El Salvador Travel Blog

Hola,

On the final day in El Salvador on Jan 18th we woke up nice and early for the market. We drove into a city next to San Salvador and there was lots of traffic. The market was very cool and had lots of unique souvenirs. I personally bought a hand woven bag made with crazy designs, and others bought machetes, hammocks, Salvadorian flags, and many other cultural gifts. It was fun bartering with the vendors to get the price you wanted; sometimes you won and sometimes you didn't.

As soon as everyone bought their memorabilia we hit the road for the airport. Many of us were discussing on how all this technology will go through customs again, since last time it was a bit of a hassle. And apparently a bomb joke isn't as funny in an airport. Anyway, I made it safe to Los Angeles and the rest of the crew did as well.

Adios El Salvador,
Eddie

Well, in short, our work here is done.

Looking back on today, we actually made much more progress than anticipated. Through the final push of 11 students, 1 doctor, and a town of El Salvadorian people, pipes were layed in the ground, trenches were closed, manholes were finished off, and more grade was set. On top of this, some team leaders (including our in-country engineering contact Daniel Rivera, the mayor of Nejapa, the project managers for this El Salvador group, and the community leaders of Neuvo Ferrocarril) held an open meeting with the town to answer any last questions about the continuation of the project after we are gone.

In summary, over the past 9 work days on about 600 meters of street we opened up between 3 and 5 foot deep trenches with excavators and by hand, we laid corregated pipe, connected all the adjacent houses with Y-tees and PVC pipe, and backfilled it all by hand (compacting every foot of soil placed back into the trench). We have chose a community leader to continue the oversight of the project which should be finished in the upcoming weeks. Beyond the construction aspect, we have sampled waters from the local waste water treatment plant, as well as surveyed the area around the plant. Also, Ian has be diligently working on a plan to continue the use of the toilet-sink combos here after the project is finished.

Tomorrow we will be flying out of San Salvador around 2pm to Atlanta, where we will be catching a connecting flight to Chicago. If all goes as planned, we can expect to be in Chicago somewhere between 11pm and 1am. We all are excited to be back home, putting the shorts and t-shirts back in the drawers and throwing on the long underwear and wool socks!

See you all soon,
Isaac

Today we received our second ´retro´ or excavator. With two teams working on trenches, there were plenty of things to do. That is of course until we realized we still hadn't received our lateral connections (you know, the ones that were expected to be delivered 4 days ago). We managed to still squeeze out a productive day that consisted of manhole connections and teaching the community members how to continue the project after we leave. They are starting to quickly understand the necessary processes and we are confident that the project will be completed to specifications in our absence.

We were also joined today by David and Nancy Slinde from West Bend Rotary who have lived in the country for 3 years and had come to visit to see the progress of our work. During lunch, the Slindes and Eddie met with the mayor to discuss future project possibilities and there are now several possibilities on the table. After lunch, we got back to work and each of us took a short break to do an interview with David that will be shared in the future with those who are interested and also to the Rotary members in West Bend, Wisconsin. It was a long day and we are all looking forward to a little rest before our final push tomorrow.

Chris

Sunday again marked our only full day of rest during the week. However, we were only allowed to sleep until 6 o´clock, due to an approximately 2 hour bus ride to start our day. At 9, we arrived at La Puntilla, a beach on the Pacific coast of El Salvador. Here we were able to enjoy a day of relaxation and a break from the vigorous pipe laying that had comprised most of the week. Activities on the beach included tanning, laying in hammocks, and safely enjoying the enormous waves that the Pacific had to offer. Many pictures were taken to preseve the beauty of the beach and the surrounding ocean. After a number of our members were sufficiently burnt, we headed beack to Los Ranchos to chill for the remainder of the day. Sunday turned out to be a very relaxing day for all, and allowed us to recharge for the final push of the coming week.

We once again started out this early saturday morning in a place we know all too well: the trenches. Ian's chop shop started up smoothly with both Ians working in seperate locations. PVC stood no chance against the precise measurements, cuts, and gluing of two Ians. We were making the adapters which connect the houses to the main tube running down the middle of the street. This ended up being a very necessary accessory for the pipe layers on pasaje cuatro, where we connected more than a dozen houses to the newly placed pipe with maximum efficiency. While this was happenning Jen was contuing her teachings of the lazer level, and digging up pasaje cinco with the perfect grade. She even made a new friend breifly who quickly because smashed between a shoe and a hard place...he was a cockroach. The piping connections behind the school were made and two manholes were joined creating one beautiful section of 8 inch pipe. And keep in mind, all of this was finished by noon, since we do need some rest on saturdays also. One half day of work meant did not stop the El Sal engineers from moving one days worth of dirt (commence GLE cringle followed by a muttering of soil).

Hi Mom! Just needed to say hi before jumping into the details of Thursday.

Overall, Thursday was a productive day in the community. Although things did not go completely according to plan (the Y-Ts STILL have not been delivered!), we were able to teach Don Julio and Jose Luis more about the sight level and how to check the grade on the trenches. Looking at the big picture, this is even more vital to the project than having us lay lots of pipe while we are here, because the community will need to know how to finish the project without us. On top of our success with teaching, we were able to excavate two smaller sections of the piping system and begin excavation on pasaje 4. We are setting ouselves up for some serious pipe laying tomorrow.

After dinner at los Ranchos, we went to the Poli to play soccer and go swimming. Jen took a couple hard hits when we were playing soccer, but she hung in there with the Salvadorians and kicked some butt!

We are hoping for a busy day of pipe laying and continued teaching tomorrow!

Hasta luego,
Erin

¡Buenos Dias Todos!

On Wendsay we were still waiting for the pipe connections and split up into a multitude of groups, Norm, Chris and Jen went with Daniel Riveria to the country club for breakfast , a few of us had a meeting with the mayor to acess a new field site, some were sent to the communities to try to fix a bad connection, and the rest sampled at the wastewater treatment plant. After breakfast Norm left for the United States and Jen claimed his hut.

The group in the communities was able to fix the connection and joined our group at the wastewater plant after lunch where they helped to survey the rest of the plant. The plant was as smelly as ever and literally was a ´poo parade.´After a long day of sampling we returned to los ranchos just in time for summer and were able to complete our testing by bedtime. Everyone was exhausted and the majority were asleep by 10. We wanted to get up early so that we would be prepared for the workshop with the kids and the arrival of the connections.

Adios,

Nikki

Today we were all anxious to continue work in the communities, as supplies continued to arrive. We spent a good portion of the morning unloading trucks stacked high with pipe and other miscellaneous materials, before splitting up and continuing implementation in two areas of the community. Although struggling with the hot sun we were able to make good progress through the afternoon, and returned to Los Ranchos feeling accomplished.

Once back at Los Ranchos we cleaned up and prepared for an authentic meal of tomales offered by one of our local friends/supporters who has been gracious enough to invite us into her home anually for four years to share a meal in remembrance of her deceased grandfather. Content with delicious food, and stocked with extra pan dulce for the morning, we returned to Los Ranchos looking forward to another day of progress.

Hasta Luego,
Justin Chaudoir