By Port Aransas South Jetty Staff | on April 21, 2021

Rose Bustamante, left, and Mary Ellen Salg, both of whom work at the Shark Reef Resort in Port Aransas, show a stuffed llama baby that Rose found after 8-yearold Zaiden Hernandez lost it during a recent stay at the motel. Mary Ellen delighted Zaiden by mailing the toy to his San Antonio home. In the package, Mary Ellen included photos of various Port Aransas sites that the llama is said to have visited during its time away. Staff photo by Lee Harrison

Seven-year-old Zaiden Hernandez of San Antonio was heartbroken when he lost his little stuffed animal while visiting Port Aransas recently with his family.

But the story has a happy and unexpected ending.

The stuffed baby llama was found in the accommodations where the family had been staying, and the motel manager delighted Zaiden by not only mailing the toy back to him but also filling the package with much more.

The saga of the stuffed toy llama began during the Easter holiday, when Zaiden and his family visited Port Aransas to hold a celebration of life for Josh Ibarra, a San Antonio man who was Zaiden’s uncle.

Josh had vacationed in Port Aransas many years to go fishing, and he often stayed at Shark Reef Resort.

Zaiden and his parents – Erica and Anthony Hernandez – never had been to Port Aransas before and wanted to experience what Josh had loved so much about the town.

Zaiden’s aunt also came down with them. She bought the stuffed llama for the boy at a gift shop.

Pictured at his San Antonio home, Zaiden Hernandez, 8, holds a stuffed animal that he lost but reacquired due to the kindness of some Port Aransas folks. On the floor next to him are a variety of gifts given to him by those Port A people. Courtesy photo

As the family got ready to leave the motel and head home to San Antonio, the toy suddenly was nowhere to be found.

They ended up having to leave without it.

Not long after they left, Shark Reef Resort housekeeper Rose Bustamante was doing laundry when she found the toy wrapped in towels in a dryer.

When motel manager Mary Ellen Salg found out, she remembered how upset the family was that the llama had been lost.

Mary Ellen contacted the boy’s father and promised to mail the toy back to the family.

But, instead of simply sticking it in a box and mailing it back all by itself, Mary Ellen and her 8-year-old son, Michael, decided to do something better.

They set about putting together a package of photos and memorabilia to show that the llama had gone on an adventure while on its own in Port Aransas.

Acting on suggestions from folks on Facebook, Mary Ellen drove around Port Aransas and photographed the llama enjoying time at locations including the Red Dragon pirate ship, the historic Chapel on the Dunes, Winton’s Island Candy, the playground at Roberts Point Park and the South Jetty newspaper.

Mary Ellen got some help from South Jetty staff photographer Lee Harrison.

Michael decorated a jar at Fire It Ceramics, and the jar was filled with sand and sea shells before being put in a box with the llama and the photos of the llama visiting various Port Aransas sites.

Some gifts were provided by Shark Reef. A T-shirt was donated by the Friends of the ARK (Amos Rehabilitation Keep) organization.

Rose purchased some of the items given to Zaiden.

The package contained a handwritten letter from Mary Ellen and included gifts such as a hat shaped like a squid, a pair of green sunglasses, a T-shirt, a shark tooth necklace, koozies and more.

“I wanted Zaiden to have a good memory of the place, Shark Reef and Port Aransas, that his uncle always visited,” Mary Ellen said.

She said her son was the one who suggested sending the toy on an adventure.

“He knew what it felt like to lose a toy,” Mary Ellen said. “He lost one on our trip to California in the past, and we never found it.”

The package was mailed to Zaiden on Tuesday, April 13, and the boy received it not long afterward.

Videotaped at home by his parents, Zaiden can be seen gasping with joy while drawing each item out of the package. Finally, he got to the stuffed toy that had been lost in Port Aransas.

His mother told him that Mary Ellen was the one who’d gotten it back to him.

“She’s so nice!” Zaiden said. “ … God bless her!”

Zaiden has been sleeping every night with the pictures in his bed with him, and the llama reportedly hasn’t left his sight.

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