Vomit

5-19
I woke up this morning with a stomachache and immediately thought: "I want to puke". A rooster was crowing outside my window for at least an hour, waking me up dangerously early. I got ready for the day and went to mass at the cathedral in San Miguel. During the homily I ran outside and puked next to a car. I'm pretty sure the entire church could hear me. I felt soooo much better after puking and thought it was just the papusas and the heat that made me sick. I puked 4 more times after mass. I couldn't even keep medicine down. The lowest part of today was when I was puking on the bus through the mountains.

The only thing I could manage to talk about while on the bus puking

After laying on a hammock (the only cure to my sickness) in a small village while everyone else ate a traditional El Salvadorian lunch, Fr. Emilio took Justin and I to Francisco's house. I wasn't even fully out of the car before Francisco was touching my face and asking me in Spanish if I had a temperature. His daughter Sarai was right behind him translating my symptoms from English to Spanish for her parents. Thank goodness she speaks amazing English! I went straight up the stairs to a bedroom with three beds.

The Hammock Room at Francisco's

Soon Sarai's mother, father and Justin were coming into the room and suggesting I go to a doctor, a friend of the family's. After a little bit of convincing, I agreed. We went to the doctor's house, Francisco entering in first to talk to the family. Then we were allowed to come in and I went to a back bedroom passing a man making something with a yamaca on his head in a living room. The bed had a hammock laying over it and at first I didn't know if I was supposed to lay on the hammock or the bed. The doctor started pushing on my stomach. It was tight and in pain. She told Sarai that I had an infection and a temperature. So now I'm on 4 medications that slowly through the night started working on my fever and stomach issues. I could feel my digestive system moving back into the right place when I took one of the medicines--So Bizarre! I was instructed to stay in San Miguel for two more days with Francisco's family to make sure I'm recovering. While I'm really upset that I'm not with the group and I keep thinking about them, I'm really thankful to be spending a few days getting to know Francisco, his wife and his six children (five girls and one boy!)

Francisco's Family!

Day 3: We're in El Salvador!

5-18

We get to El Salvador and go through customs. We already lost one of our group members- Angela in the airport. I honestly don't know how Angela got lost but for being 18, she's extremely smart so I'm glad out of everyone it was her. Angela has such a beautiful soul and is entering the convent in a few months. When I first met her I kept thinking 'woah you are really young to be ready for that kind of comittment' but after being around her for an evening or two I truly saw how ready she is for community life, it's so awesome. After going through customs where they asked me questions in Spanish even though I was assured they wouldn't ask me anything (I can't respond to anything in Spanish and the woman was talking too quickly for me to understand), we are greeted by Francisco the architect. He comes in a white bus with blue curtains and the name Stephanie on the back of it.

All of us on the bus

We get into the bus and Papusas and cold sodas are passed out to us. Papusas look similar to a pancake and are filled with cheese, beans or pork. I only ate one papusa though because I was so full. We drove through San Salvador and made our way to San Miguel, about an hour and a half drive. We got to see a volcano! Being on that bus and seeing El Salvador for the first time, breathing in the sticky fiery smelling air, and seeing that volcano, I knew I was supposed to be in El Salvador. After a year of a really tough and dry period with God, I felt him everywhere. It was so emotional I wanted to cry but tried to contain myself. We finally got to the Bishops residence, where we were staying for the night and were greeted by Fr. Emilio who showed us where the bathrooms and bedrooms were. I couldn't get over how open the residence was, the outside and the inside of the house are combined!

Courtyard at Bishops residence

We were lucky to have beds and air conditioning-- something we weren't expecting. Kaice, Angela, Kellee and I all slept in the same room while the other girls got to sleep at Francisco's house. The best part of the night was that we all thought that we didn't have a shower so we washed our hair in a sink near the courtyard. Someone had washed their hair before me and I wasn't paying attention and slid right under the sink from the water on tile action. Luckily Kellee was there to laugh at me :)

Day 2: On the Plane

May 16th

At this point, I can barely remember what day it is. The days on this trip are long and filled with a lot of great fellowship. I spent a lovely day in Denver on the 14th hanging out with the Cotter's. I enjoy their family so much and had some beautiful conversations with them especially about emotional chastity. I love how passionate they are about emotional chastity. Tyler picked me up from the airport and then took me to the hotel the next day to meet the group that I'm going to El Salvador with.

Over the past 24 hours I've really learned a lot about the 13 people who are traveling with me. We range from Nevada to Florida and numerous states in between. Two people on our trip are fluent in Spanish and two have been on the trip to El Salv before. We also have one non-catholic on the trip. Today we had to be at the airport at 8 AM after an awesome continental breakfast that featured waffles, omelets and breakfast burritos!

We flew from Denver to Houston in the early afternoon. The Houston airport is huge! It has five ridiculously long terminals. We ate at a place called "real food" (not a good name for something when you walk by other places and say: "Let's go get some real food" *cough cough--> Allie).  I had a margherita pizza and a Mr. Pibb.... that somehow ended up being Diet Coke. We took photos and talked about different state accents. We left the U.S. at 4:45 PM. So now we're sitting on the plane flying over the gulf. I'm sitting next to Allie who is from Columbus Ohio but goes to Pitt. She's majoring in chemical engineering and is a vegetarian as well! It's always fun to meet another vegetarian. We were just served cheeseburgers on the plane. Allie and I have both forgone our vegetarianism for this trip but she's definitely a lot braver than I am. Red meat and I will never be friends but Allie is trying the cheeseburger. Her first meat encounter in 4 years was a Five Guys hamburger and she's been eating meat since Easter. I ate chicken for three days and fish for two. Either way I'm glad I gave my cheeseburger to our team director, Justin.


I am anticipating our arrival in El Salvador very much. Here's what I'm most excited for:
1. To sacrifice myself and the comforts I've experienced my whole life. I'm trying to find my inner Mother Teresa.
2. To grow closer to God and the people on my trip
3. To see the Bishop Romero sites including the chapel he was assassinated in
4. To 'moose' the people on my trip.

To 'moose' someone you just wait until someone falls asleep during the trip and then you stick a picture of a moose next to them and take a photo as shown below:

Denver Here I Come!

*note: this blog was written during my journey to el salvador from May 15th-31st

May 14th
I'm on the sea turtle! One of the many reasons I love frontier is because each plane features an animal on the tail of it. Last year I was on a bobcat when I flew to Denver to spend an entire summer there, this time I'm on the sea turtle. A lot has happened in one year but my day will look remarkably similar (almost to the exact date) to a year ago. I will journey to the house I lived in for an entire summer and sleep in the bed that was mine for the whole summer. I will stay with a family I've grown to love very much and I'll get to see friends that I cherish.

The Cotter's House!

Looking back to my life in Denver a year ago, I've grown a lot especially in my faith life. I know that this trip marks even more growth in my life and I'm excited for that. El Salvador-- a country that I know is ridiculously different to America and will change me drastically.

This early AM flight has given me a lot of blessings:
1. I enjoyed coffee with my parents and waved to them as I walked through the terminal.
2. It doesn't matter how old I am and how many plane rides I've been on by myself, they still watch me until I'm in a different concourse.
3. I got to see the sunrise, even through the rain.

The Square!

Now the plane is about to take off and I'm two hours away from my dear friend Tyler (part of my square of amazing people) picking me up from the airport. He's a saint for willingly picking me up at 7:30 AM!
Then I'm on my way to the Cotter's house to greet them in their pajamas, most likely eating breakfast. Tomorrow I'll meet all of the people I'm going to El Salvador with and the real journey begins but for right now i'm living in the moment and excited to see the mountains again.
It's time to breathe that fresh mountain air!

Random moment:
I bet planes are the best places for writers to find characters. For instance, I'm sitting next to a bald headed woman in her 30s wearing all black and silver nail polish and a sweet Asian man in his 50s sporting a business suit and joking about the lack of leg room.... I'd put them in a story.