I am reminded by my brother in law that this is hottest time of year here in El Salvador. I actually handle the heat a bit better than Douglas, but yes it is still extremely hot down here!
We are staying in a quaint little "Guesthouse Hotel" that does NOT have a pool in the city near Metro Centro Mall - and the close proximity of food is our saviour at the moment. However, sadly, we are "mall rats" and absolutely sick of Mall food at this point - we eat there almost three meals a day - except for a few comedors that we have visited on the side of the roads - so that has been about 11 days so far!
With the vehicle sold (because he thought he was out of this country and back in Canada on the 9th) we are left with taxi cabs or our legs. We walk to the Mall almost every day. We take cabs to other locations. I have walked all over the neighbourhood and taken photographs galore of the surroundings, which I will post as soon as I am able - currently they are trapped in the iPhone and I am on an ancient computer at an internet cafe.
We await the date of March 31st - our appointment with Government officials and hope that everything will be resolved on that day and that we will be flying home within a few days afterwards - our lawyer is extremely hopeful and tells me this will be so - but with our luck I take EVERYTHING with a grain of salt and will be cautiously optimistic at the moment.
Why are there no public pools in this hot city? The only one that we can find is the Military one - which we are fortunate to be able to use only because Douglas´ family is a Military one.
The logistics of taking an extended "vacation" down here have been quite complicated. My family is looking after our children, we speak with them every day and listen to Trinity begging to come down here every day to be with us (she takes after me and has the travelling itch), Avalon is too busy with cheerleading and playing on the computer etc. to text us 20 times a day and call us three or four times a day! I am also missing my University classes in the evenings - this is a problem to keep up with - so I will have to do some speedy catch up when I return to Canada. My employer is extremely understanding of the situation - they have been fantastic! We now have two return flights to Toronto cancelled and needing to be rebooked - I am afraid to ask what the price is going to be as we are now going to be stuck booking them the minute we are able to leave for the first flight out.
Despite the circumstances, we are enjoying I guess what you could call a "second honeymoon" - being able to reconnect after so much time apart without screaming kids in the background - for soon the reality of our lives in Canada will resume. The first thing Douglas wants to do is get his "double double" from Tim Hortons and order "Swiss Chalet" - yes his never ending pit of a stomach is what his life revolves around !
Friday, March 25, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Road Block Again
I am typing this from a Guesthouse Hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador. I flew in last week to join Douglas and hopefully haul him back with me to Canada.
He experienced a slight "hiccup" when just clearing through Customs on March 9th to return back home to Canada. Therefore, we are awaiting the red tape to de-tangle and will then be on our way to Canada. We are hoping only a couple of weeks more.
The visit of Mr. Obama to El Salvador will be closing government offices on the 23rd and 24th, which so happended to be the date (23rd) that we had an appt with the government office to start the de-tangling. So, we wait now. The next appt is in the second week of April - we are hoping to get one a bit sooner.
The weather today is a balmy 100.4 - I am melting here. I took Tequila for a 10 minute walk and chugged down 2 bottles of water in the process.
El Salvador is GREAT for my diet - I always lose weight here - I really don´t feel like eating in this weather - just drinking water all day!
He experienced a slight "hiccup" when just clearing through Customs on March 9th to return back home to Canada. Therefore, we are awaiting the red tape to de-tangle and will then be on our way to Canada. We are hoping only a couple of weeks more.
The visit of Mr. Obama to El Salvador will be closing government offices on the 23rd and 24th, which so happended to be the date (23rd) that we had an appt with the government office to start the de-tangling. So, we wait now. The next appt is in the second week of April - we are hoping to get one a bit sooner.
The weather today is a balmy 100.4 - I am melting here. I took Tequila for a 10 minute walk and chugged down 2 bottles of water in the process.
El Salvador is GREAT for my diet - I always lose weight here - I really don´t feel like eating in this weather - just drinking water all day!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
COMING HOME!
Finally all the things are sold - bought the ONE WAY ticket on Monday for Douglas. After a minor glitch of the travel agent booking it to fly out of San Diego - we were on our way with the proper ticket. I thought it was a stroke of good fortune when the agent said that she had found one with no problem for the very next day for only $800.00. So, after going back and forth finally found one for $1300.00 - he flys to Costa Rica first, sits in Costa Rica for 5 hrs and then on to Toronto! YAY! It's going to be a long day for him and Tequila.
Everyone is very excited - he will have many people greeting him at the airport. We are just about to make a billboard sign to embarrass the heck out of him! I've booked the next week off on holidays for me and the girls. He has just made it to the airport and paid $500.00 for his overweight baggage.
So, this El Salvador saga lasted almost 2 yrs. So much for Immigration saying it would take 6 months. It has been an incredibly expensive two years with travel, the girls (especially Trinity) have grown up so much since he has been apart from us. I will always have bitterness towards the Canadian government for their ineptitude. They are still not finished processing him after two years for his Permanent Resident Card. We are hoping to receive the status in early 2012. The entire Canadian Immigration department needs a very in depth analysis of it's weaknesses.
Everyone is very excited - he will have many people greeting him at the airport. We are just about to make a billboard sign to embarrass the heck out of him! I've booked the next week off on holidays for me and the girls. He has just made it to the airport and paid $500.00 for his overweight baggage.
So, this El Salvador saga lasted almost 2 yrs. So much for Immigration saying it would take 6 months. It has been an incredibly expensive two years with travel, the girls (especially Trinity) have grown up so much since he has been apart from us. I will always have bitterness towards the Canadian government for their ineptitude. They are still not finished processing him after two years for his Permanent Resident Card. We are hoping to receive the status in early 2012. The entire Canadian Immigration department needs a very in depth analysis of it's weaknesses.
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