Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Sunday, February 24

Our last day was our most leisurely. We had a late breakfast, then we took some time to worship in an open pavilion as a group before packing to get ready to take a bus to the airport. We all had to make sure that we packed our golden level awards, which we had received the night before.

I got the big surprise while finishing packing. In some of the clothes in my suitcase that I removed to repack, there was a half-dollar-sized spider (a hairy sucker) trying to stow away! While I was fairly calm at the time (Oh! Look! That's one HUGE spider!), I can only imagine how much I would have been freaking out had I not found it until I got back to DC. Finding a giant spider in El Salvador (where it can scurry on home) is one thing--unpacking a hairy, giant spider in your room is something else.

On the way back we got our driver to take us the slightly longer route along the Pacific coast. It was a pretty curvy route, but the views of the ocean were great. Plus, we went through several tunnels that were carved through mountains, and the walls were still just bare rock. Poor Pr. Tom, who was using his clip-on sunglasses to hold his broken regular glasses together, just thought we had turned out the lights!

But despite some minor mishaps (security took Kjersten's guitar strings and half the plane only got static through their headphones and so had to watch Evan Almighty without sound), we made it home safe and sound. It was an extremely successful trip, and definitely one that, despite having to immediately return to our busy lives, we will not soon forget.

Saturday, February 23

This was our big day to play "tourist" in the beautiful countryside. Sonsonate, where we were staying all week, is along the Ruta de las Flores (Route of the Flowers), a scenic drive starting in San Salvador and working west through the mountains and volcanoes. It's known for the many nurseries and flower plantations and coffee-growing operations that make it extremely beautiful.

So on our day off we headed further north to a small town called Juayua (pronounced why-you-ah). The town itself has several neat features that sounded fun. Every weekend it has a "gastronomical festival" that's known around the country for the food vendors it brings in (and, according to our sources, it is pretty heavily regulated by the government to make it safe for tourists). It also has a church, the Iglesia del Christo Negro (Church of the Black Christ), built in the 16th Century. Home to one of the only black crucifixes in Central America, it is a place of pilgrimage for many.

Juayua is also the starting point for a hike to seven waterfalls. We were warned going into it that the hike was a strenuous one, so only 9 of us took the trip. The rest of the group decided to take it easy and hang back in the town for the day.

I went on the hike, so I can't give a lot of details on what those 5 people did--hopefully one of them will post with some more information. They spent the day with Alex, the guy who drove us to and from work all week and was then contracted to drive us on Saturday, too. Alex took them to several other towns along the Route for some sightseeing and shopping. One of the things they found was a church that had been destroyed by an earthquake in 2001(?). The congregation is rebuilding, bit by bit as they get the money. Plus, after a week of doing concrete construction, the group was able to see and understand what was going on.

The group also had the chance to check out a funeral procession and a baptism.

Meanwhile, those of us on the hike (we were joined by a Canadian named Len) had an adventure and a half. The waterfalls were incredible--they varied in height from just a few meters tall to over 35. They were mostly in these out-of-the-way places, undisturbed by traffic or a lot of visitors.

Of course, that meant that they were anything but easy to get to. When we first got out of the van to meet up with our local guides, we noticed that they had machetes and large coils of rope. We were a little unsure about what these could be for, but we decided to go with the flow.

Turns out, we needed them for navigation. Not only did we have to climb up and down very steep slopes (or walk on footpaths only about as wide as our foot with pretty sharp drop offs on the edge of the path), but we also had some rivers and other things to cross. Some of the rivers we waded through. Another required us to cross a concrete plank about 6" wide (Laura had to carry a dog that was hiking with us but got scared and stopped while on the plank). We also crossed this huge tree that had fallen and created a natural bridge. It was a massive tree, very strong and steady, but just at the right incline where the rope railing was helpful for mental security.

About midway through the hike, we came to a waterfall and didn't really see how the path continued on. Then we noticed that the guides were climbing up the rocks and stringing ropes--we were going up! We climbed about halfway up the waterfall and then crossed to the other side, where we had a snack. Then it was back across and up the second half of the waterfall!

At another point we went through a coffee plantation. At first it was just walking through the trees, then we headed down--at a pretty good angle and with very loose soil. The key was to grab the trees by the base and use them to hold on as you slid your way down the volcano! Not the cleanest method (but by then we were all pretty filthy anyway), but fun anyway.

The final few waterfalls were in an area maintained by an electric company. The company has harnessed the waterfalls and connected them to generate hydroelectric power. These were the easiest to get to--there was a well-tended path--and are often used by townspeople and other tourists for swimming holes. We had lunch at waterfall no. 7 and then went back a few to one with a very large swimming pool. While we hadn't planned on going swimming, we decided we were wet and dirty already, and besides--how many times do you get to swim in the base of a waterfall?!

The water was very cold, but we enjoyed using the falls as an automated massage and a way to take the first layer of dirt out of our clothes. When we got back to the entrance to the company's property, we found a pickup truck that our guide hired to take us back into town the Salvadorian way--standing up, just holding onto some bars.

Once back at the starting point, we were able to meet up with our group (Alex did NOT want to let us into the van) and spend a bit of time in the town ourselves for sightseeing and shopping, with the others as our unofficial guides. On the way back to the hotel, we also took the time to stop at one more small town and check out their local street artesian festival.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and a great way to end our trip.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Friday, February 22

The final construction day arrived, and we were starting to run out of anything approaching clean clothes. The good news is that we were well on track to meet the goal of 14 total lines of blocks laid.

And we made it! By the time we knocked off work, we had all 14 rows up, a completely level and packed floor, and the sewage ditches were dug and laid with pipe!

The time had come for us to bid farewell to our construction site, the family, and the HES Sonsonate people. It had been a great week, but our job was done.

Before we left for good, however, Habitat had one more surprise for us--a farewell reception with cake and parting gifts! It was also a chance for final goodbye speeches by Cesar and Veronica, Don Mario, and us to our new friends. Then Patty Cordero (assisted by Cesar and Veronica) gave each of us a small bucket with the HES logo, a t-shirt, and a certificate with our group's picture on it. It was a wonderful way to end the work week and, for some of us, a guaranteed clean shirt for the flight home!

Habitat also had a cake for us. It was a large round cake, and I was asked to cut it. Normally with round cakes I cut it in wedge-shaped pieces, but this was much too large for that, so I started just cutting in a grid pattern. This made the Salvadorians laugh; normally with such a cake they cut a smaller round cake out of the middle and then cut semi-wedge pieces from the outer circle and work inward. Our cake, however, was cake cut gringo-style!

Thursday, February 21

While we were fresh off a shorter day on Wednesday, we were all moving a bit more slowly as the week went on. Still, we kept plugging along, continuing raising the walls and moving from inside the house to finishing some of the outside the house yard work. It's filthy work, but those ditches needed to be dug!

And as we kept on building, the snack hits kept on coming. Every morning at 10 and every afternoon at 2:30 or 3 we were served snacks--a little something to help us keep going. From the very beginning, the snacks were absolutely incredible.

Part of the reason they were so great is because they were so fresh! I mean, canned pineapple cannot come close to comparing with pineapple freshly cut, and probably picked just a few hours prior. And that was only one of the first snacks we got!

Another afternoon featured fresh coconut milk and meat. We saw the coconuts unloaded from the truck, and then Cesar and Veronica chopped them open with a machete for us to stick a straw into and drink. When we finished the milk in a coconut, they cut open the husk to allow us to scoop out the coconut meat. It was definitely a treat that is just NOT the same in the US. It was, however, a treat that got mixed reviews from the group. While some loved the taste, others could only take a few sips of the very rich, sweet milk.

Wednesday afternoon was my favorite snack story. I was mixing the mortar with Cesar, when he pointed out a mango tree. A mango tree that was being climbed by his wife, who was picking green mangos! For snack that afternoon, we had green mangos (peeled, cut with a knife, then spread with salt and sometimes with tobasco sauce), almost directly from the tree! Veronica was wicked with the knife. She made cuts in the mango so quickly while holding the fruit that we were a bit afraid; so to show off, she closed her eyes! That's what I call skill.

There were all sorts of other fresh fruits--watermelon, bananas (while they weren't ripe yet, we did see bananas growing on the tree that we eventually cut down in the family's backyard) , and cantaloupe. We also had freshly squeezed juice from various other fruits for lunch. They came in these plastic baggies, tied up tight. To drink, you either had to bite off a small corner of the bag and drink it straight from the bag, or you had to carefully try to pour it into your glass (some did this with more success than others. But with everything so fresh and so delicious, it'll be hard getting used to what we get in the grocery store again!

Wednesday, February 20

Day 3 of construction, and we were right on schedule. The folks working on the floor finished up today, and just in time. Right after our afternoon snack, the heavens opened up with a deluge of rain. February is the dry season in El Salvador, and this amount of rain in the middle of the day was pretty unusual. At first we were able to keep working, but then it just got too hard to continue. The neighbor of the house, Anna Theresa, who had been allowing us to store tools and more at her house all week, very generously let us track mud and more into her house as we sheltered both our bags and our bodies on her porch until it stopped.

While the rain interrupted our full head of steam we had built up, it did give us a chance to see that the dirt floor was solid--even soaking wet it didn't move when people walked on it, and there weren't puddles from low spots. It seemed that the concrete and tile would be on firm ground!

The rain also came on an unfortunate day. Wednesday was a short day, because it is the day that HES schedules for a "cultural exchange." We stopped work early, put on our Thrivent Builds shirts, and left the site for a field trip.

First stop was at the house that I worked on in August. When I had last seen it, the walls were not complete, and it was all very not-finished. Because we were working in the same reason and then expressed an interest in seeing a finished Habitat house, the HES staff arranged for us to visit "my" old house to see it with the family moved in.

That was really neat for me. Not only to see what a complete, inhabited Habitat house looks like, but to have a chance to see the house that I helped build finished, painted, and with stuff in it! The lady of the family (Carmina, wife of Tito, who is the brother of Victor, the HES Sonsonate construction supervisor) was also kind enough to allow us to traipse through her house to get a look at how the lights and other interior fixtures work. That house is slightly larger than the one we were working on (3 bedrooms vs. our 2), but the concept was the same. Carlos had returned to be with us, and he took the time to answer some of our questions about how the houses are finished.

After the tour of the finished house, we went back into the small town of San Antonio del Monte, a little place just outside of the town of Sonsonate. San Antonio del Monte is the home of the restaurant that catered all of our lunches while we were working. The man who owns the place lived in the US for about 25 years, and then he and his wife moved back home so that she could open the restaurant.

So we visited the restaurant for a little taste of El Salvador--pupusas! These stuffed corn tortillas (usually filled with cheese and/or beans, though sometimes with chicken or veggies) are the traditional dish of El Salvador. Everywhere we went in the country, we saw these small pupuserias offering them up for sale. They are often served with shredded cabbage and a mild salsa, and are very filling; and this afternoon, we were offered all we could eat.

We stuffed our faces for a while, then went on a bit of a walkabout of San Antonio. About a block from the restaurant is a beautiful small church, built during colonial times (I'm guessing by the Spanish, though I can't confirm that). It has held up incredibly over the years, including through several earthquakes and the countless small tremors that often go through the country.

We were very fortunate to have Victor with us. He attends the San Antonio church, so he was able to give us the lowdown on the building and its various historic features. He was extremely proud of the church, and it gave him great pleasure to be able to show it off.

From there it was back in the van and "home" to the hotel!

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Tuesday, February 19

Construction, while varying slightly each day, was not something that bears recounting in great detail each day. Basically, throughout the week, we continued to put up walls, fill in the floor and yard, and eventually dug up some of that yard to lay sewage pipes. We did some landscaping (aka removal of banana trees that were in the way of the sewage trenches), and various other small jobs around the worksite. Pictures are really all that are needed to tell that part of the story--recounting those details would just be repetitive and, frankly, not that interesting to read.

Instead, I'll take this word space to tell other stories about our experience and the week. And while I tell these stories, I'll sprinkle more pictures of us digging in the dirt and putting up concrete walls!

The family for whom we were building the house is made up of a father (Cesar), mother (Veronica), son (Cesarito, aged 5), and Veronica's pregnant younger sister (Naomi). They are a wonderful group of people--open, welcoming, and kind and generous to all of us.

Veronica's mother taught her how to make a living by crossing the border into Guatemala, buying clothes there, then crossing back to sell them at market in San Salvador. By living carefully within a budget, Veronica was able to set aside money each month to pay for a small plot of land in the hopes that one day she would be able to build a house on it.

And last December, while she was making one of her last payments, someone told Veronica about Habitat for Humanity. Because in El Salvador the program is that you have to own your land before being accepted as a homeowner, Habitat was a dream come true for this family. Instead of being a long-term, far off dream, owning their own home is an immediate reality.

They were right there with us throughout the week. The place where they are currently living is about 2 blocks up the road, and it was the place where we had a bathroom and where we ate lunch. While Veronica was usually back at her house, taking care of things there, Cesar was working alongside us, mixing concrete, digging ditches and lugging dirt, and sharing his wonderful sense of humor (especially when there was a language mix-up along the way!).

On Thursday, Veronica shared some family pictures with us at lunch. She showed us some family members we hadn't been able to meet, and some delightful pictures of Cesarito when he was younger. We knew we were really in the family, however, when the pictures of Cesar at a fun Father's Day event in drag were brought out!

After that, before we headed back to work for the afternoon, Cesar took us on a short walking tour of the neighborhood. The tour started at his church, a Mormon church. Cesar's father is the leader of the church, and Cesar is the head of the men's group. The church was built by the US Mormon church, and it has about 150 members. When they reach 200, the US church will build them another, larger building on the same grounds, since their current building is too small to house that number of people.

Monday, February 18


First day of construction!

When we arrived, there were already 5 rows of blocks up on the house. We knew our goal for the week was 14 rows total, plus a great deal of work on the floor and yard of the house, so our work was cut out for us, and we got straight to it.

The primary work for the first part of the day was on the floor in the house. There were many trenches left from the digging of the foundation that had to be filled in, and then the entire floor of the house had to be raised by a foot or so. This meant bringing in lots and lots of dirt (in five gallon buckets) from piles outside the house, digging out the trash, and then pounding it down with things we called "tampers"--coffee cans filled with concrete with large wooden handles attached.

While these are fairly simple steps, they are very time consuming. In addition to the many shoes, odd toys, and random household items we discovered in the ground around the house, we had to pick out the organic matter (roots, plants, etc.) that was in the dirt going into the floor. While the floor will be tiled over, it was important that there not be anything in the dirt that might eventually rot and create a soft spot to weaken the floor.

Shortly before lunch we began laying our first round of bricks. Because of his previous experience, Don worked in tandem with our mason, Don Mario (the Don is an honorific for the master mason and our construction supervisor, Victor). Don Mario used the first day as a chance to work with Don and both show him Salvadorian construction techniques and to learn some of how similar work might be done in the U.S. Don apparently did a good job, because by the end of the day Tuesday, Don was working solo!

As we worked throughout the week, we stuck to several basic rules--hydrate (there was always plenty of bottled water on site), and wear a lot of sunscreen! We were pretty fortunate that our work site had shade available for much of the day, and we often had cloud cover in the middle of the afternoon. Still, we all decided it would be better to be safe than sorry!

Then, after work, we headed back to the hotel for some relaxation after our strenuous day. Some of us hit the pool, while others elected just to take a shower and sit for a while. Either way, it was a wonderful end to a first day of work.