Last Few Days....

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.