Life Goes On from Guatemala

Well, since I last wrote a lot has transpired. It would be hard to recount it all, but I will attempt to briefly give the wacky and wild account.

So, I paid an extra $20 and took a nicer bus back to Guat. City with a nice girl from England. We arrived about 6am and I took a taxi directly to the American Embassy. There was already a large group of people gathered. I asked about what the process was and all. Around 7am they started letting people in and I really had to go to the bathroom, and so they let me in with all the American families going through the adoption process....tons of them. Then the American Service Center opened at 7:30. They cranky lady at the counter told me I needed to go get photos taken. So I exited again and then came back through security. Then waited again for her to decide to acknowledge me. Then she took my info and I went and paid $97 for the new passport, which turned out to be a temporary passport good only for a year. I took an oath with a very nice diplomat originally from Seattle. He was kind and sympathetic. Originally I thought it would take 1-4 days to get it and I´d have to change all my plans. However, I only had to wait 4 hours and I had a new one. All is well, or so I thought. Then I took a taxi to the Ticabus station for my 1pm bus to San Salvador. Everything seemed back on track. There was even a beauty salon in the complex so I went and had my hair washed for $3. I felt like a new woman. I had a nice chat in the terminal with a guy who works for Youth with a Mission in Guate. He ended up having the seat next to me. The main guy at Ticabus, Walter was also a huge help to me. He was on the phone for at least an hour trying to secure my other travel segments. He also asked a guy to take care of me on the trip and make sure that everything went well crossing the border. I have had countless angels on this trip in every possible way.

Anyway, I´m on my way to El Salvador. I know I need to get an entrance stamp becuase my new passport has nothing on it. I´m not legit basically, but no one said this would be an issue. Well, I get to the counter and this cranky old guy says, No, no you have to go back to Guate City and go to some Guat Embassy or something...I don´t know what he said because I started to panic. He didn´t want to help or have mercy. A nice younger guy told me to come over to his area and he basically said for $25 he would find a stamp and help. For a bit I was really not sure what was going to happen. I had all sorts of plans and visions developing in my head. Everything can usually be fixed with money right. So I´m thinking $10 or something right? However, I spent all my quetsals because I wasn´t coming back and I had just enough dollars for the taxi ride to the hotel. I did some quick thinking and thank God I had my belt in my backpack for some reason with my emergency $20 and so I survived that incident, but only had $4 to my name. I thought I´d get off at an early stop where I knew that there was a hotel that took visa. We were running 2 hours late and I just wanted to be away from buses after 17 hours and all that had happened. It was full. I pressed on to the main terminal. No ATM within walking distance and the taxi to a hotel was at least $5 and the bus hotel only took cash. What to do. I was basically down to nothing. I went out of the terminal to see what I could do. It was now 7:30pm. Who do I see, but the same guy that took me to a hotel the last time I was in town 10 days before. I ask him if he remembers me. I asked him a favor. I told him I´d pay him $8 if he´d take me to an ATM and then Casa de Torogoz. A deal....off I went. Then they didn´t know if they had room. They found a way and had mercy on me. They have been great. So off to bed I went. I don´t know how it seems in the translation, but in the living of this story it took all the patience, creativity and kindness in the world. God really granted me what I needed. I was calm and perservered in each step. It was a great experience of living in the moment and just taking things one piece at a time. I really couldn´t do anything else. No planning ahead or anything because I never knew what would happen. Wacky stuff people. I had my life, my belongings, my health and a new passport. What more could one want?