7.26.2014

Bienvenidos a El Salvador!

It wasn't the prettiest of arrivals ... with no van driver readily available from the hotel to take us to the airport, needing every available minute at the airport to get to our gate just prior to take-off, and our bags being the VERY LAST ones off the baggage carousel (causing MAJOR heart palpitations after what happened in India).  But we made it.  Relatively unscathed.  And we've now had a week to settle in.

My first impressions ... .

Learning Spanish is a necessity.  Sadly, my three years of high school Spanish did not help me much when the gardener asked me for garbage bags and I gave him a glass of water. 

Starbucks tastes the same here as in the States.  However, my triple grande Caramel Macchiato seemed to also come with a two-pump shot of Dulcolax, which left me a "new woman" an hour later.  Unfortunately this happened when I was in aisle 9 at the Super Selectos grocery store ...

Driving here is a free-for-all and traffic lights, lanes and stop signs are merely a suggestion.  We also live near a rather notorious 4-way Stop Go, lovingly referred to as the Headless Chicken Intersection ... so that's always fun.

As with most developing nations, everything here takes three times as long to get accomplished.  It took me three attempts to get a suitable rental car for us to use until our car arrives.  The cable installers showed up three hours late.  And it appears it will take a third attempt to actually get a SIM card for my cell phone. 

Despite all of this, we are adapting quite well to our new home.  Speaking of home, our house is gorgeous.  About 3000+ square feet of white marbled floors, a 15' domed master bedroom, huge American style kitchen, an intricate frescoed grand entrance, 3-car garage, and an patio and garden complete with ivy covered walls inside and out.  Pictures forthcoming when we finally get our household effects.

The kids are enrolled in their new school and excited to start in two 'not-so-short' weeks.  They have placement testing next Tuesday and by Thursday should have a closet full of school uniforms.

We've spent a lot of time at the Embassy and Embassy pool this week, attended two dinner parties, shopped at Wal*Mart and PriceSmart (a virtual Costco equivalent).  We've taken then kids out to dinner a few times, completely unpacked and organized our meager belongings, added a second router downstairs so we could use wifi throughout this entire concrete home, and tomorrow are heading to the lake to enjoy the day with new friends.

All in all we are wicked excited to begin our new adventures here in El Salvador.  Together as a family.  So stay tuned ... the stories are just beginning. 





5 comments:

Cindy said...

Great post and happy to hear your family and your things arrived safely. Can't wait to hear more about your adventures and to practice Spanish with you soon. Xoxo Un besote, Cindy

twoplusfourequalssix said...

Love reading your post! Have been thinking about you and wondering how the initial transition has been! Looking forward to reading more about your new adventures!

Natasha said...

I hope you love El Salvador as much as I did! Glad to hear you and your family are settling in. :)

Emily said...

You made it!
I'm so glad you are adjusting to your new home

Bethany Davidson-Widby said...

Yay! Glad you made it and all is going well so far :-) Just sent one of our group off to Playa El Tunco and Playa El Zonte (my favorite) for the week. One thing I learned while in El Sal...finding a road map is like spotting a Yeti and directions all seem to be along the lines of 'turn at Maria's tienda, then left at Juan's pinchazos' then drive 5 minutes (really 20) and you'll be there :-)

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