After getting up before sunrise, we all safely arrived in El Salvador this afternoon. It has been a long day, but well worth it. At long last, we are all together.
The views from the plane were spectacular. The picture below is from one of the volcano crater lakes. The water is so clear and still you can see the reflection of the clouds.
We were greeted at the airport by our dear friend, Luis Fernando. He has worked with us on our previous two trips. He is so warm and friendly, and it's like seeing your favorite cousin again. We had a delicious lunch of Pizza Hut while we were waiting for all of our team members to arrive. Once we were all accounted for, the pizza was gone, and a few of us had an ice cream cone, we boarded the bus to head into San Salvador, approximately a 45 minute drive.
We checked in at Hotel Villa Terra, which is in a more upscale side of San Salvador. It is gated and guarded, like most of the hotels here. The hotel is beautiful, in a quiet part of town. Despite that, most of the houses have wound barbed wire around the walls of their homes. Luis Fernando said this is leftover from the Civil War (1980-1992). We will stay here for just tonight, before heading out to Ahuachupan tomorrow.
We had an orientation by Luis Fernando, on both El Salvador and Habitat for Humanity. It was amazing to hear that since Habitat was started in El Salvador in 1992, they will have built 10,000 houses by this year's end. That is more than 50,000 people directly affected by this cause!
We had dinner at a local restaurant, Magoth's, which was delicious. We had pupusas (a cornmeal pocket of goodness, usually beans and cheese), tamales, plantains, black beans, and these two delicious drinks. The thing that is easy to forget about masa harina cornmeal is that it has a delayed expansion in the stomach. You eat and eat, and about 20 minutes later you need to be rolled out of the restaurant. It was a great meal to start off the week.
We came back to the hotel for our evening team meeting. It was nice to regroup and talk about our hopes for the trip. Our team has a great balance, and I look forward to seeing all we will accomplish as individuals and as a team. We are all very motivated and inspired to be here. This is going to be a fantastic week!
Buenas noches...
"What does the Lord require of you? Do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." -Micah 6:8
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