Hello!

I´ve now been in Central America for just over a week, and we´ve returned to San Salvador, to meet Sister Cruz and visit the school where we start the project on Monday.

We´ve spent the past week travelling down through Honduras, via San Miguel and Choluteca to Lyon, Guasuale, Granada, and finaly to Isla De Tempa, which is in the lake in the middle of Nicaragua! We chose to go by public bus which was quite an experience, although definitely worth it to see what life is actually like here! It´s safe to say I have fallen in love with this part of the world. The buses were a great experience, with doors missing, holes in the roof, bombing along at 20 miles per hour - they run on entirely their own schedule, leaving when they´re full and waiting for 2 hours if they´re not! People have tried occasionally to rip us off since we are very obviously western tourists but we´re learning what´s appropriate and when to haggle - here a 3 hour bus journey should be around 2 dollars! Being on the buses also meant we got to chat to some genuine El Salvadorian and Nicaraguan wise old men wearing stetsons and as a result have fallen in love with the people as well as the place. Whilst a few people admittedly try to screw us as soon as look at us (in particularly rickshaw drivers at Guasuale who claimed it was 3km over the border and would cost us 20 dollars which we found after walking 300 metres to be entirely incorrect), the whole place is filled with a kind of energy - on the buses, sellers jump on and off at every other stop with baskets of fruit, homemade pastries, plastic pockets of water, torches, sweeties, absolutely everything! There is a chaos here, but a self-sustaining chaos, with the sellers and the taxi drivers and the bus drivers all relying on each other, and all help each other out. The cows and horses that seem to be permanently wandering around the roads also add to the character of the place!

This week has taken us through some beautiful volcanic landscapes and to some paradise type picture postcard places. It´s SO green here which was surprising, essentially tropical because it is swelteringly hot from 6am to around 4pm, at which point it thunderstorms with forked lightening and the blackest skies you have ever seen! Particularly fun on a bus or taxi with half a roof! Granada was nice but very touristy, and Lyon was great. We spent two days in Isla de Tempa, an island made of two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. We also climbed to the top of the Mareira volcano - and on the way back down experienced a proper tropical storm. Turned out we had been climbing UP a dry river bed... bit of a problem to find yourself 5km above sea level (no mean feat in 4 hours, by the way) with a slippery gushing river, incredibly steep and rocky, to climb back down. Swimming in the bath-like lake, the warmest, cleanest water I have ever swum in almost made up for it though!

Now back in San Salvador, Sister Cruz is like no nun I have ever encountered. Opening the door she gave us a huge hug, and over a huge meal including gallo pinto (rice and beans, the staple food around here) proceeded to tell us funny stories about the children, the convent, and the history of San Salvador. The civil war, which ended in 1990 sounded horrific, the kind of atrocities as happened in the Rwandan civil wars, just not publicised as much! There is also the physical evidence - an awful lot of disabled homeless people, missing limbs, and so on. Not pretty. One funny story Sis Cruz told us included the fact that she has a machete in her bedroom, (used for cutting plants, usually) that 10 years ago, she threatened a thief with who quickly scarpered. Modern nun? I think so. However, one eensy tiny problem. She thinks we´re all Catholic... Having not dispelled this myth straight away, (too scared to reveal I am not even baptised, let alone agree with the church) we now feel it is a bit too late, so are in for a 2 hour mass in the cathedral tomorrow. I´ll let you know if I feel closer to God afterwards!

So the big thing about El Salvador is the gangs, MS and the 18 gang. Sister Cruz has told us some horrible stories that makes my heart hurt for the children involved (which I will not recount until I am home because I know my Mama is worried enough as it is!) but we were surprised to discover that the school is actually protected by the 18 gang, as it is nearly all children of "18" parents who go there. The nuns, teachers, and consequently us, are afforded a god like status by the leader of the gang and anybody who tries to intimidate teachers at the school is punished accordingly (and horribly.) What I have heard shows that we really really are going to be appreciated at the school and I can´t wait to get started on Monday - for the children who have no running water at home, and no food to eat, the school is a life line, and the workshops we will set up in the afternoon will help them to get jobs when they graduate. We already have choirs, art workshops, simple electronics and so much more planned!

One thing I have discovered, is that in spanish Fea (said Feyar) means ugly. Which means that in Spanish, my name is akin to something like "Frugly". Consequently, I will be introducing myself to the children as "Lily", rather than dispelling all respect straight away...

This blog entry was verrrry long, but that I imagine you can tell that I am feeling very positive/ enthusiastic/ scared and so many emotions, but that I can´t wait to actually help these people that have nothing and love school so so much! We will also be working in the community, and helping with workshops to do with hygiene and so on.

I will report back soon! It will not be such a long blog entry, since we will be spending the next 4 weeks getting up at 5am and getting back home at 7pm... Sis Cruz does more work than I thought was humanly possible for one person!

Lots of love, hope you are all well

Freya

now a.k.a. Lily

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