On Thursday we caught an express bus from Guatemala City to Santa Ana. This was by far the best bus ride we have been on. The company is called Tica Bus (yes, they are based in Costa Rica). Also, this was the first border crossing where we not asked to pay any money! Santa Ana is not a regular stop for Tica, so they left us on the outskirts of town. Since we had just left Guatemala I only had 1 dollar in cash. They left us at a gas station that was not open so we had no way to get more money. We asked someone how we could get to town and he told us there was a bus that could take us, but it cost $ 0.25 a person. Remember that I only had one dollar, and there are 5 of us! After debating what we should do, the stranger offered us a quarter! Turns out we did not need it, because Bekah happened to have a few dollars left over from her mission in her purse!
Next we had to find the church where Estrada was waiting for us. That is a whole story in and of itself (perhaps I will share it another time). By the time we were ready to move on to our hotel, it was getting late. Mom and Bekah went with a taxi to find a place to sleep. The place we stayed Thursday night turned out to be a real dump, but we stayed the one night and left early the next morning. Because of Semana Santa, it proved very difficult to find a place to stay. However, we finally did find a place that we like. The owner is a hoot and has been very helpful.