El Salvador Day 1

alright, so i have returned from El Salvador and boy do i have a lot to say. i'll try to keep it short on my posts (i think i'll go by day), but i have so much to tell. some stuff pretty deep and serious, some funny and some just informational. so if you can try and bear with me...and if you can't, just look at the pictures haha :)

we arrived in San Salvador early (about 7am) on thursday morning and then drove out of the city to the different communities we would be working at (Precidio, Amando Lopez and La Cannoa). upon arriving, it was fully comprehended that it was espanol solamente from then on. at least with anyone who was from El Salvador...not many of them speak any English at all, but despite the language barrier, it was still really easy to communicate and establish relationships.









this is driving from San Salvador to the communities















we got attacked by a herd of cows! haha
















when we arrived at the various communities, we all split up into our three groups and went to a location and played with the kids for about an hour or two, which was fun. this is our group (the Precidio group) at La Cannoa.


Precidio consisted of me, hannah, cheyanne, emilytyne, bekah, kendall, myriah, kristi, lewis and jace. then our leaders were mr. tamminga and mrs. langton.




after we played for a bit all the groups went and met at Precidio for a lunch of carne asada and rice. then we all piled in the buses and went back to La Cannoa for the welcoming ceremony. on the bus i was sitting next to the door and then when the bus came to a stop, i wasn't paying attention to the fact that the door might open. well, you know how bus doors open by sliding and folding? yeah my foot got stuck in the door as it slid by and the door took most of the skin off the side of my foot as it went by, also then crushing my toe in its folds. sick! i didn't want to make a big deal about it (even though my foot was bleeding everywhere), so i just got off and then was going to ask mrs. langton for a band aid when she got off. when i asked for a band aid and then she saw my foot she began freaking out and since everyone was unloading luggage off the bus and no one was listening to her to get the first aid kit, she stands there and screams "we have and emergency!". wait? didn't i not want to make a big deal about this? although i probably needed a bit more than just a band aid, yelling "emergency" was a bit of an exaggeration. funny though. i should have taken a picture of it...i guess i still could except it has pretty much healed by now and doesn't look half as cool...maybe i'll have a sweet looking scar. :)



after i got my foot all bandaged up, we went to the welcoming ceremony.





this is me and amy, looking quite gross (you would too if you had just had a red eye flight) at the ceremony.











a sign welcoming us. it reads in English "welcome supportive brothers and sisters from California to the CDI friends Roxana, Amando Lopez and Precidio" or something along those lines.










the little girls dancing for us; they have been practicing for months! that really hit me hard. just how excited they all were to have us there...it just means so much to see that our group simply making the effort to come down there and visit them means so much to them. also how hospitable they are. they treat you like family and call you family, telling you to come back and stay with them whenever you would like.


































































these next few are some pictures at Precidio later that evening. after we returned from La Cannoa, we had dinner, which consisted of beans and plantains. let me tell you their beans are not really solid, but more of a pure texture and plantains are a certain type of banana that they fry. i could handle the bean pure fine, but the plantains we all had to force down. personally, i just shoveled them down as fast as i could to get it over with. *shudder* that is one thing about El Salvador that i don't think i'm ever going to miss.













where they do laundry and a bit further to the right is the basin where we took buckets to pour over our head for a shower...what a fun experience! (by the way that is NOT sarcasm...i really did enjoy it...great bonding opportunity haha)

















the evening sky. everything there is so serene and beautiful...except the roosters crowing every morning at about 4 am! oh, and the bugs, which is why we sleep with nets. a spider go in kristi's bag one evening; that thing would not die, i hit it with a shoe like 5 times! finally i got it on the sixth try :)






























the bathroom, where, i'm not going to like, we had many interesting and funny things happen.



















hannah had the brilliant idea for this picture :)














i'll try and post some more stuff later...i think i will try and just go from my journal and see how that goes. sorry for the inconsistancy of this post. check back later for more!