msetz's blog

Thursday, September 1ST
 
Met right away in the morning with Celina from the Alcalida who is the wastewater engineer. We talked a lot about the future plans of the plant and ways that our group can assist with the improvements. Because sustainability is veyr important for our project this aspect of improving of the wastewater treatment plant is necessary. Isaac and Missy conducted microbial and coliform sampling. Chris, Jen, and Eli walked around the plant with Celina discussing different areas of the plant could use improvement. We all ventured back to Los Ranchos (glad to get away from the aroma of the WWTP) for lunch in to prep for the community meeting in Nuevo Ferrocarril at 2PM. The meeting went very well, we explained some of our expectations for January travel and gave our great appreciation for the support of the community members. Daniel Rivera from Club Rotario in San Salvador also attended which was nice. We got to talk to discuss the design with Daniel as well as some items that we need his assistance. After the meeting some travelers worked with community members on opening a manhole from Januarys implementation (which worked great!) while others played soccer with the small kids of the community and flew homemade kites. In the evening Missy prepared the coliform samples for incubation and we will be able to process the results tomorrow night! We headed to the Poli for soccer and swimming which was really fun after a long sweaty day in the sun! We also tried to watch Channel 4 because we were told that we made the news clips from Bolas,  but missed the section. Finished the night with sandia (watermelon) and bananas...A perfect end to a perfect day!

Wednesday, August 31ST ´+ Bolas de Fuego
We started the day the way we usually do a cup of coffee in hand, woke up to trucks passing Los Ranchos, some dogs barking in the background, and roosters calling to each other. We then heard something a bit out of the norm...A marching band coming closer. Because today was Bolas de Fuego, a holiday in Nejapa to represent the explosion of the San Salvador volcano. The band came closer along with hundreds of students of all ages calling for peace in a desfile (parade). We think we were the only ones watching the parade because almost everyone in the town was participating in the event! They continued to El Poli where skydivers came down and La Alcaldesa talked about the importance of peace and the kids of the community. It was a very exciting event. Though we were anxious to begin our celebrations our group made the walk down the State Street (or Main Street) of Nejapa to the ferroteria (hardware store) to get quotes for materials for January travel. We made our way back to Los Ranchos after enjoying the excitment in the city and stopped in the local market to purchase El Salvadorian hot chocolate tablets to help us get through the Wisconsin winter. Back to Los Ranchos for lunch and relaxed in preparation for the nights festivities. Diego met us later in the evening for conversation and munchies before we left (with chocobanana in hand) for the celebration.
 
The evening started with a concert featuring Los Redd where we had almost a front row view. Everyone was dancing and enjoying the music with an amazing jam session. There were about 4,000 people in attendance for Bolas which was crazy to see the streets transformed with decorations, vendors, and other foreginers! We then made our way to the street side when Bolas kicked off. For this celebration there were over 1,500 balls of chicken wire and cloth that had been soaking in gasoline for about 3 weeks in preparation for this day. Those who were in the action painted their faces and wore jumpsuites and watered themselves down to prevent burns. The action was intense and every now and then there were stray balls that got into the crowd which startled everyone around them! The event lasted for about 1.5 hours and as traditional tamales were served after that protion of the celebration was complete. There was a dance then in the plaza after that we listened to while eating pupusas and enjoying this true El Salvadorian cultural evening!

Hola familia and amigos. Here is a very brief version of what we have been up two the past two days. (I just wrote a novel on here, but something happened to the page and I lost every precious word I had written... not fun.)
MONDAY
-Walked through our work communities taking measurements and locating potable water lines
-Ate wild corn on the cob with lime and salt
-Girls went to beauty salon. Missy and Jen got a trim that ended up being more than they bargained for. But at $1.50 a cut, they luckily have some dinero left to get it fixed up back home. I got highlights for oy 15 bucks. The whole process was quite the ordeal, about 4 other people were hangin out chatting with us and even 2 of our guards came in to hang out.
TUESDAY
-We met with the Mayor to discuss progress and future plans
-Missy and I took grey water samples from 3 different spots in the community.
-Jen, Chris and Issac did some surveying.
-Chris went to another meeting with the Mayor and a representative from the US Army who is here working on an outreach program. We hope to collaborate to create a design and plan for the waste water treatement plant, which is currently over capacity and not working.
-We drove up a volcano called San Jeronimo and stopped at a look out point where we could see for miles.
-We ended the night dining on some pupusas, a traditional dish from El Salvador.
 
Adios for now, we are sweating mucho sitting in this stuffy room using internet...gotta get some air! Sending our love!
Ellie (writing from Missy´s account)

Hola Friends and Family,
We are currently enjoying the hot and muggy weather of El Salvador (high 80´s with an average 95% humidity)! Though our flight was a bit delayed in Miami we still met our community contact (Diego) at the airport and drove the senic route back to Los Ranchos in Nejapa. The vegitation here in August is so full and green because it is technically their winter (or rainy) season. Everything is in bloom and the aroma is wonderful! Tonight we had a wonderful meal of chicken, rice, and native vegetables along with Pepsi (the taste of real sugarcane is so good). We then got settled into our cabins and ventured for the Internet. After this post and the checking of e-mails we are going to the town square to witness the crowning of the ´Teen Queen of Nejapa´ which is expected to be both a cultural event and involve some fireworks.
We hope all is well where ever you are reading this from! Hasta luego!

Friday, January 14TH
Today was a very successful day finishing up the construction in Nuevo Ferrocarril.  There was a lot of back-filling and compacting to do, and well as finishing up the installation and connection to the school but everything was accomplished.  We ended our visit in the community with a community meeting to give our thanks to the volunteers and to also give our plans of return to the community members.  After lots of hugs and pictures, part of the group then went to the Alcaldia (mayor´s office) to have a quick meeting about future trips.  We were surprised with a cake giving their gracias (thanks) to us, but we all know that we have our thanks to give to everyone here in El Salvador for this opportunity to work with all the wonderful people.  The night involved a lot of running, as the group took an adventure to the Polideportivo to play soccer under the lights with some of our El Salvadorian amigos.  After they out-shined us in soccer, we tried to teach them how to play ultimate frisbee which was very fun! 
 
 
Saturday, January 15TH
Our final full day in El Salvador!  We got up early to start our trip along La Routa de Las Flores and visted the two pueblos (towns) of Juayua and Ataco.  Juayua was finishing up their week long festival and was bustling with people and lots of great food!  We walked around the city absorbing the culture and enjoying the music and sun!  After lunch here, we drove to a smaller town - Ataco - for some small gifts and to also look at the wonderful murals that decorated the city.  After experiencing one of our final sunsets (while driving home) we ate a great meal at Los Ranchos. 
 
I have checked our flights for tomorrow and all is on time.  We leave El Salvador at 2PM and get back to Chicago 11PM.  The flight numbers are Delta 374 and Delta 1812.  It was a successful and exciting trip and we are all thankful for the friends we have made here and the memories that we have to keep!
 
 

Buenos dias!  The morning started early with a wonderful breakfast of a type of El Salvadorian pancake and platinos.  The weather was, yet again, in the high 80´s but with a wonderful breeze in the sombra (shade).
 
The Capstone group left right away for Concepcion Batres, the community that they will be designing a project for next semester.  This group consisted of Bryan, Colin, Flory, and Karissa.  They said that the day was very productive and they got to experience and see another community in El Salvador.  They came back in the night, and along with them came David and Nancy Slinde our group´s West Bend Rotary contacts.
 
The other students divided up to accomplish items on their sub-group to-do list.  Nikki and Erin went to the local wastewater treatment plant to collect samples, and did their solids testing back at Los Ranchos (our hostel), and that group is very close to accomplishing everything they had set for the trip.  Ian also was productive and went to a few hardware stores to look for possible items the group could use to construct the water conservation sinks to be implemented in the future. Andy and Missy started the microbial testing, and had quite an audience of small children wondering what they were doing.  Samples from two sites were collected and the kids learned a lot about bacteria!  Jen and Chris were interested in looking for the potable water connections that the group might run into during construction, but did a great job mapping the location of these for future reference.  Eli and Jim could be found darting all over the community translating for students and helping the community members prepare for construction next week.  The community members are so eager to start work that they even started to hand dig in places that might cause the machine some problems!  Their work ethic is outstanding!
 
In the night, we had a wonderful meal of rice and a vegetable and meat mix.  Dessert was flan and chocbanas! Some students went to the Polideportivo (the local sports complex) to play soccer and frisbee with one of our contacts from the alcaldia (or mayor´s office) and his son.  Others played cards and hung out around Los Ranchos. 
 
Everyone is excited for the weekend and to start work in the communities on Monday.
 
Hasta luego! We hope all is well back in the States!

Hola!  Our travel team is very excited to continue the implementation of the grey / wastewater collection system in the communities of La Granja, and specially for this trip in Nuevo Ferrocarril.  Please refer to this site for travel updates.  If you have any questions please contact me at:  missysetz@gmail.com.
Below is our group's flight information. We will try to post something as soon as we can when we arrive safely in the communities.
 
Flight: Delta 2577
Depart Chicago O’Hare Depart: 5:45AM
Arrive into Atlanta at 8:54AM
 
Flight: Delta 0403
Depart Atlanta: 10:05AM
Arrive into San Salvador: 1:08PM
 

Sunday, January 17th - Wisconsin Travel Day
The travel team got up early in the morning for our final meal of Mirna's cooking.  There were pancakes, beans, bread, and hot chocolate.  After getting the bus loaded with all of the luggage and saying last goodbye's to our El Salvadorian friends we headed off to San Salvador. Before going to the airport we stopped at a market to get any last minute souvenir items.  The market was very nice and had a lot of great gifts that students purchased to bring back to their friends and family back in Wisconsin.
In the airport people grabbed food from different places in the airport before boarding the flight.  Our first flight was delayed, but we made it on time to Miami.  The group got through customs just fine and loaded up for the final trek of the trip from Miami to Chicago.  Students were then taken back to their homes and apartments in Madison.  It was hard to say our goodbyes to each other because we had been around each other 24/7 for the past 2 weeks, but we know that the friendships and memories that we've made with each other in El Salvador will last us a lifetime.
 
Saturday, January 16th - Final Day In El Salvador
This morning started off bright and early with a community meeting at 8AM at the school in Nuevo Ferrocarril.  Both communities of Nuevo Ferrocarril and La Granja were invited to the meeting.  The turnout ended up to be over 150 adults and around 100 kids.  Right away the adults and children were split off.  Eric translated to the adults’ information about what the group had done over the past two weeks, EWB's community commitment, and our plans for future work.  The rest of the group (lead by Caitlin) worked with the kids for educational workshop about the importance of hand washing.  The group went over reasons why you should wash your hands, when you should wash your hands, and the proper technique.  A Glow Germ activity was done (this is a lotion that you apply to your hands and then use a black light to see all the areas of germs/bacteria that were missed during hand washing).  There was also a handout each child received that is an activity that they are supposed to mark off every time they wash their hands (3 times a day).  We also showed the most current version of the El Salvador documentary.  The community members all enjoyed the documentary and knowing that their story is being told back in the States.  After the meeting the group stuck around and talked with various community members about the future of the project, taking pictures of the kids, and talking about life. David and Nancy Slinde from West Bend area Rotary Club were also in attendance at the meeting which was really nice to see them and have them there!
After the meeting, the travel team headed back to Los Ranchos.  After a small break and lunch the group piled back onto the Nejapa bus.  We ventured off to 'La Puerta del Diablo' (the devil's door) which is a volcano hiking area.  We hit it perfectly - just around sunset - and the view was wonderful with the view of the ocean on one side and San Salvador on the other.  Dusk set in as we climbed down the volcano.  We were then taken to a look out of San Salvador, which in the night view looked like glitter.  For dinner we went to a pupseria for our last meal of pupusas. After dinner we then drove back to Los Ranchos (while some choose to sing 90's hits).  The group stayed up celebrating our last night in El Salvador with dancing.  It truly was a perfect ending to a very successful and fun trip.