El Salvador

Okay, I was in the airport, so I went to a gift shop. They had these little things like eggs, bird heads, huts, whatnot. When you lifted up the top, there was a little scene inside. Like, a man making boots, a woman washing a baby, all that sort of thing. And then you know what happened? I lifted up the top of the egg, and there was two little clay people getting it on! I mean having sex. Seriously. That is what happened to me. But yeah, the country is really beautiful.

Hubby and I began our Central American tour in El Salvador. We climbed a volcano outside the capital city, and had our first (and only, thankfully) brush with armed banditos who boarded our public bus and took money from the passengers. But worse things could happen anywhere, and I’m glad I got to visit. Banditos aside, the vast majority of the people were very friendly and helpful.

During the summer of 2005, after graduating from college, I went to El Salvador with Habitat for Humanity. At this time, I had scarcely been out of the country and had not been anywhere near somewhere like this. Our group was the only non Salvadorenos for many miles. It was my first experience of being somehwere truly foreign and opened my eyes to a life I never knew existed. I lived through the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 and my life went back to normal almost immediately. I didn’t lose my house; no one I know died. These people still didn’t have a home almost ten years after their big earthquake. They were still reeling from the civil war and many had made homes out of cardboard boxes. Although I was there for a good cause, and I know my hard work was appreciated, I think I gained at least as much if not more from them, as they did from me.

What an incredible country full of beautiful people.

The beaches are the best! :) I loved it!