghy ride from Edwin's truck ( a friend of Santos') who drove us back from the airport, that there was even a Thanksgiving dinner being planned! Yes, we even had a Turkey! It was at Santos' house and his wife and son were there, his Mom & Dad and a few other family members, plus the family previously mentioned from, and 3 other American men, each from their own boats.
Yesterday, Friday, we went to a town about a 20 minute boat ride via Santos' panga (like a small open fishing boat- the locals use them all over down here), and we were there for about 6 hours. La Herra Durra is an amazing town, all over there are these 3 wheeled taxis, they look like a little bus, and they drive so fast! It reminded be of some of the towns we saw on Amazing Race!
Well, I'm going to close this for now, it's already pretty lengthy and I want to get it posted, I just felt aweful last night that I hadn't been able to let you all know we are here safe and sound.
When we left our house there was still some things that needed taken care of. When we made the reservations just 15days ago, we had come to the conclusion that we would be leaving the house vacant and so would not need to do all the moving and cleaning. Then after making the reservations for our flight, the lead for our renters came and, don't get me wrong, I'm glad we have someone renting our house, but it sure added a whole boatload- get it- boatload!, of work to do that we weren't counting on. And we couldn't have done it without the help of so many. Especially my Mom & Dad, they helped us tirelessly for several days, including driving with us in their truck to GR at 2 a.m. to make sure everything went smoothly. L & D T., K & C T.& S, M & D E., T.M., E.R. and her daughter G., T.G. & baby N., & B.M., for helping us with the cleaning and packing, this past week. C.T. & his friend for picking up our van from the airport, M.K. for dropping off some things for us from work. I hope I remembered everyone, and I didn't want to mention actual names without permission, please know we can't thank you enough, and when we get back home you'll all have first dibs on a sunset dinner cruise on Lake Michigan. Unless of course, some of you decide to make a trip to Central America or up the E. Coast for a vacation! We love you all, as well as those of you who were keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! But, keep praying, we're still living out of 14, oh wait, we emptied 1, 13 bags of luggage and needing to clean and paint and put everything away! So we still need good karma sent our way!
More soon~ I hope! Let's get that engine going!