Blogs from San Salvador, Central, El Salvador, Central America Caribbean - page 2

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On our arrival to San Salvador we as usual had no idea where we were in the city and had a few pictures of maps showing where our planned hostel was. Getting off the intercity bus we were faced again with taxis willing to take us where ever we wanted to go, but we persisted in finding public transport. Just outside Terminal de Oriente where we disembarked is a major thoroughfare where Avenida Peralta/Bulevar del Ejercito Nacional meet. Here we found a very fancy transit stop with big, modern city buses and turn-styles for access. While we were waiting politely for assistance at the window to buy tickets someone from beyond the turn-style was calling to us. It was a younger lady travelling with her mother. She was extremely kind and helpful giving us bus directions ... read more
Joya de Ceren


Another great Habitat build done and I am now back in Canada at the cottage for the summer.Thirteen people this time and it was an excellent group. In spite of the fact we only had 8 days, we were able to quickly function as a team throughout the trip and everyone had a great time. Some of us (10 which turned into 9) arrived the evening before at the main airport in San Salvador. One member of the group who shall remain nameless fell asleep in the Toronto airport and missed her connection. After gathering everyone up, we were transported to the Morrison Hotel by van( about a 45 minute drive) On the way downtown, we learned that the people of the city were in a major state of anticipation for the Oscar Romero beatification ceremony ... read more
A model of the type of home we are building
Road to the resort
Alicantes Resort


Estes outros três dias em El Salvador foi bem proveitoso também. Sábado fomos almoçar num lugar bem gostoso, rústico e comi o prato típico de El Salvador (com queijo branco e purê de feijão preto), eu curti. Depois fomos a uma fazenda de café, fizemos um tour lá e no final experimentamos o café (aguado) deles. Andamos a cavalo e quadriciclo. Paramos num mirante onde dava para ver El Salvador e Guatemala (uma vista bem bonita). Domingo fomos a praia de surfista de manhã, tomamos café da manhã lá. Eu pedi um café da manhã típico também com ovos e purê de feijão preto. Fomos no mercado de peixe e a noite fomos para um show de balé do Frozen que as meninas queriam ir. Elas foram vestidas de princesa, lindinhas! Elas estavam tão felizes que ... read more
Vulcão
Lindinhas de princesa...
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We did not know much about El Salvador before coming here and as we were only giving it a week of our time we thought we should find out a little bit about it. We had planned to cram in a busy day of culture with the modern art museum, the anthropology museum and the memorial to Monsignor Romero but San Salvador is incredibly hot and not really designed for walking so we only managed the two. Attempting to walk anywhere in the western part of the city involves navigating non-existent pavements alongside huge, congested, dusty main roads, getting strange looks from everyone as to why on earth you are trying to walk anywhere. We started at the memorial to Monsignor Romero which is set in the grounds of the university, right next to our hostel. ... read more
Painting depicting the resurrection of Romero in the people
Shopping mall after shopping mall


After spending a few months on the very strong Central American gringo trail the offer to go and stay with a friend from back home in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador was a bit of a godsend. Prior to the offer I had tracked up through the Central American countries quicker than I had originally anticipated and I still had a number of weeks until I was due to meet Tian in Guatemala. Jay had actually started his trip a month before me and was meant to have done my trip in reverse, however he had gotten sidetracked and was actually renting an apartment in the city with a lovely French-Canadian girl called Gaëlle. The thing that immediately strikes you travelling through El Salvador is that everyone is confused as to why you are ... read more
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CHECK OUT MY VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST75ZsAEqN4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUUF_DA82o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utgj-ZIB4Ao I hardly know where to begin, as I attempt to sum up what has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. I went to El Salvador to meet Funnyclown's family having almost no knowledge about El Salvador at all, other than that it is a dangerous place to travel. We were to be with his uncle, who visits the US yearly, and whom he is very close to. We would be staying at the home of Funnyclown's cousin, her husband, and their daughter, in San Salvador, the capital city. Funnyclown's Uncle, who normally lives in a home with other relatives, would be staying there at his daughter's house with us while we were visiting, in order to be able to spend as much time as possible ... read more
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Today is our final day at the site. We started out the day filling in with sand around the brick in the well. The guys helped mix concrete to be poured in the septic tank. We also smoothed out the dirt around the house and added dirt around all of the side walks. There is a school behind the site and we were able to go up there during snack time. The students were so excited to see us and they loved to have there pictures taken. Then they would want to see them. We also spent the morning making sure everyone signed our shirts and beginning to say our goodbyes. When the students got out of school they also came and signed our shirts. Lewis joined us again today as well as other Habitat for ... read more
The kitchen sink
The school children
more students


Today Patty, Helen, Carol and Ashley started by going to a preschool. There was 13 students and 1 teacher. They had a snack time. The teacher drew pictures in each students workbooks of a house, mountain, path and trees. Then they colored them. They also had a story time and the story was Jack and the beanstalk. After that they went back to the tables and worked on writing letters. Helen, Ashley and Carol did puzzles with the students and Patty did English/Spanish flashcards with the students. Everybody else went to the site to begin work. Today was a busy day. We painted, helped the electrician wire the house, mixed concrete, hauled water, soaked bricks,started bricking the septic tank and sifted sand. We got a lot done today!!! Finally we we're able to help with a ... read more
A finished habitat house (Lillian's)
Lillian's kitchen
The front of the house


Today almost everybody is feeling good. We worked at the site all day. Some painted the inside of the house lime green. We mixed concrete by hand. Hauled alot of dirt and sand and tamped it. We used a larger sifter to sift a sand-rock combination. That was used in the mortar. We helped cement the back entrance on the house a patio. The highlights of today we're when the school children just walked into the lot after school and walked up to us where we worked and began talking to us and asking our names. There was not just one but groups. They hung around for a bit and we found out their names. Also I think many felt like the site workers connected with us and gave us more jobs knowing we we're there ... read more


We started out going to the community center in Esperanza. This is a habitat community that is completed. They hope to still build a clinic. Habitat built 170 houses. We also met their co-op who also sold items including coffee. We we're introduced to some of the ladies that we're on the board. Today we celebrated Tiffany's birthday. Tonya brought a cake for us all to share. The community center serves 30 children. They brought them out to sing Happy Birthday to Tiffany. We toured the house that previous people in the group had built. We then went to the Work site around noon. today the jobs we're white washing the cement walls, filled and removal of sand and dirt around house and tamping. Norm was in the septic pit. Then we came back to room ... read more




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