End of the Road

Finally we have arrived back at the great Pacific. We came to the village of Monterrico, on the coast of Guatemala, and got a hotel right on the beach. The sand is black from the abudance of volcanoes, and very, very hot. The water is warm, the surf rough, and we enjoyed getting battered by monstrous waves breaking right on the beach. I witnessed the sunrise one day on a boat in the surrounding mangrove swamps, and on another out in the ocean itself. How nice to unwind and relax in such a place! The only bad thing was the animal attack... I was walking out through the shallow water near shore when something like a knife sliced across my heel. I examined my foot on shore to find a tiny bleeding horizontal slit. Afterwards my foot continued to thob painfully with a dull ache for hours, leading me to believe that there was some sort of venom involved. Later, after the pain had died down, we found a sea snake washed up on the beach. I don't know if this was the culprit, but if so I feel glad to be alive, because they're some of the most poisonous critters in the ocean ().We have come back full circle to where we began, El Salvador. Our final night we got a room in downtown San Salvador, agasint all the warnings of our guidebooks to the contrary. To further spite them, we went out well past dark, which apparently results in robbery, rape and/or death. Our real concern however was getting out of the country the next day. We had very little money left and there was a hefty exit fee. Problem is, none of the ATMs would accept our cards. I saw my uncle off at 5am the next morning and hoped he would not still be stuck at the airport when I arrived later. I imagined the life we would lead if we couldn't pay the departure tax and were forced to remain trapped in this country forever. Stomach always churning. Forever having to throw toilet paper in a wastebasket instead of down the toilet. Eating numberless cheap tacos (okay, so maybe it would be a good thing in a way...). Fortunately I got to the airport later that afternoon and found out the fee was much less than we had been led to believe. My uncle had made it safely on his flight. I got on mine and soon was back on US soil in good ol' Houston, Texas. My predominant feeling was a sense of wonder at how big, clean, and efficient everything was. I caught my connecting flight to Atlanta and arrived wearing shorts and a T-shirt to 30-degree weather. Vacation is over. Welcome home.