Day 9/10: Last day on the Beach and our Journey Home!

Our second day at the beach dawned grey and many worried that we wouldn't be able to log the expected hours under the sun. Our fears were for naught as by 8 am there was little shade to be found anywhere. I, having spent perhaps too much time at the beach the day before, spent most of my morning ferreting out the breezy, protected spots. From my post on the terrace, I watched the kids who'd worked so hard only days before, play equally hard in the surf. As I read my book, their laughter floated up along with the sound of the waves crashing on shore. I was hard pressed in that moment to think of a more appealing combination of sounds or a vista I'd admired as much.

Everything about that second day at the resort was so much more appreciated and marvelled at as a result of the hard hours of work we'd sweat through in Zacatecoluca. All of us were still wrapping our heads around the impact we'd had on a group of complete strangers, and their's on us. Talk of leaving was virtually sacrilegious and on numerous occasions veiled threats were made regarding not boarding our flight the following morning.

The kids got massages, drank frozen beverages, scarfed down pizza, club sandwiches and french fries. They lay in the sun, applied sun screen (not enough in some cases), body surfed the waves, and swam in the pool. They hung out in groups, continued to relive their recent experiences and strengthened the (in some cases unlikely) bonds that they'd spent the week forging. It was so cool to see the effects of the trip on their faces and in their conversations. I was so proud of everyone for having shouldered their share of the load, for making the effort to be open minded and accepting of a different way of life, for trying new dishes and a foreign language.

We had one final dinner as a group and Mr. Carpenter closed out the evening with a congratulatory speech -one of his finest! Although I'm not convinced everyone went to bed as we suggested, everyone was up and ready to go by 4am the next morning. We got into the van and waved goodbye to the resort. Checking in for our flight and getting through the excessive number of check points at the airport was a bit of a feat. And this was only the beginning of our epic journey home. To begin, each screen in the San Salvador airport displayed a different departure time for our flight to Houston. We had a very small window of time between connections and I can openly admit to not being long on patience regarding delays. We took off as per scheduled (on our boarding passes) and made it to Houston without incident.

Upon arriving, we waited for quite some time to get through customs. Daren, Chris and Will were selected for random bag search and were taken away by security. They must have done something right as they were released to us shortly thereafter. The last two legs of our trip home were relatively uneventful, with the exception of a few upset stomachs, the result of having gorged ourselves on fine western cuisine at our gate in Newark. We said goodbye to a few students in Moncton and carried on to RNS by bus. Finally, at around midnight, we'd reached our final destination. It was great to be home!

By now, everyone has been reunited with their families and i'm sure you've all relived these stories through their eyes and words. I keep saying that the experience features easily among the top three coolest things i've ever done. I hope that everyone will spread the word regarding their own opinion of the trip and encourage the school to continue to offer these opportunities and motivate others to participate!

Here are a few more photos. We'll make sure everyone has access to all the trip pics one way or another, but these should tide you over in the mean time.

Day 8: At Ranchero Estero y Mar!

This morning we said our goodbyes to Carlos, Ronald and Zacatecoluca. It was very moving to see Carlos waving from the doors of the hostel one last time as the bus pulled away. We gave him one of the shirts we had made as a well deserved thank you. We made a quick pit-stop at the bank and the grocery store in Zacate, before starting the hour long drive to the resort. Excitement mounted as we approached and once we got a look at the ocean nothing could rein in the euphoria. Here was our paradise, at last!

Without a hammer or bag of cement in sight, we grabbed our luggage, ran to our rooms and tossed on our bathing suits. Our first team meeting of the day took place in the pool and none of us has been out of the water for longer than 20 minutes since then! The pool is the preferred spot but we hung out on the beach this morning. The kids are under strict orders not to enter the water past their knees and the lifeguard on duty is very vigilant. Mostly we're walking along the beach and laying out in the sun. The girls are making noises about booking massages and the boys have scheduled a team nap in the hammocks.

Needless to say the name of the game for the next couple days is to tax ourselves as little as possible!

Day 7: 1/2 Day @ Work & Closing Ceremonies

Friday, March 11, 2011

This morning was full of talk of the tsunami alert and until we got on the bus, all anyone could talk about was potentially not going to the beach. Our rough start to the day seemed to continue as we were late leaving the hostel and kept running into traffic after dropping off the other group at their site. Our bus driver was a miracle worker behind the wheel and peeled us out of tight spot after tight spot with mad skill.

Once we got to our site though all thoughts turned to work and goodbyes. We've made incredible progress and Claudia says we're amongst the top three most productive teams to ever start from scratch. A lot of today's work was cementing blocks, however we also moved blocks, mixed what seemed like another hundred batches of chispa and mortar, and filled and compacted the insides and outsides of the house with dirt.

The fact that we only had a few short hours to work seemed to invigorate everyone and we worked through the morning like a pack of energizer bunnies. All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes and board the bus to drive to our closing ceremony. Goodbyes, as they often do, took quite some time. Despite the fact that most of the family and the masons were coming with us to the closing ceremony, there were still photos to be taken, gifts to be exchanged, and hugs and translations galore. It's strange how when leaving, the words don't seem as important as they did upon arriving. Everyone seemed to understand at least the emotion behind the moment, if not every word.

We shared the ceremony with the university group working with Habitat as well. We had a great lunch at their site, heard speeches from family members and masons, said our own thank you and received diplomas for having participated in a Habitat project. We then moved on to the first surprise which was a real piñata! Each group got their own, ours was a a real Canadian moose (so I was told). Daren, Chris and Mr. Carpenter each got a couple good licks in -Chris's aim was a little off and he almost took out a few kids and Claudia! Our second surprise was a lesson in making enchilladas. Habitat supplied us with the dough and we were taught how to shape them into disks to fry in hot oil. It was a great final cultural experience.

After all the excitement, yawning faces and dragging bodies were piled back onto the bus to head back to the hostel. We're now settling in for the evening and setting our sights on some serious R&R. Be in touch soon and back to Canada in no time.

Day 7: Tsunami Alert & Changing Plans

Hi Everyone,

By now you've all received an email regarding the tsunami alert. We watched CNN in Spanish this morning over breakfast. We knew about the earth quake in Japan but didn't know how it would effect our plans. We wanted to wait to find out what our Habitat liason, Claudia, had to say about our itinerary for the day. We're sorry for the delay in getting news of our well being out to you, we're all safe and sound!

Originally we were planning on heading to our resort this afternoon, after the Habitat closing ceremonies. In light of the quake and the tsunami alert, we are spending an extra night at our current hostel in Zacatecoluca. We will only be going to the resort tomorrow morning (leaving around 8am) if it's safe to do so. Habitat already has several other locations lined-up at which we can spend our R&R days if necessary. Should our accommodation plans change we will make sure you are notified of all the necessary information.

Everyone is tired and looking forward to that rest and relaxation we've promised them but given the current situation they are all in good spirits.

I promise updates ASAP!

Day 6: Last Full Day on the Build

Thursday March 10, 2011

Everyone was a-buzz this morning due to the fact that it was our last full day on the job site. Several people in the group commented on how our time in El Salvador has flown by. It was also suggested that we stay another couple weeks, just to see our project through to completion. Don’t worry we’ll all be boarding the plane together on Monday morning.

No water again but we weren’t worried. Well except maybe Chris, who made a concerted effort not to get too dirty in case he wouldn’t be able to shower at the end of the day. That effort lasted approximately 20 minutes.

Today our house began to take shape. We started putting concrete blocks down and filling them in with mortar and chispa (a more coarse type of mortar). It was hot and the sun was beating down on us as per usual –the result? Shorter fuses. The biggest challenge our group has faced is the lack of tools or jobs for all of us to be busy at one time. We moved blocks and mixed the mortar and chispa, we tied wire and filled cemented blocks, we poured water on blocks and the footing itself to keep the dust down, we did just about anything we could think of and still at times there was nothing to be done.

It didn’t help that we got rained out this afternoon. We had a late lunch and right as our break was about to end, the storm clouds rolled in. It began to rain and in El Salvador you don’t work in the rain. We once again took refuge in Edith’s house where we had an ice cream snack and waited for our bus to pick us up since it didn’t look like the rain was going to let up anytime soon.

There was a combination of relief that the work was over for the day but also disappointment that we wouldn’t make more progress.

We were informed on the bus that Zacate had no electricity and that we wouldn’t have power at the hostel. This meant no showers. As luck would have it, we only had to wait 10 minutes for the power to come back on. We got cleaned up and some of us went to the internet café while others opted to stay behind and nap or relax. Our last dinner at the hostel was rather surreal, as Will once again commented on the fact that it felt like time had just disappeared on us.

Tomorrow we only work until 11:30, when we’ll be picked up by the bus to be taken to our closing ceremony. While we’re sad to be leaving our only partially finished house, everyone is excited about the beach and the resort. Hopefully we leave the rain behind in Zacatecoluca!