1st day more pics

These are the kids who will live in the home: Bailey holding her cousin, Catarina, Daniel, & Lydia. They currently live in the one room tin & wood shack you see behind them.




Armando tried to teach me the art of lying block.




Sylvia & John take a water break



Bailey keeps me company while I try in vain to bend perfect S wires.




Nancy rehydrates with a coconut cut from a nearby tree, they were a delicious treat on such a hot sunny day!




We made it through the 1st day! Disgustingly dirty & sweaty on our way home

1st day on the job site

We started each day with a delicious breakfast buffet & headed out to work by 7:00 am. We got to the site eager to begin & met our mason, Armando & his team: Martín, Rafael, & Samuel. The house with 4 rooms had a foundation under piles of dirt & the first four rows of block laid. We had a lot to learn but got started with the heavy labor that we could easily do: carrying block, shoveling & hauling sand & stone, mixing mortar, digging dirt. I've never been so sweaty as I was this first day. We took our lunch with us each day: 2 sandwiches, a ham & cheese & a PB&J, an apple, & a bag of chips. This was fine the first day or 2, I was even pleased since I hadn't had peanut butter & jelly in years. However it was exactly the same each day & by the second week I skipped the lunch & feel I've had enough PB&J to last a few more years.








Sylvia, John, Susan, Dan, Tony, Torri


Martín, Rafael, Armando, Samuel








We had to haul a lot of materials from the top of the hill down to the worksite.





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Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity

I signed up for a 2 week trip volunteering to work with Habitat for Humanity to build a house in Guatemala. On Sunday, Oct 31, we all got up early & got on our bus to Puerto Barrios, a port town on the Eastern side of Guatemala. Thee are 14 of us, including our leader, Martha, who has a lot of experience participating in HFH trips & kept us all in order. We are separating into two groups & will work on 2 different houses. My roommate, Ashley, is a sweet 23 year old gal from Fargo, ND. She showed up in cowboy boots & I knew she'd be interesting to get to know.
When we got to our hotel compound we would stay at for duration of our time in Puerto Barrios, we were instructed not to leave except to cross the street to the mall in groups & only before dark, as it is not a tourist area & not safe. (We thought we'd get bored being stuck there, but it ended up we were so tired every night that we went to our rooms to read & crash immediately after dinner.)
We had a welcome ceremony hosted by the local HFH Association to meet the families we would be working with to provide them houses. We also celebrated Nancy's 60th birthday; I soon found out what a fun, fabulous, outdoorsy woman she is from the Northwest. There are several others from the Northwest: Joyce, who spent several years in Africa in the Peace Corps where she met her husband, & her 21 year old son, Isaak, who recently graduated & already got his dream job as a graphic designer; Susan is a strong & spectacular woman I had fun working with & sharing stories; Sylvia & her husband Bob are the other Spanish speakers and extremely sweet & hard workers whom you'd never guess to be in their 60's. There's also Dan, to say he's from California & went to Berkeley will give you an idea of his laid-back friendly personality; Tony was an especially important asset to our team as a very hard worker who seemed to actually know what he was doing & although quiet at times could always add something interesting or intellectual to a conversation. John, an economist & his wife Bonnie, who still works in the computer industry, are a happy couple with lots to share having lived all over the US, currently residing in Omaha; & finally Bob who was always in good spirits & helped make the trip fun.

Test photo

HFH


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Guatemala City

I took a bus from San Salvador North to Guatemala City, arriving a day before I had to meet the Habitat for Humanity group. I stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel & was thrilled to have a hot bath & order room service. The next day I walked around exploring the area & went to Taco Bell across from the hotel. I wanted to grab something quick & easy. The restauramt is huge compared to our Taco Bells, & upon entering I was surprised to find the place packed with people watching soccer on big screen TVs & cheering on their preferred teams.
I got a taxi to the old part of the city where I saw the main square, cathedral, & government buildings. The most interesting spot was the central market. It was a huge underground labyrinth of stands selling everything imaginable, including live chickens. I first wandered through the areas where the locals buy various home decorations, then fruit & vegetables, then beans, grains & sweets, then the tourist souvenirs. There is so much to choose from & one could easily get lost for hours wandering the aisles.
Later I went to the Biltmore Express hotel to meet up with the group I would be spending the next 2 weeks with, volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. Those of us who arrived early enough went to a local taco place for dinner to begin to get acquainted. As we returned to the hotel, the streets were starting to fill with young people dressed to party the night away for Halloween.



















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On to El Salvador

I took a bus from Managua to San Salvador, which is a large city, partly very modern but also with an older, poorer area. From the city I got a cab to the coast & got a room at Roca Azul in Playa Tunco, a popular surf spot with several breaks out front. The hotel I picked was a perfect central location, had a pool & great cheap seafood. It included breakfast & only cost $40 per night.
I met a lot of Brazilians, several Americans & interesting people from all over the world, most were there for the surf. I took lessons from Jesus, the waiter/surf instructor at the hotel, for $10. I actually caught some waves on my own & was really surfing! The waves are pretty large this time of year, but were breaking smaller each day I was there. The excellent surf brings some true talent, & each evening as the tide came in at sunset, some of the best surfers as well as the locals put on a nice show for the rest of us.
The last night I was there a storm suddenly rolled in & there was a violent downpour, followed by an amazing lightening show that entertained us for a couple hours.
There's a rocky black sand beach here, lots of open air bars & restaurants over the water, & a laid-back friendly vibe like I've only truly found in one other place- my fave -Rincon, Puerto Rico. I think I'll be coming back here soon.