Sunday, February 24

Our last day was our most leisurely. We had a late breakfast, then we took some time to worship in an open pavilion as a group before packing to get ready to take a bus to the airport. We all had to make sure that we packed our golden level awards, which we had received the night before.

I got the big surprise while finishing packing. In some of the clothes in my suitcase that I removed to repack, there was a half-dollar-sized spider (a hairy sucker) trying to stow away! While I was fairly calm at the time (Oh! Look! That's one HUGE spider!), I can only imagine how much I would have been freaking out had I not found it until I got back to DC. Finding a giant spider in El Salvador (where it can scurry on home) is one thing--unpacking a hairy, giant spider in your room is something else.

On the way back we got our driver to take us the slightly longer route along the Pacific coast. It was a pretty curvy route, but the views of the ocean were great. Plus, we went through several tunnels that were carved through mountains, and the walls were still just bare rock. Poor Pr. Tom, who was using his clip-on sunglasses to hold his broken regular glasses together, just thought we had turned out the lights!

But despite some minor mishaps (security took Kjersten's guitar strings and half the plane only got static through their headphones and so had to watch Evan Almighty without sound), we made it home safe and sound. It was an extremely successful trip, and definitely one that, despite having to immediately return to our busy lives, we will not soon forget.