Goodbye Belize, Hola El Salvador!

Goodbye, San Pedro! Look how beautiful our resort was! We decided that it is the nicest beach resort we've ever stayed at. Although the competition isn't too stiff for this honor, it was truly a lovely resort. We liked our rooms, the food, and the proximity to the ocean.

It was also unbelievably close to the LDS church, located about 4 blocks away, also on the beach. That would be a tough place for a missionary to meet! All that water, and no swimming allowed! If you look closely a the first building on the left, there is a sign with the name of the church on it.

Our flight from San Pedro to Belize City was on a 14-seat airplane. I had to trade places with Ed, as his head was touching the ceiling in the front seat. It was a new plane, which gave me confidence that it would reach the mainland safely. If not, the water looked to be only about 5 feet deep the entire length of our 17 minute flight!

The second flight of the day was a one hour flight on Taca from Belize to San Salvador. Unbeknownst to us, we had business class seats. When we touched down Brittany actually said she wished the flight were longer, it was so pleasant!

Our tour guide in El Salvador, Jorge Martinez, from Tourin El Salvador, picked us up at the airport. He dropped us off at the Marriott, then took us on a whirlwind tour of downtown. The Metropolitan Cathedral was particularly interesting for it's modern art mosaic painting on the front of it. Downtown was hopping with vendors. It seemed like business is booming in the capital! We also saw the National Theater and the
National Palace and Plaza Barrios. Jorge told us all about the Pipil Indians and the conquest of El Salvador, as well as more current history of the country.

For dinner we stopped at a great pupuseria, where we stuffed ourselves silly. We especially enjoyed the fresh juices. Crystal and I had banana with cinammon and milk. It was great!

After dinner we stopped by to visit Crystal's friends, the Vargas family. This was fun, but we might have enjoyed it even more if we hadn't been offered a plate of tamales each, after being already stuffed from our pupusas!

They were delicious, with a little cream and cheese on the sides. I bravely made it through 2 of them, but had to apologize for not being able to get the third one down!

We then stopped by the church in Las Palmeras and saw the youth practicing for the cultural event on Saturday. They were doing a dance to the song "Go My Son." That song always makes me cry, and tonight was no exception. Crystal was happy to see her fans, Natalie and Maria Isabel Vargas. They were so happy to see her that it made it worth the extra trip--and getting back to the hotel at 9 p.m.!