July 6, Day 14: Santa Ana

Today unexpectedly resulted in a trip to a province near Santa Ana, one of El Salvador's most populous cities and one that I had been eager to visit ever since I began learning more about El Salvador. Gerardo and I joined Connie and her family on a trip to visit an aquatic park, but we really didn't do anything in the park. We merely looked around and relaxed nearby. Connie told me that Santa Ana is also know as capital del cielo, or "The Heaven's Capital," and it was clear why. The entire place was gorgeous and as exotic as I have seen El Salvador. There were coconut trees, a small labyrinth comprised of grassy hedges and even a parrot whose favorite phrases included "hola!" and "que cuero!"

Since we didn't go to the aquatic park, we mainly just hung around with the other guests. A decent amount of people were invited to attend an event, and that event kicked off at lunch during 12:30 pm (despite what the invitation said, we didn't arrive 30 minutes after midnight). Regrettably, with my low level of Spanish, it was a bit of a jumble for me. What I was able to discern was that there were a couple of people who wanted to give testimonies involving their relationship with God and their fathers. Gerardo filled me in afterwards that the speakers were from a fraternity of Christian businessmen who wanted to connect their testimonies to Father's Day (despite that having passed several weeks ago). No doubt I would have thoroughly enjoyed it had I been able to understand everything due to my poor relationship with my father and the constant struggle I endure with my faith, but as I couldn't, I mostly preoccupied myself trapping the incredibly annoying bugs trying to eat me (and my food) alive. Afterwards, we just relaxed on hammocks for a few hours until we finally returned home.

One.