So...I'm on a strange new world. Also know as Central America, and specifically El Salvador and Guatemala. My dad, sister, two brothers, cousin and I are all here on a mission trip for 12 days.
It's a strange place, to say the least. I've seen at least a dozen things that caused me to start, laugh, even gasp in surprise. Including, but not limited to; a man eating orange calmly outside a gas station while comfortably holding...an assault rifle, a cow wandering along the road on one side and people walking along in the grass on the other side, many groups of people riding in the back of trucks barreling down the highway. Strange.
But what even is strange? I mean, these people didn't even bat an eye at such happenings. I guess that means strange is relative term. It's still pretty darn strange to me to have to pay for toilet tissue to use a dirty bathroom and then have to throw it in the trash. Sorry for the TMI.
To start at the very beginning, I hate waking up early, but the plane ride was worth it. I love plane rides. Hopefully the child within me will never stop loving them. I wore my big flappy hat and earned many a state but I still wore it like a tourist proudly.
In the Atlanta airport we met up with our cousin Becka from Virginia and sent our last texts before we boarded the plane to El Salvador. On board we met some very friendly stewards who took a selfie on my phone, forgot our drinks, complemented my muffins until we have them some and then gave us extra cookies in return. We said farewell once we landed and headed on the passport control.
Now we are obviously foreigners here and it really started to stand out as we walked along. We found our way to passport control and had a mixed language conversation with a man who may or may not have scammed us out of $60. Let's just hope he has a good Christmas.
We passed through customs without much more trouble and proceeded to stand and wait in the pickup sidewalk outside the airport for the McIntyre's van. We waited. It was sweltering. We waited. Finally about half and hour and many anxious thoughts later they arrived and we threw our luggage on top of the van and scrambled inside.
We stared wide eyed at the country side as we rattled along at 30 mph to a little restaurant for some very local food that looked like stuffed tortillas and tasted quite good. We also had some pineapple drinks, but we won't talk about those. The scenery was scenic but I think I did see a dirt path a few steps away from our table that led to a petting zoo.
It was at this restaurant that we were introduced to our first Central American bathroom. It was fine, except for the part where I almost forgot the tissue which was
located outside the bathroom door high on the wall. And did I mention that toilet tissue doesn't actually go in the toilet?
All this did not prepare me for the hotel. We left lunch and drove back towards the airport to drop off Brooke, the intern, at a modern looking hotel. As we approached I noticed coils of barbed wire along the top of the high concrete fence. Strange. Then I noticed a barred hate with guards carrying assault rifles standing by it. Stranger. As we drove up and Mr. Daniel McIntyre spoke spanish one of the guards walked around the van with a mirror checking for bombs. Pretty darn strange.
The trip back to Chiquimula Guatemala was a bit exhausting. The McIntyre kids are adorable but being squished in a rocking van on curvy roads for a long time will drive anyone a little crazy. Except for a few aches we managed pretty well.
The strangest part of the trip were the boarder stops. We had to all tumble out of the van in the drip drop rain, earn lots of stares from locals, and file up some steps to assure the officials that we were in fact who we said we were. This happened twice, but it was kinda nice to stretch our legs.
We arrived in one piece despite some slightly crazy driving; I just tried not to look. The rain had damped our bags a bit but by this time I didn't really care. I was a little worried about the lack of electricity. At least we had pizza and candle light. We passed on the showers because it was pitch dark and we were tired. We pulled mattresses off a pile onto the ground and fell asleep after some giggled conversation.
Everyone slept pretty well; I had a slight back ache but I only woke up when a group of birds landed on the tin roof and stared to squabble. So it was all in all a successful first day.
How do I feel? Well slightly culture shocked still, to be honest, but ready to be flexible and open to be used by the Lord to serve and make a difference.
How will I change during this trip? What will I learn? I wonder.
Mission thoughts.
Comments
Post a Comment