So, last Monday began like any other Monday morning. I stumbled downstairs at 5:30am, pulled towards the sweet smell of my brewing life source. I poured myself a cup of the hot black liquid in an effort to bring life back into my body. And that’s when I noticed it. A stack of papers on the counter that I’d just cleaned up the night prior. I sighed in annoyance, wondering how messes always managed to find their way back into the house overnight. As I made a move to push them to the side to allow space for the morning chaos that would soon ensue, something looked sus. Why were they so perfectly placed? And what was that book?
And so began the start of one of the best surprises I’d ever been gifted.
As it turned out, A had been planning this surprise for months. Well before we’d even booked our trip to Tahiti. Not only had he secretly got a hold of my boss’ number and organized approvals for time off and coverage while I’d be gone, but he’d also arranged for two weeks of childcare from grandma and grandpa. So, with the flights booked, the AirBnBs reserved, and the itinerary planned, all that was left to do was pack.
I’d hardly had a minute to unpack from returning after our last trip two weeks ago, and there I was again – with my travel gear spread out across the floor into neat little piles as it waited to be packed away into my still borrowed Patagonia bag once again. (I hadn’t even had time to return the bag!)
El Salvador is a place that’s been on my list for awhile now. I’m on a mission to check off every country in Central America. And El Salvador and Honduras have been my last remaining two for many years. But unfortunately, due to civil unrest and the security situation in both of those countries, they’ve sat un-stamped in my passport.
El Salvador was once plagued by widespread political instability, gang violence, corruption, economic strife, and a brutal civil war that lasted 12 years. At its worst (in 2015), El Salvador was considered one of the most violent countries in the world, with a homicide rate of 105 per 100,000 people – about 6720 murders in a year. But with their 6.3 million population, let’s put that into perspective. If Canada were to have had the same homicide rate, we would have seen approximately 42,000 murders in a year (our actual number is 2022 was around 900 murders). It was horrendous. Salvadorians suffered immensely under rampant gang violence from MS-13 and Barrio 18. But with the recent current events in El Salvador – the election of a new president in 2019 that’s flipped the country upside down (and has reduced the homicide rate by 95%), it’s now considered one of the safest countries in the Western Hemisphere. So, cue the flight itineraries, because now is the time to go! And A jumped on the opportunity.
He had originally wanted to tell me the day before, 24 hours before we were due to leave, (which even my boss was stoked about), but I think he felt the pressure from others telling him that I needed time, so he decided to tell me with some advanced notice. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to find out the day before (how cool would that be!?!), but I was thankful to have the week to prepare and finish up the work tasks I was still striving to catch up on from my latest two weeks away. But between that, and laundry, and cleaning, and Valentine’s Day prep, and dealing with heating element issues in my house (ie. no heat and no hot water) the week flew by. And the next thing I knew, I was on a plane. On flight 1 of 3 en route to El Salvador. Off to country 45.
Let’s just pray we don’t have the same flight fiasco as we did just four weeks ago….
Happy Travels!
Teryn Warnke 
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