El Salvador

El Salvador is called the Land of Volcanoes for its more than two hundred extinct volcanoes that have enriched the country's soil.  Extinct does not necessarily mean no steam, ash, or molten lava, but not enough to do much harm.   Now that deforestation has taken away 98% of the country's virgin forests, the government is finally working to protect endangered animal and plant species.

El Salvador was plagued for over 50 years  with internal strife and military dictatorships.   Thousands if not millions of people have been killed over the years if any voiced dissent was provided.  A UN sponsored peace agreement was declared in December, 1992 causing special interest groups to create their own political parties.  It now is a democratic republic with elected representation for governance.  

The country's population of close to 7 million is growing by 1.7 percent per year.  Roughly half of all people live in rural areas.  The majority of Salvadorans (90%) are mestizos, or people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry, while 1% remain of pure indigenous blood.  Some are caucasian, such as the Palestinians who came to this country in the early 1800's.  El Salvador is very much a Christian nation with 83% of the people belonging to the Roman Catholic church and most of the remaining 17 percent are Christian, such as the Protestant faith.

Nearly 20 percent of the population is without access to the education, health care, and economic opportunities needed to rise above poverty.  Salvadorans depend heavily on foreign aid and remittances from the 2 million family members who have emigrated to the United States.  Only about 35% of all rural adults are literate.  Although public school is free, including at the University level, most people stop attending school at various ages to begin working and contributing to the family income.

When I was going to University, I sponsored a child from El Salvador for probably 10 years or so through the Foster Parents Plan of Canada  and once in awhile we would trade letters back and forth.  I sent pictures and the foster program also sent pictures of my child to show his progress.  My child eventually dropped out of school when he was older in the 1980's and the Plan did not give me any explanation as to what he was doing after that.  My thinking is he either went to work to help his family survive, but then he was doing fine anyways since he was living off my monthly cheque.  Since there was a civil war going on, I think he went to war for his country, but cannot prove that.  So much for my sponsorship if this was the case.  My interest for El Salvador was greatly enhanced through this experience and so coming here to help with a build is exactly what I need to satisfy my curiosity.

This is my first international Habitat mission.  It will always be my base from what to expect going forward and act as the standard as I hope to do many more, up to 20 preferably, with each one in a new country, my quest.

Note: these log notes are based on emails sent to an audience and were done during each day.  The notes are often short, not complete, and to the point with choppy sentences.  I have not taken the time to edit properly since they still report my observations made at the time.  As some emails went astray, more pictures are being shown since they can tell you a lot.

January, 2013

We flew into San Salvador, the capital city.  Not much street organization could be seen from the air coming into land, a rather hard landing at that, glad to have touched down in one piece.

We stayed overnight in what looked on the surface to be a swanky hotel and something that would take good pictures, but if you study the tiles, railings, walls, doors, all were dusty, dirty, grimy, and so after initial build and setup, it looks like no maintenance has been done.

Bus trip was two hours from San Salvador.  Road was hard surface (sort of) and scenic through jungle and small mountains.  We stopped along the way to sample some coconuts, extracting the juice with the aid of a straw, each for a price of $1 USD.

Staying at the Hotel Villa San Miguel, which is a relatively nice considering the location c/w swimming pool.  Then we saw the rolled barbed wire/ spears/ jagged glass all along the outside wall of the complex, similar to what you would have in a prison setup, to prevent locals from going over the wall and entering the premises after hours.  From the hotel, you can see a perfectly cone shaped mountain that is steaming and erupting consistently and if the big blowup were to occur this would cause a lot of havoc in this second largest city of El Salvador.

Working with a really good group.  Very hot 40 degrees, tough labor, sand gravel, water, cement mixed together, hauling dirt, gravel, water by pail and shovel.  Foundation to house in place.  To start walls tomorrow made of cement blocks and mortar with metal roof to come.  No wood construction.  Everyone is working hard.  Food and water has been OK.    We get so dirty from work that I have to manually wash clothes every night.  

Some observations:

• No foreigners in San Miguel at all other than our group. NONE!  Correction: as per a Habitat guide, there are just a few Vietnamese who opened up a restaurant in the downtown area for some unexplained reason.  No caucasians except us.

• Locals are friendly and curious, although crime is rampant.

• The volcanic mountain is ominous  to look at.  Morning songbirds are incredible as mornings are beautiful. 

• Walking along the streets show lots of poverty, garbage.

• It is summer time here, some colorful flowers around. 

• Main street very busy and noisy. 

•  My Spanish albeit crude is improving.

• We have a good host from Habitat who keeps us in check. 

• Some Salvadorans are offended when people from the US introduce themselves as Americans because Salvadorans also consider themselves Americans.

• I read that the gap between rich and poor is widening.  Sounds familiar as most countries are experiencing this, including Canada.

• Good experience so far.

Walls are 33 percent built now, starting to look more like a building.  

One person was down with heat exhaustion/ dehydration for two days.  I am drinking six to eight bottles of water while working. 

We went to visit a home completed the previous year and were given the royal treatment from a grateful family.  The home is exactly what we are building and looks really beautiful compared to what they had before.  

One local lad that we met at the job site has down syndrome and he gets abandoned every day to fend for himself as his family works or if a sibling, maybe goes to school.  Another young girl was abandoned by her parents and is maybe seven years of age and now being raised by a neighbor.   She is quite withdrawn and does not go to school.  

This area is swarming with kids, a lot in their perfectly clean school clothing, but others who look like they have not had a bath for months.

We brought a soccer ball so we could play on the street with the local kids during our mid morning and lunch break times.  The only concern of mine is the brown water along each side of the street that the ball was going through due to what looked to be improper handling of sewage disposal.  Theoretically what we see should be white wash only.  Then you see kids playing soccer in their scarred bare feet.

The masonry workers are very proud of their work using such crude tools. 

The original building torn down was made out of red brick which is red clay and not very hard or durable.  Matter of fact, a car ran over one of these bricks on the street and the brick exploded and became nothing but dust.  I am sure a heavy rainstorm could cause a lot of damage with these clay bricks. 

There must be one heck of a lot of coconuts around here.  One street vendor has his cart full of coconuts, and all it took was a good business one day from all of our hard work and thirsty condition to convince him to always come back the next day at that time since we will again be thirsty.

I accidentally squashed a tiny geco when doing my laundry in the sink.  i could see something squiggly at the last minute as I pressed down my laundry in the water but did not want to start over with new detergent.  The rest of this story is quite gross.  Clothes did not come out too clean either.  

We were told several times under no circumstances are we to venture out after hours to walk along the streets, even as a group as it is not safe.  As for doing something during daylight hours, we were to never venture out alone, but to be with a buddy at all times.

There were some very specific instructions that were provided before getting here, one being the ladies should not wear tank tops, but two of our team showing cleavage was causing quite the commotion when a truck load of men were driving past us as we headed off for some sight seeing.

Dogs and babies do not sound Spanish when they bark or cry.  

No one smokes here.  

I saw a sign 'pintura fresca' in the store and did not know what it meant until I accidentally rubbed my hand on a wall (fresh paint - oops). 

When visiting an orphanage one afternoon, one little guy gave me the biggest and warmest hug to welcome me to their home.  We came with a few crafts for their play time, such as coloring books with crayons.  They were very fascinated with our cell phone technology.  One little girl told us her story.  She had been getting beaten constantly by her parents for whatever reason.    She became desperate knowing she needed to flee to save her own life, but did not know where to go.  A friend of hers mentioned the orphanage.  She ran to it when only six years old, and after several years she has stayed and has never gone back home.  This orphanage gets no government funding but looks to corporate sponsorship.    Each orphan gets a cot, food, education.  The owners of this orphanage are the mother and father for 40 children.  Each child has certain responsibilities to do each day and is expected to keep their sleeping area clean.

Two vacation days coming up this weekend (road trip). 

We stayed at the most awesome resort last night, just beautiful!  Hotel El Tejado, Suchitoto, El Salvador.  This place is like the Banff of El Salvador, safe, scenic, cost is reasonable at 90 USD per night for two.  Two night stay is a must for what there is to see.  You get to it from a back alley of a cobblestone street, then the view opens up.

On the way there, we stopped into the town of Ilobasco, famous for its ceramics.  Nice cozy, peaceful,  little place full of colonial buildings and cobblestone streets and so I chose to buy some colorful pottery for a souvenir for next to nothing and now it is just a matter of figuring out how I am going to get it home without breaking it!

Swam in a big pool at night, full moon, stars and fireworks.  Latin America sure  likes its fireworks but it can really upset nature.  Took in the sunrise next morning over breakfast on a patio.  

We had a tour of a cigar factory, watching the cigar lady make one for us out of tobacco leaves to smoke.  No thanks.  They must not be aware that we have all but banned smoking everywhere in Canada due to health concerns.

Bought a sport shirt made with Indigo blue plant dye once we had toured the factory for how they make it (from a plant).  This has got to be the most unique beautiful colored shirt I have ever bought and it comes with its own design that I will never see anywhere else again. 

Each town has a Roman Catholic  church and town square where everyone gathers on a Sunday, their day of rest and to be with family and friends, and Suchitoto is no different.

Also went to a coffee plantation very high up a mountain (Alegria).  Incredible view, very rough, bouncy bus ride, but well worth it.  It is interesting to note that a lot of the coffee plantations are on mountains and therefore higher elevation and certainly this is the main source of income in this area.  El Salvador is world famous for its coffee, but what we have tasted at other locations is not the country's finest, since only inferior coffee is consumed in El Salvador as the rest is exported to other countries for the revenue it generates.  What a shame that the citizens of this country cannot enjoy what El Salvador is famous for. 

We also toured the turquoise colored Laguna de Alegria  c/w hot springs and fumaroles.  The laguna was inside the crater of the now dormant volcano Tecapa.  Some chose to go for a swim in the sulfur induced healing waters of the lake.

Back in San Miguel and back to work in AM.  Getting a really good feel for this country.  

Ankles swollen, need to keep up now when sitting.  Other minor physical, including strange itchy bug bites.  Must have been a spider.  I took in my belt one loop.  

Part of the closing ceremony included giving the three masons a Canadian Dollar loonie so that they could bury it in the build for good luck.  Kind of a novel idea that was well received and gladly accepted.  

Some volunteers chose to leave their work boots behind, specially the ladies so that the local builders had better boots for their trade.  Ricardo Antonio Diaz for instance had street shoes with holes in the sides and soles and so was quite appreciative of getting a good pair of rugged steel toed work boots to protect his feet, and of the right size.  I decided not to leave mine behind, because who among the locals have big enough feet?!  Certainly not those on this build site!

We did not get that warm fuzzy feeling for the couple who were moving into the home because they for starters did not have kids.  An elderly lady with her son were to move in, the son who showed no emotion when giving his crude speech in Spanish, thanking us for our support.  He was perhaps hardened during the civil war to show no feelings, or it was not considered appropriate based on culture.

After closing ceremonies, we took our bus to a resort along the coast conveniently close to the airport for two nights of RnR, named the Rancho Estero y Mar.  This proved to be an interesting place to relax as you had basically a small zoo of caged animals throughout the complex, along with restaurants and bars, sandy beach, swimming pools, and kayaks to go on a 'river cruise' if you were so inclined.  Similar to the hotel we stayed at in San Salvador to begin our trip, the decor of the place was quite scenic, but covered in dust and grime, and then there was the matter of having zoo animals around you when eating in a restaurant.  The two did not seem to go together that well due to hygiene and bacteria concerns.  Salvadorans also must count on the rain in the wet season to wash all dust away.

I had a little adventure when in the ocean to swim the next day.  Going into the water for the first time, the ocean current was such that once I got into the water deep enough a wave downturn took my swimming trunks completely down to my ankles!  First time that has ever happened!  Fortunately I was walking on the sand in the water at the time and so the trunks did not leave me completely.  Fortunately as well that no one was around.  Feeling very naked and vulnerable, I quickly pulled them back up and tightened them as much as I could!  When I went back to shore for a drink, I told others what happened (hah, hah), including two young ladies.  After we went in the water again later as the temperature was just right, I noticed those two ladies kept their distance from me!

Two others talked me into going with them on cheap yellow plastic kayaks that you sit on top of, to trek up a small, slow moving river inland for awhile and we were able to paddle along to observe people and their habitat who were living along the stream.  We passed by locals in canoes who were fishing and I was concerned we might be disturbing the fish so they would not bite.  Then I saw a young little lady washing her clothes in the water.  We waved to one another, but then I started to feel quite uncomfortable being there.  As foreigners splashing around the river for some entertainment because we could afford to, we were disturbing the locals who were trying to survive, to get clean or get some needed food for dinner, and the two did not go together at all.  I high tailed it back to the starting point to get out of their space.

On the plane trip home, one poor fellow, Ian, had gotten a real bad case of food poisoning from whatever he ate the previous night at this resort.  Adios.