On Vacation

This whole week has been vacation for me. There are holidays every day...so no classes! Marcos had some friends in the mountains that wanted to go to La Paz, and were going to pay him, so, here we are on vacation in La Paz! Most of the families in the mountains where Marcos works (in Catacamas) have family in La Paz. Marcos's mom and dad are actually from there too, so he was excited to come and see it for the first time. We are staying in Marcala, a pretty nice sized town, a little smaller than Catacamas. Every day we have driven up to the mountains, to Cabanas (where his dad is from) and to a place caled Sabanetas, where Maria's sisters are living since their mom died.

I have pictures to put up but left the camera in the car, so those will come later. The roads up to Cabanas and Sabanetas are AWFUL! mud, mud, and more mud. It was good to see Elvia too, and all the other girls. Elvia's baby is 11 months now, and the poor thing is sick again. They taught me how to make real corn tortillas - I used the grinder to grind the corn, then the rock to smooth the masa, then I made the tortillas. I was proud of myself because they popped up in the middle :) and they were good. Everyone was laughing at me though during the process - I couldn't get the masa to stay right when I was mashing it on the rock. They thought I was hilarious.

Also, La Paz is really close to El Salvador so we decided to go! Ha ha ha...didn't realize it wasn't a LEGAL crossing. We got deported...haha. We crossed over fine but then there wasn't a customs on the other side, and nobody stamped our passports! So we were driving along and some military stopped us and searched our stuff, then a mile later, they stopped us again...But this time they searched everything, counted our money, everything - and called their boss and decided we had to turn around. He said it was because as a US citizen, without a stamp, they had no idea that I had entered the country - so I wasn't protected. It was for my protection. But when we turned around, the other military stopped us again and said we should have been able to go through. So who knows. But I think God was telling us it probably wasn't a good idea. So we turned around and drove back to Marcala!

In other news, Leyla stood on her own today! I mean, without me helping her at all! She was playing in the suitcase and has toothpaste in one hand and a comb in the other and obviously couldn't hold onto the suitcase! She just stood there and looked at me! For a good amount of time too. I'm waiting for her to do it again so I can count the seconds :) she did it twice. I was so mad the camera was in the car!! So, as soon as Marcos gets back...I will take more pictures and put them up!