Recap: Week 6

Its been pretty busy which is why I haven't written in awhile...so warning- this is going to be a rather lengthy entry :)

Lago Coatepeque:
Last weekend Vicki, Marla and I travled to Lago Coatepeque- a beautiful lake created out of the crater of a volcano. The guidebook Vicki has claimed the hotel we were staying at was comparable to the lakeside resort in Dirty Dancing. Besides the the fact that it was on a lake...I'm not so sure I see the likeness. And unless I missed this part of the movie...I'm pretty sure it was not run by a transvestite (as Hotel Torremolinos was). Perhaps the person who wrote the guidebook got confused with Patrick Swayze's other movie: To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar where he does actually act as a tranny. Anyway, not the point.... It was still a lovely relaxing little getaway. We were able to swim in the hotel's two pools, watch the El Salvador game with the staff, and for the first time in 5 weeks I got to take a hot shower! One more thing I found pretty funny: we had been the only people staying at the hotel (kind of odd, I know) until Sunday when we were getting ready to leave and a group of "models" came for a photoshoot. I have no idea what the shoot was for (I'm a little hesitant to make any guesses)..but besides that, let's just say these chicks were not ready for Vogue. During the shoot Joaquin and his friend, Gordo (real name Carlos, but he's appropriately nicknamed haha) came to pick us up. The road to get back to the highway had severl dips and potholes (can you still call them potholes when its really just dirt and rocks with holes?). Gordo's Nissan sedan (circa 1990?) had some trouble- when we got stuck everyone else (besides Gordo) had to get out so we could make it over the pothole. I had to try really hard to keep it together with that one...

Ruta de las Flores:
On Tuesday the volunteers came to Santa Tecla to visit the The Flower Trail. The five towns: Apaneca, Juayua, Ataco, Nahuizalco, and Salcoatitan are located in the mountain range Llamatepec-Apaneca and have been named the Flower Trail because of their amazing floral secenery (Can you tell I just copied that from a website?) Unfortunately, it is a little early in the season, so the flowers were not yet in bloom, but we did see all the coffee trees where majority of the coffee comes from in El Salvador. Also each of the towns had little shops and restaurnts to explore. The highlight for me here was the Canopy Tour! The tour was about an hour where we got to zip over the forest and nearby coffee plantations on cables hundres of feet off the ground. The views were absolutely AMAZING. My sister asked on the way there: "Are you nervous?"....My response "This will be nothing compared to the bus rides here...at least with this I am safely strapped in." Even though it was a little expensive, it was totally worth it!

El Salvador VS Hondurus
Wednesday was GAME DAY. The game started at 6pm and Joaquin wanted to get there early to get good seats. Marla and I had to be at school till 3:45, which meant when we got home all we had time to do was run (literally) into the house, change into our El Salvador shirts and leave to go on the bus. There was so much craziness on the bus, and outside the stadium....as we pulled up looking at the thousands of routy fans in blue- I asked my sister "You have my ticket right?"....her mouth dropped...and so did my heart. With all the rushing we had a major misunderstanding. It was totally my fault, but now we were at the stadium and there was no way to go back and get it. Really, there was no way to evev get back at all. It pains me to report that I had to end up paying 6x the original ticket price to buy one there, BUT I wasn't going to miss the game and it ended up being one of the most fun experiences I have had since I've been here! Unfortunately El Salvador didn't win :( (0-1) but it was still a really exciting game! Additionally, I would just like to note that just like the US beers cost about 3 times more at the stadium...however, unlike the US, you can throw your cup onto the field when something bad happens. I find I'm really getting into football/soccer since I've been here. We're seriously the only country where it's not THE sport. Don't worry Dad, I still miss watching the Michigan games too :)