Bali Surprise!

On May 14th I departed from El Salvador and began a 48 hour trip to Indonesia. One of my very good friends was turning 30 and Chris gave me the thumbs up. She and her husband have been teaching in an International school for the past 3 years and we had not seen each other in almost 4 years. Her husband and I schemed and came up with a plan to surprise Brooke in Bali.

30 of Brookes friends from Jakarta traveled to Bali for a long weekend celebration. We all stayed in two beautiful Villas with luxurious pools, sunset massages and full staffs.

After traveling in United First Class from LA to HongKong, spending the night in the Hong Kong airport, catching my flight to Bali, and finding my way to the randomly located villa in Bali, I cashed in on the "Surprise". It was all I could ask for. She screamed, jumped, tackled me, and had to wipe tears, snot and mascara off as she processed my arrival. A bystander had to tell his 3 year old that Brooke was crying because she was happy... It was a terrific moment and I would do it all again.

Once the surprise appearances were all made, we started into the Birthday Week Celebration. We had a big dinner at a great Greek restarant, drinks at several Hip hot spots, and even went clubbing one night. I began transistioning to the 14 hour time difference several days before I arrived so that I would be able to make the most out of our time together.

Bali is a Hindu island and while we were there we witnessed a religious ceremony on the beach. All the people are so peaceful and kind, no taxi drivers cutting you off, no drunks, no leering and lurking, and tons of spas and reflexilogy businesses. If you haven't had a reflexology leg massage then you haven't lived.

Brooke and I had the perfect amount of time to catch up while walking, and walking and walking some more. We explored the island on a motorbike and surfed the waves on a boggy board.

After 4 days of intense leisure we packed up and headed back to Jakarta Indonesia. We did a little site seeing before I boarded a plane headed for Singapore. Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world. Brooke and I timidly walked into the 4th largest Mosque in the world and were met with an english speaking tour guide who happily walked us thru the mosque and explained the details of the design and the history of Islam in Indonesia. It was awe inspiring. We had to wear a special gown and remove our shoes but they encouraged us to take photos.

Semana Santa

During the first week of May El Salvador slows down to celebrate Semana Santa or "holy week". Chris was back in the states for work so I took advantage of a few travel opportunities to visit some of the tourist attractions in country.

The two photos below are from the Catedral and Theater in Santa Elena, the second largest town in El Salvador and about 1 hour north of San Sal.

The next day I traveled up to the Northern mountains of Chaletanago with the Bakers and De la Torres. We hiked and enjoyed the crisp air among the pinetrees.

The following day we traveled westward to visit Mayan ruins and a beautiful natural waterfall park.

Chris returned home the last day of Semana Santa. We explored the town center of El Salvador where they were busy working on the holy carpets made out of rice and flowers.

Our First Visitor!

Our dear, dear friend, Sandy Gallentine graced us with a visit mid April. After six long months we were finnally able to put our 'guest' room to use. Actually the guest room is usually occupied between visits from Chris's parents and peace corp gypsies. But Sandy was our first "Friend" from Gringolandia. She cleared her schedule for a Tuesday thru Friday trip and we did our best to keep her busy.

Upon arriving at the airport we swept her up and headed out to a nice two hour lunch at the beach. There is a great Hotel/Restarant on Playa Tunco, just west of La Libertad called Cafe Sonzal. The drinks are cold, the ice is safely filtered and the views of surfers goes on miles.

Don't do it Sandy, don't eat that piece of fruit...
You're not in Kansas anymore... you can't just eat the fruit off the trees.

On day two Sandy, Rachel and Reagan (Peace Corp Volunteers) and I headed out to test our bravery on the Apaneca canopy tour. There were 15 or so runs, mostly short, but one 100 meter crossing that was a little dicey. Before we started the course Sandy asked the guide what types of wild animals we could expect to see and without missing a beat, and in all seriousness, he responded "If we're lucky, we MAY see a squirrel"!

Chris and I have been on the look out for a 'cool' old SUV to purchase and drive back to the states when our tour is over. We have looked at several old Land Cruisers and Range Rovers, and recently started thinking seriously about an old Jeep Scout. We were test driving it for a couple of days to see if we could manuever it around the streets here. On the third day Sandy and I were heading back home after playing tennis when we lost positive control of the truck. Luckily we were heading down hill on the Pan-American Highway and pulled over to the side of the road, called the Embassy dispatch unit and waited for them to arrive to save us. The final analysis was excessive atmosphere in the fuel tank. The guards walked to a gas station and we were up and running. The truck had a 6 gallon tank! Who knew?

Success.

Entonces. . .
I traveled to visit your tropical pad

The greatest of trips that I’ve ever had

“Don’t try local grub, it’s flavored with ASS”

“We promise to keep the Sweet Scout full of gas”

The driving I found to be reckless and brave

Citron was the BEST, corn ice cream my fave

The Embassy gate with the large dental tool

Classes with Sonia totally RULE

Merci for the lift to Eppley and back

I felt like a QUEEN and that is a FACT!

The End

- Written by S. Gallentine 2008