We were transported by our own private mini-bus to the place we would call home for the next two weeks… a Catholic retreat center in Ayagualo. I was relieved when we arrived, because as a team leader, you never really know what the accommodations will be like or how the team members will react to them. We stayed in two one-story dormitory-style buildings that each had twelve PRIVATE rooms with PRIVATE bathrooms. This was the first time we ever had private rooms on a Habitat trip, and having our own bathrooms was pure luxury! Of course, not all of us had hot water, and those who did.. didn’t have it all the time. I recall taking several hot/cold/hot/cold/cold/cold/hot/cold/cold showers. The team was very happy with the accommodations (yay!), but the scorpion (!!!!) in Laura’s room probably wasn’t too happy about getting booted out of the room. Did I mention that I’m extremely afraid of spiders and bugs? Some fearless leader I was! I had to have 5 people come in to kill spiders in my room on that first day. Then I set up the impenetrable mosquito net (so that I could sleep in peace) and sprayed down my entire door frame with bug juice so that none of those little critters would dare to get in. Here is Jess in her room, on her snazzy Bart Simpson sheets..
Every day, we ate breakfast and dinner in the center’s cafeteria. Some days we were there alone, and other days we were accompanied by various other groups who were staying at the center. The adorable little nuns cooked us delicious meals every day. Most breakfasts were different style of eggs, rice, beans and cheese. Dinners typically included meat, beans, rice, and cheese. They were all very tasty! One day we had the opportunity to make our own pupusas in the kitchen. That night we dined on our very own tasty but malformed creations.
The building that housed the cafeteria..
Team meals..
Robert and Claudia making pupusas..
During the evenings after work, we all rushed home to try to catch some hot water. Then we had some free time to lounge around before dinner. After we ate, we all assembled in the common area between the two buildings for a team meeting and some sort of entertainment. Several team members came equipped with games for us to all play, some of which made us laugh so hard we nearly peed our pants. (We could never admit to ACTUALLY peeing our pants, now, could we?). This was the time of day when we could relax, reflect upon our day, compare war stories with the other team, and get to know the other team members better.
We were divided into two teams, as there were two work sites. The construction style would be very similar for the two houses. We were tasked with digging the foundations, which consists of using a pick axe to dig a trench around the house (and a plus-sign through the middle of the house). The trench was to be roughly 18” wide and 2-3 feet deep. We were given pick axes (in various states of sturdy-ness), few shovels and buckets. It was very physically demanding work, but the team was up for the challenge. We rotated people in/out of the job so that no one burned out. We were also tasked with carrying huge piles of sand from the road to the work site, carrying bricks to the work site (and placing them strategically in the “rooms” that would soon take form, sifting sand to remove the leaves and rocks, filling in the joints between the cement blocks with mortar, filling in the rebar-holding holes in the cement blocks with a rocky form of cement, mixing up batches of mortar and block-filling cement on the ground with a shovel, and other various tasks.
Digging the trenches..
Sifting Sand..
Tough gang of masons..
Filling Joints:
One work site had the extra challenge of removing an extremely large tree trunk with a massive network of roots. They took the challenge personally, and on the second day, had completely decimated this trunk, even with a complete lack of appropriate trunk-removing tools. The other work site was challenged by a steep hill that fell between the work site and the place where the trucks dropped off all of the sand and blocks. Both teams tracked their respective challenges without complaining or backing down. I was very impressed! By the end of our stay, we had dug the foundations and laid 8 rows of blocks above the ground. We watched as the rooms took form, and we could see where the doors and windows would be. The families told us what they were going to put into each room, and thanked us for coming and helping to fulfill their dreams.
We spent 7 days at the work sites, not only flexing our muscles and learning new construction skills, but also getting to know the families for whom we were building. The homeowners’ families made us snacks in the morning and afternoon, and made us feel truly welcome in their homes. We played with their children, looked through family photo albums, had Grandma teach us how to catch a baby chicken, and talked to them about their lives, the challenges they face, the things they enjoy, and what it’s like to live in El Salvador.
We also spent two days of R&R up in the mountains of El Salvador. We worked with a fantastic tour company called Akwaterra. They took us on a tour of the towns along La Ruta de las Flores. We got to see hand made furniture, weavers making cloth, a gastronomical festival (that’s gastronomical.. you know.. a food fair.. not gastro-intestinal, as some team members thought I said!), have some delicious food, and pick up souvenirs for our friends and families. The second day we did a very beautiful but steep and sometimes treacherous hike through a coffee plantation high up in the mountains. The views were absolutely breathtaking. And strangely enough, it seemed like the car rides to and from the mountains were equally entertaining.
All in all, it was another fantastic experience. I had a very fun, flexible, and hard working team, and super friendly, loving, and accommodating families.
It's the people that make it all worth while. :)
Jesus & children (homeowner at Site 1)..
Rosalina & children (sister of the homeowner at Site 2)
