Day 2: Sights and Sounds of Santa Ana

*First a note on last night. We had a wonderful reception at our host family's (The Guerra's) house with members of both the Rotaries in Santa Ana. It was informal and we just got to chat with many of the members. We also were fed a wonderful meal prepared by the Guerra's. It was delicioso. Two of the food items I was most excited about was pupusas and plantains (separate). They did not disappoint. We had a meal of queso pupusas, tamales and beans. We then had a plantain cake. It was so good, I don't have pictures to prove it. Moving on.
Day two was filled with all things Santa Ana. I am so glad I have made it my mission to write everyday about the events of the day. I have already found that it is super hard to find the time, but it's even harder to remember the events of the day. This morning seems so long ago.
We began after a wonderful night of sleep. All of us slept like babies and didn't have to get up super early this morning. Christi and I woke up around 7a to begin the day. We again had events as a group all day. Before we all met, Paul got to meet up with someone who is now living down here who is from Springfield and was in Rotary with Paul. He recently opened a school in the area Paul got to see.

Our host family's daughter, Rita, took us to the public hospital to see the different areas and projects going on at the hospital. The hospital was massive.

There were two projects that were started by Rotary and Rotaract clubs in the area. One was machines for prosthetics for children with different feet problems (flat foot, muscular dystrophy, etc.).

The next was a room for play and therapy for children in the hospital. This was actually funded by the Santa Ana Rotaract Club. They raised the funds though a marathon race.

At the hospital, we met with the Director of the Hospital, Ramon Gonzalez. It was so interesting and such a crazy honor to be able to go into the director's office for coffee. Imagine just walking into Cox and chatting with the president over issues in the area. This experience is such an awesome opportunity. 

We then traveled to a coffee plantation. It was one of my favorite parts of the past 48 hours. A. Because I love coffee. B. Because it reminded me so much of our farming process of soybeans back home. C. Because Christi got excited... and it's always fun to see Christi excited.

This tree is estimated to be 250 years old. And was HUGE

They sell to Starbucks. Not the highest quality beans. Oops.

Café Tasting

Following the coffee plantation visit, we went to an area village. It is a project that was actually partially funded by Rotary of Springfield. It helped build housing for the poor. There is a huge gap in wealth in El Salvador. The houses were open air, dirt floor, with no running water. Very sad. And very close to where we are staying. Such a difference.
Oh, and it's not even noon yet.
We then went to lunch at a local country club that was beautiful. On recommendation, I had the club sandwich (minus the egg). So, no Darren, I don't think I'lll get tired of the food. All sorts, all the time.

Following lunch, we went to downtown/centro Santa Ana. There we saw the beautiful Cine Polis. The theatre was built in 1910 (FYI Springfielders - the Landers was built in 1909). It was gorgeous.

We walked across the plaza to the Santa Ana Cathedral. The legend is (which my host brother does not know and we are explaining to him right now), the woman who founded it carried the statue of Saint Ann south from Mexico until it got so heavy she could not carry it any further, so that was where the church is. The top of the church was built to look like a cross from above. Every year in July they have the Festival de Julio and take the main saint statue down and parade her through the town. Except for one year, she did not want to come down... so they built a new one to show in the parade.

Oh, and there were lots of pigeons

Jimmy really liked the pigeons

After the church, we went to the municipal facilities in Santa Ana. We were very privileged to be able to meet the mayor Joaquin Alfredo Peñate.

And then sinribal (meaning: without rivals), or in English, sherbert. So very good.

It's now midnight and we have to wake up early to travel to San Salvador, about 60 km away.
We did have such an amazing Rotary meeting where we presented our first presentation. Both clubs were so amazing and made us feel incredibly welcome. The Rotary clubs presented us with candies made of local ingredients. I will try to not eat all of them them during the car ride to San Salvador.

Christi and I have only been with our hosts a short time, but we are already sad to leave. We are currently listening to a band called Molotov singing Amateur with our host brother and we are pretty sure it is a rip of Tech N9ne's Player.

I have to once again thank our hosts Roberto y Iscela Guerra and their family. Their son Roberto (who is in med school and a member of Rotaract), daughter Christina and her son Carlos Jose (who is 2.5 years), and finally, their other daughter Rita and her son Juan Pablo (5 years). They are so incredibly welcoming and let us know that their home was our home, anytime. We even had Rotary logos on our towels. :)

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