|
|
|
Journal Entry by Alison Schatz
The day begins at 6 a.m. with Tai Chi lead by our guide, Jose Roberto. Unfortunately, all of us slept through it except for Kyle. At breakfast (beans, eggs and cheese all grown and prepared in the region) we practiced some of the Salvadoran slang we learned last night. For example, chivo means cool, chocalae means high five, ¡púchica! means geez and ¿que ondas? means what’s up?. This vocabulary might come in useful later!
After breakfast, we hiked for about half an hour to get to the project site where we met up with the volunteers from San Salvador. There we divided into groups to either plant seeds or build rock walls. Despite being under the weather, Matt and Uliana came along to help out.
As we worked alongside the local volunteers, we learned the importance of the projects we were doing. The trees we were planting help prevent erosion during the rainy season, which is coming up from May to September. We built rock walls (seven in total!) to catch mud and debris as it slides down the barren landscape when it rains. This keeps it out of the lake and protects surrounding communities.
After we had finished, the president of one of the local communities sat down with our group and described the importance of the projects we were doing and the impact they had on the community. It was very gratifying to hear him describe life in the Coatepeque region and the challenges people there face. We working in the same area that last year’s travelers from our district went to, so we got a chance to look at the walls they built and the trees they planted. The trees had grown a lot in one year—Sandy stood beside one (he participated in this project last year) and it had grown taller than him! The rock walls they had built had worked at stopping mud from flowing down the hill! After only one rainy season, they were almost entirely covered with sand. Volunteers in the Coatepeque region have set a goal to plant 2000 trees this year—we were glad we could help them achieve it.
We walked to a nearby house where a local family prepared lunch for us. They prepared fresh and local chicken, tortillas, salad and cashew juice with royal lemon. The food was amazing and the juice was a little intimidating, but delicious! The family that prepared our lunch is interested in preparing similar meals for other tourists and they were eager to hear our feedback.
After lunch, Matt and Uliana headed back to San Salvador to see their respective doctors while the rest of us hiked through several communities. During our three hour hike, we really began to understand life in the Cotepeque region. The president of the Juan de Misa community walked with us and showed us a local school, the path people would have taken when the volcano erupted a few years ago and the area where people collect water and go to do their washing. It was quite a site to see, with women doing their washing, children eating fruit and playing, and a couple of horses just hanging out. There were no pipes to take water to the community because they were damaged during Hurricane Stan and people had been stealing water from the pipes when they did exist.
We finished off the day relaxing by the lake with some Mirindas, a pop that you can only find in El Salvador. Dinner was cheese and bean pupusas with tomato sauce, fried plantanes and hot cocoa (which was very different from the North American version of hot chocolate, and very delicious).
We returned to our camp, San Jorge, and after cold showers we saw a presentation of how volunteers had built one of the buildings on site in only six months. Finally, we finished the day by the campfire where we heard some Salvadoran camp songs and we shared some of our favourites, including rounds like Fire’s Burning, a penguin dance and Banana’s Unite.
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).