Volcanos and Climbing Mats

(Written Tuesday, April 25, 2017) Expect the unexpected.  Monday morning the students here at Casa la Atarraya put on a bit of a welcome show for us, combined with morning announcements and worship.  We were seated on the concrete bleachers in the open air gymnasium. I think we would agree that one of our favorite parts was all the homemade pompoms. My family and I were asked to introduce ourselves.  I started with Gabe and a kindergarten girl came up and gave Gabe her pompom.  It was precious. I was giving the morning devotion to the student body when the electricity cut out.  That began a change of plans.

We learned from the teachers that the government had cut electricity to the whole state of Ahuachapán for the day.  It had apparently been on the news that we didn’t watch.  Without the electricity, progress on the wall came to a screeching halt.  I can’t help but have flashbacks to Nehemiah as we go through this adventure.  With no drills to work with, we said goodbye to Ashapuco and headed to a volcano in the state of Santa Ana.

El Volcán de Santa Ana (Izalco?) is the highest point in El Salvador and last erupted in 2005.  No electricity needed, just hiking boots and water.  We joined a group from a local hostel (Holland, Norway, UK and USA) and began hiking with our two armed guards and a tour guide. It was about 3 hours round trip and at the peak Gabe called down to me, eternally behind when hiking, and said, “Mom, you gotta come up here.  This is amazing!  Better than the last volcano (7 years ago).”

On top of Izalco, looking down at the crater

The basin was filled with boiling blue green water (copper and sulfer) and the crater was 3 kilometers in circumference. It really was beautiful.

On the way down I chatted with the rear guard.  He was very friendly and had two kids ages 10 and 12.  The one loves soccer/math and the other swimming/science.  I enjoy making connections.

Not all was lost on the building of the wall.  Part way up the volcano, Bobby got a call from Terry saying that he needed to buy the mats in Santa Ana before we headed home.  So into the city we went, looking for foam beds with no springs.  It was a crazy mad house of buses, fruit, and humanity.  Finally we located the furniture district and a foam distributer.  The owner of the store was nice and wanted to know what I thought of his country.  He was particularly concerned about how it is portrayed in the media (intensely violent).  In the end, we bought 10 beds and they will be delivered to the school today (Tuesday).

For dinner we went to the mall and ate in the food court.  Luke and Gabe ordered their own meal.  They called me in to rescue them (Spanish), but I went over and spoke with the owner and asked him to be patient with them as they practice.  No one else was in line at Pollo Campero so he had the time.  He smiled real big and seemed to enjoy the process from that moment on.  He got out pictures to help them and kept looking over to me with a twinkle in his eye.  I bet he has kids of his own.

The evening was quiet.  We played games (Karuba) with Jake, the youngest Hamilton, and then crashed at 8PM.  It is now 5:05AM and Bobby is chomping at the bit for us to get out the door and start working again.  Work will be underway by 5:15AM.  What a blessing to have a day to rest from the work.