Thursday, February 6, 2014

We started this morning at the Alicante Hotel. We had breakfast which was included. We have had fried plantains with every breakfast. 

We met a man from Honduras who is taking a tour group around all the countries of Central America for 14 days, with a tour group called OAT. 


We also got to use the hotel's computers to do some catching up. The staff here does not speak as much English as at our other hotel but they are still friendly and helpful.

Lobby at hotel

This is for Matthew.  This is how they do air conditioning here.

Our room, numero ocho

Promptly at 9:00 a.m. we were picked up by our driver for the day, who already had Omar, Magdalena, Hylmar, Rebeca, and little Rebeca with him. His name was Orlando. We had a nice Hyundai van. Omar, Magdalena, and Samuel sat in the fourth row of the van.   In the third row were Rebeca and her daughter Rebeca. Marcia and I were given the second row, and in the front was the driver and Hylmar.  Hylmar (pronounced Jill-mar) and Rebeca are from San Miguel and came to town to be with us for Thursday and Friday.  It was a joy to be with them. 

We drove to Ataco about two hours away to visit the Carmen Coffee Estate. On the way we took La Ruta De Las Flores, a scenic drive.  Frommer's says this about the route:  "Hwy. CA-8, Km 72 to Km 107, starts 68km (42 miles) W of San Salvador. Ruta de las Flores, or Route of the Flowers, is a collection of five unique mountain villages along a winding, 35km (22-mile) scenic stretch of Hwy. CA-8 in the heart of El Salvador's coffee country. The route is known for the beauty of its flowering coffee plants and unique arts, crafts, and furniture markets. Highlights include the village of Nahuizalco and its hand-crafted furniture; Salcoatitán, with two of the route's more interesting restaurants; and Juayúa, which features the region's largest food and artisan festival, as well as a renowned black Christ statue. The route also includes the towns of Apaneca, known for its zip-line canopy tour, and Ataco, which is filled with some of the country's most unique art.  The towns along this route are a few kilometers apart, well marked, and only a short distance off the main highway. The highway itself also offers a few interesting hotels and restaurants. Though all five towns can be seen in one long day or two, you might want to schedule a few days to properly take in the vibe of one of the country's most scenic and culturally unique regions."

We did pass the furniture town, we also saw the three mountains:  Santa Ana and Izalco which are volcanoes and in the middle of those two is Cerro Verde.

You can see the mountains in the distance.

Once at the Carmen Estate, we had a tour from a nice young man who spoke English and Spanish and explained the process from fresh-picked cherries, as they call the coffee fruit, to the bag and the consumer. 

http://www.elcarmenestate.com/en/hotel-services.html

M means mujeres, not men!

At the plant

Little Rebeca

The coffee "cherry"

Gradas, siempre gradas

The coffee processing plant processes coffee from other growers. Perhaps the photos will explain more. It was very interesting. The work is very labor intensive. I don't think I could ever call my desk job hard after seeing that.  One part of the process includes drying the beans, and they have to be constantly turned by a person during the 14 days of drying.  

Samuel went everywhere with us!

In the gift shop

We got a demonstration of making coffee and then went to the gift shop where we picked up some souvenirs.

The coffee maker is called a chorreador, and Marcia and I each brought one home.

Some nice panoramic shots by Omar

The flowers are tumbergias, very pretty vine and flower.

Next we drove to Santa Teresa to the thermal waters. We drove up a very, very long dirt road,which was rocking the mini bus when out of nowhere appeared this beautiful building with the restaurant and pools with different temperatures of thermal waters for people to Wade or swim in. By now it was about 1;00 p.m. so we first ate lunch at their restaurant. 

http://www.termalesdesantateresa.com/index.php

By now we are used to a long leisurely lunch.  We enjoyed the time getting to know the Segovias  They are very kind and loving people who love our ministry very much.  They had driven from San Miguel, about three hours away, and are staying at Rebeca's parents' house in Santa Tecla, the same town as Omar and Magdalena.  They did this so they could spend two days with us before the fellowship. After eating, some of us laid in the hammocks, which are all over the property. Omar and little Rebeca and I went swimming in the pools.  We managed to swim in at least seven of them. Some were very very hot like a bathtub or warmer. And the pools got less and less hot as you went downhill. Again there were steps (gradas) all over the place. 

The largest geyser in Central America

The sign says "If you are an older adult (senior), you should enter with a companion." So I did.

Orlando drove us home on a different route, and we arrived in Santa Tecla about 7:00 p.m. he drive home was interesting looking out the window and seeing people in the areas outside of the city walking up these hills to their homes.  Some of the women were carrying things on their heads. Many were hand carrying bundles of sticks and other things.  There were autobuses and pickup trucks and little like Hijets and all forms of transportation.  

We got the joy of returning to the Servanos´ home once again, and they showed us photos of their wedding and of Omar, Hylmar, and Rebeca´s trip to HQ for the 1994 Advanced Class.  The Segovias´ son, Hylmar, joined us at 8:00 p.m.  (He goes to college in San Salvador and had been in class all day). The Segovia family had invited Marcia and I out to dinner at Pollo Campero, a big treat, kind of like a KFC but a little different.  Evidently when people travel to America from ES, they bring home buckets of Pollo Campero on the plane. 


While we were eating at Pollo Campero, Hylmar expressed his extreme gratitude to all at Headquarters for all they do to get the Word to them. They love the Sunday Teaching Services, The Way Magazine, the Web page.  Hylmar (Jr) is believing to be at the AC this summer.  It was a joy to talk about the Word in a fast food restaurant with God´s best, combining our English and Spanish with their English and Spanish.  We were in the presence of very especial people!

Hylmar and Hylmar brought us back to our hotel and we got in bed around 10:30 p.m., another full day indeed.