The following notes have been edited to correct errors and to add explanations and updates. Parenthetical notes and remarks from the original are enclosed in parentheses. Present day [2022] updates are italicized and enclosed in square brackets.
Saturday, 12 October 1991
9:23 AM - We are airborne at last. We started boarding the plane at just about the time we were supposed to have taken off.
I left work yesterday just a few minutes before five, was at Mary's house about twenty after six, and we had the car loaded and were on the road by 6:30 PM. There was a light rain, but nothing like what it had been earlier in the day. When we stopped about 8:20 PM at the single rest stop on I95 between Baltimore and Washington, we met Linda, Betsy, Linda's husband Russ, and her sister Donna coming in as we were leaving. A bit later two accidents within a mile of each other just at the I95-495 split at the Washington beltway held us up for a while, but not terribly long. The far worse traffic jam was going onto I95, not our direction. We reached the Hampton Inn at 9:30.
George followed us into the lobby. Linda and her crew had just gotten there. Everyone else had arrived earlier. After some confusion, rooms were sorted out: 237 - Mary, Jake, Marian; 239 - Linda, Betsy, Lucy, Kathy; 243 - Gregg, George, Sally, Wanda. There was no meeting for reflection or devotions; Lucy and Kathy were already in bed. We got settled and lights out in our room by 10:30, but had very fitful sleep.
When the wake-up call came at 5:00 AM, I was already wide awake. The buffet breakfast in the lobby was just being set out when we entered. Vans had been arranged for 6:30 and 7:00, but at 6:30 they called the Holiday Inn van to help and loaded everybody but George, Gregg, and me. We followed at 7:00, arriving at the airport about 7:20 to discover Linda at the ticket counter and all the rest being treated as a group. So much for acting like separate couples at the airport. George lost track of one bag in the confusion. We will hope that it was checked through and will be waiting for us in El Salvador. (It was.)
10:42 AM - We've just finished a delicious breakfast - orange juice (without ice), fruit cup (which I ate this year), pancakes with a hot strawberry topping, and a hard crusty roll with butter and Smucker's orange marmalade. Oh, also a slice of sweet pastry, sort of like a piece of Danish. I'm waiting now eagerly for coffee.
5:50 PM Salvador time (7:50 in Pennsylvania) - The rest of the flight was uneventful. Not so many got off in Guatemala City as last year, so only a handful of new passengers got on. We were only ten minutes late (12:30 PM) by the time that we landed. Getting through the airport was even easier than it was last year. The woman at passport control asked just two questions: How long are you staying, and are you single or married? We were all given fifteen days' entry, I believe. The baggage search was perfunctory compared to last year.
Gary was waiting with a small van. Most of the luggage was piled into a pick-up truck with a tarp thrown over it. The van left the airport first, but the truck passed us about half-way to the city. The trip in felt comfortable this year, familiar. There were not so many people along the road until we got closer to the city. This may be a result of the difference between Saturday and Sunday activities.
We arrive at the guest house at last, and Felicita is waiting on the porch. She has two children with her this year. Hers? I must ask Linda. (Later I learn that they are indeed hers, and there are three, not two - Gloria, Mauricio, and Rosita.) We sort out luggage and find rooms. A Canadian delegation is in the front, so we take back rooms with the understanding that we can move front on Monday after they leave. Wanda, Betsy, and I are in a small room on the second floor. Gregg and George are next. Around the corner and down the hall is Gary, then Linda, Jake, and Sally next to the bathroom. Lucy, Kathy, and Mary are downstairs.
This room is dark and cramped, with little storage space, poor lighting, and no windows. On the other hand, it is dry and clean, and the beds are comfortable. Wanda mentions that it is far less primitive than the circumstances in which she stayed while in Nicaragua two years ago. Still, I will be glad to move front in a few days.
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