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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Day 1: Landing in El Salvador

After a very early morning and fairly quick flights, we arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador with no problems. Much to our delight, we all had our luggage and had no problems going through customs.

The first thing we noticed was definitely the weather. It wasn't so much the heat as the humidity ;)

Three Rotarians were at the airport to meet us. Two (Liliana and Alvaro) were from the Santa Ana area and would be taking us back to Santa Ana with them. Lillyanna informed us that today would be more relaxed and the only thing on the agenda would be typical dinner in the evening.

En route to Santa Ana (a few hours north of San Salvador), we stopped at a beach side seafood restaurant in La Libertad, Nuevo Alta Mar. Liliana ordered the conch at lunch. I've had conch once before in the Bahamas, but it was a conch salad and was cooked and most definitely dead. This was a new type of conch, it was still moving. As much as I normally dislike seafood, I was eager to try it. The more I travel, the more I learn that I actually like seafood, just not when it's flown in to the middle of the USA. And the conch was no different. It didn't have a strong taste, but did taste very fresh. We even got Parker to try it.

After dinner, we took a quick walk to see the coast and then loaded back up in the vehicle. This part was pretty uneventful as well... and I only say that because I slept most of the drive.

A few miles south of Santa Ana, we took a detour to a scenic view overlooking Lago Coatepeque, near the Santa Ana volcano, that is still active. The lake is gorgeous. I remember seeing it from the plane and thinking it was massive but had not idea what it was. There are hot spots in the lake, much like hot springs.

We then headed to the neighborhood where we will be staying for two days. Christi and I are together in the house in the last pictures below. Paul and Jimmy are together just a few doors down and Parker is staying with Liliana downtown. Our community is gated and we were able to just roam around for awhile this evening. Liliana told us to 'go explore! You can't get out!'

We are getting ready for dinner now and I've been bit by my 20th mosquito. Time to go put on the bug spray and try to tame this hair from the humidity.

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We had a great welcoming dinner with the two Santa Ana clubs. We had a long and glorious first day. More pictures of our dinner to come. Tomorrow we start at an area hospital, then visit an area coffee plantation, and explore some of the city. And we will end the day with our first presentation! Eek! Wish us luck.

A HUGE thank you to Liliana and all of our host families today. Thanks for making us feel so welcome!

Business Cards and Brochures

A special thanks to Paul's daughter Alicia for designing our business cards and brochure.

Charlie Parker, Jr.

The second team member I will introduce you to is Charlie Parker, Jr. (AKA Parker). Parker is currently living in Columbia, MO and hails from St. Louis.

Occupation: Coodinator of Diversity Programs for the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Education: Mizzou

Family: I have a set of twin brothers and two sisters.

Hobbies: Music, creative arts, reading and sports. My favorite thing to do when I'm not busy is to clean and play my 12 guitars. I also clean my firearm/knives collection.

What are you most excited about with this experience?
To see and connect with the people and their culture.

What are you least excited about with this experience?
Early mornings and unknowns (KG note: I strongly second this).

How in the world did you convince your work to let you leave for four weeks?
I convinced them that I am a CIA sleeper agent and had been activated for duty to Central America. No, but really, it's part of my research and career field, so they are extremely supportive.

What do you think will be the most challenging/scare part of the exchange?
For me, I will be that guy whose main concern is the safety of my team, so try to be watchful and enjoy everything.

How are you preparing for the exchange? (Trying to learn Spanish? Studying the culture? Preparing presenations? etc.
Well, I feel ridiculous because I actually know Spanish very well but I can not speak it fluently. I can read and understand Spanish pretty fluently, so I am working on speaking more in Spanish. I have studied the Latin American countries and cultures for awhile so I'm pretty familiar with their customs. I am also hoping to find my significant other in one of these four countries, preferably Costa Rica.

What are you passionate about?
I am extremely passionate about diversity and multicultural issues. I will travel the world researching, learning and working with people on creating a global perspective of diversity and the need for it.

What book are you reading right now?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

 What is your hidden talent? 
I'm skilled in the art of argumentation and advocacy in reference to communication. I have also practiced martial arts since I was 8.

What is your favorite food?
Latin American in its entirety.

What are a couple of item son your bucket list?
Stand in all continents and to raise my children until the age of 6 in a foreign country (random, I know).

What is your biggest accomplishment?
Waking up every morning!!

What are your pet peeves?
Early mornings, people who complain, control freaks and the sound of leaves crunching.

What did you want to be when you great up?
I always wanted to be a rock star/songwriter and to one day perform in front of millions.

Until We Meet Again: Final Team Meeting

Around six months ago, I met four essential strangers. After many team planning meetings, the next time I see these people will be for a month straight. 29 days of an intense journey together.

We are less than three weeks away from our departure date and had our final team meeting yesterday. It's really incredible to see our hard work finally coming together.

We met to attend a Rotary meeting and to finalize our presentation. As soon as we arrived together, we had the same normal conversations. "Are you ready? How is your Spanish coming along? Do you know everything you will pack?" The answers this time were more filled with anxiety. Most of us are experiencing some level of anxiety. Trouble sleeping, nightmares, panic attacks, and (in my case) breaking a tooth (due to clenching my jaw so tightly in my sleep). Yep. I broke a tooth.

It actually felt better to discuss these anxieties with people in my same position. It's been really difficult to pinpoint why I'm so anxious and try to describe this to my friends and family. They generally just brush it off and comment on how this is a dream experience. Yes, it is, but it doesn't make the panic and stress any less real. It's not the vacation everyone thinks it is. It is work. It's crazy schedules. It's unknown.

I think it mainly stems from being away from my job for an entire month. Which is scary to prepare for. I know I just need to let the fears go and believe that nothing will fall apart upon my departure. Easier said than done.

After all of our worries were vocalized, we were able to move on to the productive part of our meeting. We first went over our gifts to bring our host families, special people and children we encounter, Rotary members, and our vocational partners. Think anyone can tell we're from Missouri?

The cards on the right are my Thank You cards I had made from Etsy shop PaperFinch Design.

Deciding on what to bring that is representative of yourself and your state that also packs well is a difficult task! We have been discussing gifts since nearly the beginning of this journey. If you were to pack meaningful gifts representative of Missouri, what would you choose?

Christi secured some amazing gifts for us to each take. Missouri Meerschaum Company was gracious enough to donate corn cob pipes and key chains to take. Did you know Washington, Missouri is Corn Cob Pipe Capital of the World? We can try to class it up all we want, but let's face it, four of us are from the Ozarks.

I had the idea to take take local honey sticks for children. Christi once again found a supplier to donate these. From our alma mater Missouri State! So thankful.

Other items we have included are picture-books all about Missouri (there goes ten pounds of weight in the suitcase). I have also included some items from OTC, Rotary flags, and a few Royals shirts. Most people are taking Cardinals items, so I have to represent the west side of the state! Along with Royals items, the Springfield Cardinals are also donating some items for me to take along.

With our gifts taken care of, we moved on to our presentation. We did a few edits and a quick run-through and we were within the timeframe we gave ourselves. Another note on the GSE experience, we don't know how long we will have to present. It could be 5 minutes or 20. And with five long-winded people, even 20 minutes is difficult. So that was an accomplishment.

After another round of discussing how to control some of our anxiety, we started discussing our return and the reports we would need to complete. It's a little surreal that it is already close enough to be discussing post-trip.

So, that's it. We have worked really hard in our preparation so now it's time to let go, practice a little more Spanish and make it to the airport on time. The next time I meet my team will on the way to El Salvador.