Some snaps...

Counting down to Christmas...

Only 7 days til Christmas!! Its tradition here in El Salvador and most Latin American countries to celebrate it on the 24th...so already we are preparing for it!! We´re looking forward to all the family time we´ll have, food , fireworks that are legal for us to buy at every roundabout in El Salvador.  Most of all, we look forward to remembering the birth of Jesus, the reason for which we have life and purpose in this world!!

El Salvador is a very beautiful place but it has suffered greatly with civil war, earthquakes, poverty, gangs & crime, hurricanes....I hear that Cuba is all the more eye opening. People are limited to what they have...the average wage per month being only $12. Here in El Salvador its about $300 a month....where for some of us, its what we earn almost in a day!!

Anyways...here is Elle´s blog spot...she´s posting up a blog of just photos. So if you want to keep checking it out....visit http://viajando-elle.blogspot.com/

Family, food and Festivals!!

Well we aren´t being so efficient at uploading photos and writing a number of blogs...so I thought I might make this a mix of photos ....

El Salvador....our home land....sort of.

So here we are. We´ve arrived in El Salvador and its been great to see family again. We were all very very sad to leave LA as we grew to love people there, however we are greatful for the generosity and love they extended to us in the time we were there. We had soo much fun.You can check out some photos on http://jzelaya.zenfolio.com/ . I think one thing I´ve come to realise that no matter, what sort of loss you experience in life....it always hurts....and although it may be a temporary loss....such as leaving our family members for a period of time.....I think I´ve come to appreciate and savour every single moment I´m with them.

At the moment we are at a Beach Resort with my family and my cousin´s family. Beautiful place indeed!!! As I absorb the noise, the smells, the landscape and the people.....there´s no place like El Salvador.....I wish USA, El Salvador, Africa and Australia were all countries that lived all close to each other...that way I could easily pop in and see people who have a special place in my heart and my family´s heart.

We are slowly gearing and preparing for our Cuba trip. There is also a possibility that we might go to Costa Rica- but it depends on our dear cousin in LA if joins us. So....Jose...if you are reading this.....you know we want you to come to El Salvador and join us for Costa Rica.......we miss you!!

Anyways....its getting late...I should get onto a few more emails...and catch up on them. I hope you´re all doing well....God bless....lots of love! Gracie

In Los Angeles, California in United States of America

So we finally arrived in the US after a long flight!!! 20 hours of flying...way too much for the body to handle but we made it. Ha! Little did we know that we would be hanging around the airport for another 4 hours or so. Unfortunatley, due to my lack of memory, prior our departure, we had to submit some information through to the US embassy in order for us to be granted admission to enter into the country. Anyways, I did it for myself, mum and Raquel....dad and elle could travel without it because they had a different type of passport. Anyways, I happened to put mum's birthday in wrong and as a result she was denied entry into the USA. And....argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry...to all my American friend lovers....or american lovers full stop- gees, some customs officers were some real hard work!! I could well use some other words to describe my frustration and all at that point...but I won't. We just waited and prayed and waited and waited and waited....until 3 hours later, some customs officer probably had pity on me because I looked so 'dead' that they asked us to come through and so, they decided to look at our case. Mum got granted her visa...but now I have to make sure that I fix things up so that she doesn't have the same problem on the way back. Anyways....someone else will write soon and upload some photos. At least you get to hear about our travel over here! We're safe, tired as anything...still trying to get use to the time change. We go to bed at like 2am and wake up at like 1pm.....its bad!

Gracie

Intinerary

Here is our intinerary of where we'll be for the next 3 months...

Sat 15 Nov - 01 Dec : Los Angeles!
01 Dec - 05 Jan 2009 : El Salvador
05 Jan - 21 Jan 2009: Cuba
21 Jan - 13 Feb 2009: El Salvador
13 Feb - 16 Feb 2009: Taiwan
17 February: Arrive back in Sydney!!!!!

Only 10 days to go!!

Well...I'm not very pro with blogging, so hopefully this works! Hopefully we can write a few things here and there while we're away. We'll try and make it short , cos I know looooong blog spots may at times start make your mind wonder on things you still need to get done in the day.

Argh...only 10 days to go! Definitely getting more excited now! All of us girls have been going through waves of different emotions....excitment, stress, sadness...anxiety.....3 months is a blinking long time!! We'll miss everyone!! But I'm certain we'll have a great time, learn heaps, be pushed out of our comfort zone and grow. We'll be different when we come ...but the same...if you know what I mean.

Would love to keep in touch with you all. So please feel free to text, email or facebook!!! We'll be buying local SIM cards to keep in touch with people. So we'll text you with a new number if you want it.

Blessings and see you in a few months!!