La Crea Ahuerto!

So, our internet connection at the house went out, so I haven’t posted for a while.  That doesn’t mean things haven’t been happening!  The last few visits at La Crea (a religious home for addicted women) have been excellent.  Our most recent project is a vegetable garden.  The women there have just loved it.   It’s tricky to plant in the middle of the rainy season, so I hope it grows well.  We planted beets, radishes, lettuce and cabbage.  It’s awesome because some of the women who aren’t really into basketball are really anxious to work in the garden.  It’s great to see them getting involved in something in which they are really interested.

Los Blancos

This weekend was really nice.  I’ve had a cold the last few days, so I was planning on just lying around the house, but I got talked into going to the beach.  It was stunningJ  Our friend Angel knew the hombre who owns this “mini hotel” on Los Blancos beach, so we parked and ate there.  Upstairs, there was a beautiful view of the ocean.  It was magnificent.  We even saw a ship on the horizon.  It was breezy and perfect outside.  We hunted for shells and played a little in the powerful waves, and just hung out.  It was soo relaxing after a week of work. 

When we got home from the beach, we decided to get dinner.  A few of us went to this Italian place in La Gran villa.  It was delicious!  Probably the best meal I’ve had in El Salvador, and yes, it was ItalianaJ 
We were in the gelato place next door when it started raining.  It was POURING and, of course, none of us came prepared.  The gelato workers put on Avatar in English, and everyone in the shop just bunkered down for a little while.  We finally decided it had slowed down enough to go home, and I’m glad we left when we did because when we got home, it started up again.  Ohh, rainy season.  

El Templo

The San Salvador Latter-day Saint temple open house is going on for the next few weeks.  We went through the open house as a team, and the other day, we got to volunteer in the temple for a few hours.  Amazing.  It is soo stunning.  The national flower is planted all over the outside and is used in the design of the temple in the windows.  It’s magnificent.  When we volunteered, I got to direct people going on tours in the hallway, then they moved me over to the bride’s room, the Sala de Novias ,if you will.  Yeah.  It was beautiful.  It’s not even dedicated, but it’s still amazing to be able to spend time in the temple of the Lord.  

Independence Day!

The fourth of July was pretty rad.  We took off work for the day and had some fun.  We spent the day out at the Lago de Coatapeque.  It is so beautiful up there.  We had an all-American hamburger barbeque and played in the lake.  That night, we went over to the church and roasted s’mores and lit off some amazing fireworks.  Happy birthday America!

Ruins and Puerto de Diablo

Two weekends ago we went and toured some ruins.  It was awesome to see something so old.  It’s also interesting to look at how building techniques and styles are still employed in parts of El Salvador.  After the ruins, we hiked the Pureto de Diablo (Devil’s gate).  The hike was awesome, there was water dripping and running all along the stone peak as we were climbing.  At the top, it was absolutely sublime.  We could see for kilometers around the peak.  It was a little cloudy, but it cleared up as we were hiking and we could see forever.  There was this one little hut on the edge of the cliff.  I can’t even imagine what it would be like to wake up in the morning and have this incredible, surreal view.  

La Playa

So, last Saturday we went to La Costa Del Sol, Los Blancos beach.  It was soo beautiful:)

This awesome dude caught this crab that was running along the beach

 We rented this little shack on the beach.

 Gotta love hammocks:)

 My sandy sandy foot

 Soo Beautiful!

PS, there are roosters and chickens EVERYWHERE here.

Bienvenidos a El Salvador!

Well, I’ve been in El Salvador for two weeks, and now and I think yesterday was the most cultural day we’ve had yet.  We left the house at like 6:30, and wandered around the wrong side of this little city for a couple hours trying to find the Habitat for Humanity office.  We finally realized that we were on the wrong side, then made about 20 phone calls till we got to a place where we were supposed to be picked up.

Eventually, a tour bus pulled up and took us to the habitat office.  We all got off, only to have to flag down the driver because everyone had left by then, and he needed to take us all the way to the build.   We waited for the habitat guard to explain where it was, and we started watching this guy groom his poodle in the window.  He was wearing a white shirt and white bandana over his mouth.  We were probably just a little tired at this point, but we all thought it was hilarious and started snapping pictures from inside the bus and singing "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" Also, the van had happy suns on the back of the seats with sunglasses and shovels.  I have no idea what that was about.  We drove to the wrong build at first, but about three hours after we were supposed to show up, we made it to the right house (we think.  We’re still a little unsure…)

Vladimir was there working on it and greeted us when we showed up.  From what we understand, the house is to be for him, his wife and two ninas.   Alan, Logan, Megan, Vladimir and I lugged cement tiles for the floor from the neighbors to the house we were building.  Honestly, it’s a little embarrassing, but I don’t think I’ve been that sweaty ever, in my entire life.  Oh, yeah.  There were nests of ants under the tiles.  They were teeny little ants and Vladimir kept telling me “no pica, no pica!” (that they don’t bite) but I didn’t feel like explaining to him that I knew they didn’t bite.  If they did, I would be running away instead of just whimpering like a little girl and holding the tiles like they were on fire.  I dropped one and it broke, but considering how grossed out I was, that’s a number I can live with:)  (all the tiles we moved)

After the floor was moved, Alan, Logan and Vladimir went into town to pick up more paint brushes (which apparently Vladimir made Alan pay for…) and Meg and I stayed at the house and played with Vladimir’s little girl Leslie.  She was seriously the most adorable little girl EVER. 

We painted for a while, then the other workers explained that here in El Salvador, they like to take a lunch break.  Alan said that was fine, we’d take an hour, and they men said, “mmm, more like an hour and a half.”  Sure, why not?  Alan was telling us that we were in a pretty dangerous area, so when Logan asked Vladimir about safety, he agreed that it was pretty dangerous, and ran back to the house to grab his gun.  And his daughter.

Anyway, we drove to lunch and adorable Leslie held my hand and chatted with me in her adorable little kid El Salvadorian Spanish.  I love talking to kids, cuz we’re on about the same Spanish level;) We went to one place, but they told us ridiculous prices when they saw all of us gringos, so we went to another place and Vladimir went in first and asked for prices, then we all came piling out of the van.  We pretty much cleaned out all their food and everyone was staring at us the whole time.  

We went back to the build and painted the rest of the house.  As we were leaving, Vladimir insisted that we take a bag of platanos and mamones.  Right as we were getting into the van, he decided I guess that we didn’t have enough mamones yet, so he ran into the jungle and came back with another full bag.  We’re eating mamones tonight!

We got home, and everyone was soooo happy to shower and go have some dinner.  We turned on a movie after dinner, but paused it to watch the storm.  It rains really hard almost every night, and sometimes the storms are really intense.  The rain is super loud, and the sky is always lit with flashes of electricity brighter than a strobe light.  Every once in a while, lightning strikes somewhere in the city with a huge flash of light, and huge thunder follows.  It’s so loud that after a strike, all the car alarms in our neighborhood go off.  If I was ever going to steal a car, I’d do it during a tropical storm;)

Anyway, that was our crazy El Salvadorian day.  It was a blast!

2 Exaggerations and an Understatement.

So, I’ve been here in El Sal for a few days, and there are some things that aren’t really the way people told me they would be.  I feel two truths and a lie is a little too strong…how about two exaggerations and an understatement?

Exaggeration:  The dance clubs here are really sketchy.  Reality:  Six of us decided to go to a discoteca on Friday.  Everyone was telling me that they were full of smoke and drunk guys and it’s scary to be there after dark.  The guys made sure we knew that if some guy approached us, we would just tell him that we had a boyfriend and go stand with one of them.  I was feeling pretty nervous after hearing all this, but we were going with some guys from the team and I knew they’d keep us safe. However, when we arrived, it was the nicest part of El Salvador I’d been in yet.  It was spacious and well lit, and there were people sitting in outdoor restaurants and things like that.  We asked a couple of police officers how to get to a specific discoteca and they directed us.  When we walked in, the air was FULL of smoke.  However, I soon noticed that it was because they periodically released dry ice fog from the ceiling.  There were a couple of smokers too.  Secondly, they were playing reggeaton, which is fast dance music, and everyone was just dancing with their friends and/or significant other.  A few people came and chatted with us, but everyone was super polite and dressed up really nicely.  One guy asked me to come sit down with him at this table with him for a minute, but I told him that I was there with my friends and he just smiled and thanked me for dancing with him and walked away.  It was the cleanest, safest, most polite dance place I’ve ever been; including the States.  PS, don’t worry, this doesn’t mean I’m letting my guard down at all. It was just nice that something I was a little nervous about turned out to be very comfortable for me. 

Exaggeration:  It’s going to be hot every day.  Reality:  it’s actually really pleasant a lot of the time.  About every other day, the humidity has been killer, but it hasn’t been too hot or killer sunny, and now we’re approaching the rainy season, so it’ll just get cooler; and rainier.  Speaking of rain,

Understatement:  The rain starts really soon and is really powerful.  Reality:  holy cow.  Yes.  Last night, Travis, Mia, Megan and I were walking out of Super Selectos, which, as the name implies, is a lovely little grocery/convenience store for all your shopping needs.  It’s in a shopping center, and suddenly we heard a loud noise.  I thought it might be a loud car driving by, but it didn’t stop.  We realized the rain was pounding on the roof.  We were a little upset.  None of us had umbrellas, and I honestly don’t think they’d have done much good.  We were soaked to the bone before we got to the bus stop.  After we got off the bus, we walked to our house (no point running anymore) and we crossed the street and found ourselves in a river of a gutter, almost up to our knees, or as we say here, Rio en el Calle!!!

Exaggeration:  The humidity makes your hair curlier.  Reality:  Um, who made up this lie?  The humidity definitely makes my hair frizzy, but it’s soo much flatter than back home in Utah where it’s dry.  One good thing though, is that my skin has been awesome in this humidity.  Happy skin, sad hair:( 

Exaggeration:  you see gangs everywhere in El Salvador.  Reality: The gangs here are really subtle.  You don’t even notice them unless you look closely.  Salvadoran gangs used to be famous for marking themselves with massive tattoos, but the younger gang members don't do that as much anymore.  I’ve just kind of been hanging on for the ride the last few days… but I haven’t noticed any gang members.  This is probably not a great thing, because you don’t really know who is dangerous and who is not.  However, we just assume everyone we interact with could be dangerous and accordingly don’t trust anyone we don’t know well.

Understatement:  The house will be crowded.  Reality:  We have six girls living in one small room.  There are 28 people living in our house.  In a few days a couple of boys and one girl will move out.  Then we’ll only have to sleep five to a room:D  I think the hardest thing for me is not being able to know where my stuff is and find it when I need it.  On Wednesday, I get to move into a five girl room, and then I think my stuff will be more organized.  The only place I have to put my stuff in the house is under my cot.  The only place.  Oh yes, and we all share one small fridge:)

Exaggeration:  Everyone here has been to the states, knows someone who’s been there, or has relatives there.  Reality:  Yeah.  Ha.  There have been several people who speak English, or are willing to speak English.  Everyone else speaks a very slurred Spanish.   It’s been really hard for me to understand, but I feel like my Spanish is already getting better after just a few days here.  The team has been really helpful though, and everyone’s letting me practice my espanol with them and ask them repetitive and usually dumb questions:)

Exaggeration:  The busses here are awful.  Reality:  The bus systems here are amazing.  They are very fast and reliable, and the bus drivers know where everything is.  We still are quiet and try to speak only in epanol, but the busses here are more comfortable to me than the ones in Salt Lake, because everyone uses them, not just the creepy people:)

Understatement:  You will love the people there.  Reality:  I’ve only met some of the people we’re working with one or two times, and I already love them.  They are incredible.  They want to know if I’m coming back, and when, and if I’ll practice my Spanish.  They’re so kind and forgiving of my poor language skills.  A couple of my favorite places we’ve been are CIPI, a home for young abused girls, and La Crea, a home for recovering drug addicts for adult women.  I'm a project head for our new programs at La Crea, and I'm so excited to start getting some things done. The women are just amazing.  They have been through so much, yet they are still hopeful.  They have had horrifying experiences, but their souls are so deep.  Some of the new ones are still really closed off, but it’s amazing to look into the eyes of an eleven year old girl from a rough background and see fear, but behind that, curiosity, hope, trust, and the ability to heal.  I love it.

?!?Estoy Yoviendo?!?

So, I’ve been here for a few days and already had a couple of embarrassing experiences.  The first time it rained, I asked someone how to say, “it’s raining,” and they told me “esta yoviendo.”   I asked another person to see if I had it right, and I accidentally asked “estoy yoviendo?”  and he replied, “No!  You are not raining.” Hee hee, oops.  

Secondly, we went out to Lago de Coatapeque, and we took a boat ride around the beautiful lake.  The driver cut the engine when we were at the center of the lake, and asked if we wanted to go swimming.  Mia and Travis jumped in, and I carefully climbed down the side of the boat, and not very gracefully;)  However, the really embarrassing part was when we realized that we couldn’t get back into the boat.  The poor driver insisted we could get in, but when he finally realized that we really couldn’t, he told to climb up the engine.   One greasy Travis later, we realized that wouldn’t work.  Finally he told us to stand on a small loop of rope and he’d pull us in.  Somehow, the driver managed to pull Travis in, and they both pulled in me and Mia.  Yeah, I felt like a gringa.  My only question is, how many people are able to climb in?  Because there was no-thing to hold onto to get back into the boat.   Maybe this was the first time he’d attempted this.  Maybe it’ll be his lastJ

Estoy Aqui!

We’re finally here!  It’s amazing.  I met up with most of the newcomers for second wave on the flight.  We were flying in from Houston to El Sal over the Gulf of Mexico and the sun set over the ocean and it was just magnificent.  We met our country directors at the airport and all of us squashed into a tiny van with our luggage to make the 45 minute drive from the airport to our house.  We had a team meeting to decide where we’ll all go tomorrow, and then went to sleep in our tiny crowded room.  Let the adventures begin!

Our house is amazingly beautiful btw.  There is a plethora of gorgeous tropical plants and birds everywhere!

The view from our bedroom window

Six chicas in one tiny room.  Don’t worry though, my cot is quite comfortable;)

Fruit trees in our yard

And flowers.

The view  back of the house

An extinct volcano you can see from our back porch

Es muy hermosa:)

Donating to HELP International

Take a moment and donate to HELP International!  Thanks.

HELP International

I'm going to be spending this summer San Salvador, El Salvador. I'm going with HELP International, which is a nonprofit organization which was created to empower people globally to fight poverty though education, public health and entrepreneurship. We will be doing projects in gang prevention and working with Habitat for Humanity. I'm leaving June 8th and returning Aug. 24th. I will use this blog to keep everyone updated about how we're doing down in El Salvador !