We have been back from El Salvador for a couple of weeks now. I have started to try and express all of the feelings and experiences that went with this trip several times only to delete it. You will not see any pictures of kids in this blog, it is for their safety. If you would like to see pictures I would love to show them you. You can come on over and we can go through them over some cake and coffee!
The first day we flew into San Salvador. At the airport, we were immediately struck by the fact that we were in a different world than where we came from. The airport, while a smaller size compared to many in the U.S., was one of the main airports in El Salvador, we were told. The architecture looked like it was from the '70's and though it was ducted for air-conditioning, it either didn't work or wasn't on. Sticky and hot. As we went through customs, we could see outside to probably over 100 people crowded together right behind a rope fence waiting for their family and friends to arrive. After we got outside, we waited for probably a half hour for our bus to arrive. As we waited, we observed that there were so many vehicles made by the major car manufacturers, but the models were ones you don't see in the states. Most of the vehicles looked like they were, on average, from the '80's. Passenger vans with a shark fin on top seemed to be a popular ride. And they piled as many people in as could fit. the same was true with pickup beds. Obviously no seat belt laws for passengers! As we waited, the air grew stickier as we watched the clouds in the distance grow dark. It poured down for the 45 min drive to our hotel...after having been in two rain related wrecks in the past, Jason was a nervous wreck for this drive in the rain. If you've ever experienced traffic in a Central American country, you'd understand!
Standing up is Carlos, our driver.
Jason and I, sorry about the hair...we got our air conditioning from the outside!
Our group minus the adults
After unloading everything at the hotel, we went to grab a quick bite to eat and pick up supplies at the local Wal-mart for the week ahead. By the time we left we had 5 overflowing carts full of supplies for the kids.
We got several strange looks carting around baskets full of supplies. I am sure everyone was thinking that we were crazy Americans! After shopping we went back to the Hotel for our team meeting and devotional.
Our second day we went to an Orphanage and met an interesting fella.
This orphanage had both boys and girls. We started of by airing up some balls and playing basketball and soccer. It started to rain on us so we had to move our activities inside. We had a time of introduction and bible study, led by Tyler Cox, then some more games. At first we had a tough time thinking up games that would involve everyone and be able to play inside. We started off with pato, pato, ganso also known as duck, duck, goose. The kids loved it and so did I. I ran around that circle so many times making all sorts of crazy noises while the kids laughed. Such a fun time. We then played hot potato, the kids loved this game as well. After a while we grabbed some jump ropes and started playing with the kids individually. Lots of jumping rope and the game where one person stands in the middle with a rope and swings it around while others jump over it (sorry no idea what this would be called!). Jason played an interesting game with the kids...they had him tie jump ropes around their waists and and they ran around while he held on to the ends of them. It was like sledding and being pulled by a team of kids instead of dogs...they loved it! They would go as fast as they could until one of them inevitably tripped and the others fell over him in a pile. Jason's main goal was to not step on any of them at each abrupt stop! Then, as quick as they fell, they'd be up again going full speed ahead. I don't know how many times they ran around that room. Unfortunately we had to leave this orphanage at noon because another group was coming.
So we packed everything up and went to grab some lunch while our leaders discussed what we would do the rest of the day. It was decided that we would go to an old volcano. This volcano was famous for an eruption years ago that was pretty destructive, and it's last eruption was five years ago, and was much smaller. As I mentioned it had been raining all day and by time we got up the mountain it was pretty cold. I think it was some where in the fifties, and of course none of us were dressed warmly. As we made our way up the volcano/mountain we noticed several places along the way there were path ways in the vegetation leading to homes or huts. There were so many people just right off the road, which
is completely normal for the San Salvador area. We got to a viewing point and there was a family that had a restaurant off to the side of the lookout. It was a tiny little hut with chairs and tables outside, chickens running all over the place as well as dogs. They had set up a system that collected all of their rain water in a big plastic tub and that is what they used for everything. There were also all sorts of tires stacked everywhere. Also a normal thing for San Salvador, though I am not sure why. Once we made it to the top we stopped and talked to some street vendors. I got an awesome bracelet made out of coffee beans. Shirley picked up some fruit for the group, which we had the next day, it wasn't very sweet but really juicy.
Then, we decided to climb up to the viewing point. I am glad we did it was a beautiful climb. El Salvador is a beautiful country with an amazing amount of vegetation. The pictures don't do it justice it is just gorgeous.
After climbing back down we went to Chili's to eat, let me just say not a fan of it in the states not a fan of it in San Salvador. Then went back to hotel for our night time recap and devotional.
Some interesting things about El Salvador...
Other vehicles are so close you can touch them.
Guards are everywhere.
They have a pizza puch, not pooch!
Stay tuned for day three and four!
