Santa Rosa Trip (Jan. 12-15)

On Wednesday morning, Dick, Cesar, Fernando and I set off for the area surrounding Santa Rosa. I'd visited this area a number of times in the past, and was anxious to see old friends.

While it doesn't look that far on the map "as the crow flies, unfortunately, we were in a Land Cruiser which takes significantly longer to travel the indirect and winding roads.  The drive actually took about 3 1/2 hours, taking us from the mountains, into the coastal flatlands, and back into mountains again.  This was the first time I'd traveled in this area during sugar cane harvest, and it was an experience, do say the least, as we passed trucks towing multiple trailers filled with harvested cane.

We arrived in Cuilapa shortly after noon and checked into the hotel where we'd stayed before.  Dick's been told that this area is not particularly fond of gringos, but we've never had any trouble here, and it has a great pool and a wonderful view.  This time of year, however, the view was much more inviting than the pool, which was just short of a polar plunge.

We didn't quite accomplish as much as we had hoped this trip, but it was valuable nonetheless.  We were able to visit families, check on teachers, buy shoes for kids, and have some fun in the process. Since so much happened in these few days, I've broken our experiences into separate entries:

• Our time with Bayron's family
• Our time with Wilmer's family