Our first day of work

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“This is a lot harder than I expected.”

We finally began work at the two build sites today, 20 minutes outside of Santa Ana. These are new sites, so we started at the beginning by digging trenches through the heavy clay soil for the foundation and tying rebar. After digging in the intense sun, rebar was a welcome break.

The local children helped us get through the day - playing king of the hill in our dirt piles, sharing their treasures (Princess the rabbit and a toy guitar) and teaching us how to play marbles. Unfortunately, we are really bad at marbles.

At lunch at we had a special treat. One of the children from our houses, Carlitos, wanted us to walk to school with him. In his village children can either go to school in the morning or afternoon. Since Carlitos attends school in the afternoon, it worked out perfectly to accompany him on his 10 minute walk to school. At school we met his teacher and friends. We even had a quick session of shooting hoops in the school yard. The children were curious but shy around us. It was a great opportunity to get a glimpse of their lives.

After lunch we were back to digging and tying rebar. It was a challenging but rewarding day. Just as it was a lot harder than we expected. It was also more rewarding than we expected.

With the rain in the afternoon yesterday, our walking tour of Santa Ana was moved to today. We visited the main plaza, cathedral and opera house.

Tonight we're tired but lubed up with Biofreeze and have plenty of Alleve in our systems. Should be ready to go bright and early tomorrow!

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Photos

Team El Salvador!
Front: Dawn, Katie, Cate, Tara and Krystal. Back: Keith, Carrie, Marcia, Diane, Peter, Julie, Natalie, Tim, Mary and Michael.

Love that rebar!
Marcia and Dawn hard at work.

Digging the trenches
Tara and Dawn work with Pedro. Mary and Krystal are hard at it in the back.

Comments

[Kelley Houlihan]

Love the blog updates!
Thank you so much for keeping this blog... it's great! Can you upload any pics? Please tell my good friend Krystal Ols that I miss her and am so proud of her! Thanks! -Kelley Houlihan

[Jill Deuel]

Enjoy!
Hey there! It sounds like you are having a blast and working hard. Marcia and Cate - how's that rebar?? Enjoy your time there and take time to soak it in! Jill

[Chris Kelly]

Marcia, Cate and Tara
Boy...nothing like diggin trenches and tying rebar :-) Cate and Marcia are pros at that!!! The pictures look beautiful.

[Dean Bussey]

Glad to See You Arrived Safely
We are reading your blog posts with great excitement. We think that we spotted Krystal in one of the pictures. Good luck with the house. We look forward to more posts on your progress!

[Don S]

Looks like Fun!!
Looks like you all are having a great experience. Nice form with the picks!! Keep blogging and sending pictures!