Sólo he estado en El Salvador veinticinco días…
After twenty five days in El Salvador, frogs in the bathroom, ants in the kitchen, and sleeping with bug spray on are becoming second nature to me now. The rooster next door isn’t that annoying anymore but ask me again at 3AM when I’d rather be sleeping. 🙂
My days in the clinic are becoming more routine; I now split my time between the nurses’ station and the laboratory where I prepare the blood that’s been drawn for creatinine, glucose, uric acid, hematocrit, white blood cell, red blood cell, and cholesterol levels.
My Spanish is getting better but I still have good and bad days. I’m definitely able to understand much more than when I first got here which I contribute a lot of to understanding individuals’ accents. I am so thankful for the patience of everyone at the clinic when I talk to them, since having conversations with them have definitely contributed most to my growth in Spanish. I’m also able to practice my Spanish a lot at church, especially since it’s a different group of vocabulary than at the clinic.
If you know me, you know that I love to bake and cook. Well ever since I started telling people that, I have been dubbed the “officially unofficial baker”. There’s a work team from Elon College in Virginia that’s here for a week for their spring break and Debbie recruited me to cook dozens of cookies for when they’re here. I’ve also baked M&M cookies for everyone at the clinic, cinnamon toast crunch cupcakes for ladies’ night at the church, snicker-doodles for the kids at the church yesterday, the chocolate cake for David’s birthday today, and I’m going to teach Vivian how to make apple crisp sometime. I’m in baking heaven!
Since the work team is here this week, we’ve been able to do some more exciting outings. (I basically tag along with any work team that’s here and join in on their activities. For example, I’ll work half days at the clinic this week and then join the teams working in the local schools in the afternoons.) On Saturday, we went to a nearby town called Alegría, which is on the side of a dormant volcano. We actually got to drive down into the crater of the volcano then we all hiked up the outside ridge of the volcano to the highest point. Not only could you see Alegría and other nearby volcanoes, but at one point you could also see the ocean off in the distance. Definitely a workout, but oh so worth it!! I would do it again in a heartbeat. Here’s a sneak peek of what it looked like, but I’m going to write another post just about the trip to Alegría and the volano hike since there are a ton more pictures.
This is the view from the bottom of the crater in the volcano. That’s a lake in the middle and it is the most beautiful shade of emerald green. We ended up hiking up to the highest point, which is on the farthest-most right part of the picture. It doesn’t look that high from here but there was plenty of uphill climbing.
A picture of me while hiking. The lake from the previous picture is in the background. This is only about halfway up the volcano ledge.
One of the views looking out on the valley. You can see Alegría in the middle of the picture.
I only have a little bit of time before I need to get to the clinic so I think I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves now. Now that I have a “normal” routine now, I’ll be able to organize and write posts a little easier so be on the lookout for those!
A typical meal for me for lunch. I usually eat lunch at the clinic (either bringing my own food) or buying food from the “cafeteria” for $1.50. This plate includes rice, fish, local vegetables, and avocado. Repeat after me: avocado for breakfast, avocado for lunch, avocado for dinner. Repeat. Yum!
Two of my friends from church. They were the first girls that I met the first Sunday I came here so they have a special place in my heart. They are sisters and the girl on the left is Gladys (10 years old) and the girl on the right is Wendy (11).
One of the responsibilities of the clinic is traveling to nearby coffee plantation communities to draw blood. They then test their blood for harmful bacteria. It allows all of the smaller coffee communities to have a somewhat “local” healthcare option, even though it takes an hour to drive to the plantation. This picture is not the best quality, but this is a picture of the volcano nearby the plantation.
This is a picture of a poster in the clinic of the doctors. Someday I will get an actual picture of them all…
A picture of Cristina, Dolóres, and Miriam on the way to Alegría for lunch one afternoon. Dolóres and Miriam are nurses at the clinic and Cristina works in the front of the clinic in the secretary’s office.
This is Sara and her daughter, Gabi, in Alegría on the same trip as the previous photo. Sara is the lab technician at the clinic and also attends the same church that I do. Gabi is 11 months old and positively adorable. 🙂
Only the largest piece of meat that I (jokingly) tried to eat in Alegría. This is pork (chancho).
One view of Alegría looking down into the valley. I think this perfectly captures how much I love the architecture here. Most of the houses and buildings aren’t in very good shape but they are usually painted bright, fun colors and have beautiful iron work on the windows and doors. More pictures of Alegría to come in a future post.
The church I attend is called Centro Cristiano Familiar. The father of the family that I’m living with is the pastor although it is a family affair for the family as Vivian, the mother, leads events during the week and the sons, Timmy and Sammy, play in the band and lead youth group on Saturdays. This is a view of the inside of the church that I attend as it was decorated for the special Valentine’s day youth group event.
Several of the kids that attend the church. Could they be any cuter?!
The laundry situation here is a little different than what I’m used to. The washing machine is actually outside and you hang your clothes up to dry on the clothesline. Although it usually requires ironing all of your clothes afterwards, I love how fresh they feel afterwards. I’m very lucky that I don’t live next to a restaurant or someone who owns lots of smelly animals, otherwise I’m not sure I would feel the same way.
Silly picture of me and Gladys!
Sara and Pati, the two ladies that work in the lab at the clinic. I love them because they are so patient with me and my Spanish and encourage me to talk with them.
Anway, this is a little glimpse of what my life has been like here for the past three weeks. Look out for some future posts! 🙂
think of me 
