Bienvenidos a San Salvador!

Before we even arrived in El Salvador, Carol ran into one of her former students in the Houston airport! 

This is a view of the siesta spot at our Guesthouse.  The owner, Sonia, is a super nice lady that makes us delicious meals!

Yesterday we visited one school and two different community organizations that worked to stop gang violence and provide education to the people here.  

This is a mural at the organization Equipo Maiz.  Equipo Maiz is an organization that provides nonformal education to community leaders and organizations.  

At the end of the evening, we had dinner and listened to a great overview of Salvadoran history from a woman named Rosy who used to be the country director for Voices on the Border.  And we found out that she is from the town right next to where Becky grew up!

After that we had a nice reflection on the day.  One thing we all said....we are very surprised at just how pervasive the gang problem is here.  We all knew it existed and it was a problem but I don't think anyone realized just how bad it was.  In fact our translator Tommie (an American from Ohio) told us just the other day someone knocked on her door and told her that she had to give money to help pay for the funeral of a local gang member that was killed.  And yesterday throughout the day we kept hearing the statistic "11 people are murdered in El Salvador everyday" which is mind blowing especially considering the size of the country.

Today we are going to Bajo Lempa and for the next three days will be staying with local families in the countryside (no internet access so you'll have to wait a few days for the next post!). We will be visiting schools, community organizations, Itzalco Vocano, and Bajo Lempa Mangrove Forrest.  I'm sure these next few days will bring adventure and some great stories, including outhouse humor so stay tuned!