Another bumpy road...another great day!

Hola amigos! Today was a great day! Alice wasn't feeling well again :-( so Kira and I set out at 7AM to visit a couple of schools. Don Pabel (our faithful driver) rumbled up to our hotel in his noisy Isuzu diesel to take us on our journey. After an hour of driving, we stopped for a little snack--pupusas in the park in San Antonio never tasted so good! I took the rest stop as a chance to meander through the beautiful, white Catholic church in the town square. I noticed a guy sitting in front of the church and I approached him to see if he could take my picture. As I got closer I noticed he was more than a little intoxicated to I decided to just get the church without my beautiful face...sorry guys ;-)
The visits to the schools went well. The first school was rather large and the library is well on its way to looking like a "real" library. Books for a Better World has been contributing to their library for about five years now and the books are being put to good use. We were impressed to find that the school principal had designated a school librarian (from amongst the students) and he does an excellent job of organizing and keeping inventory of the books. The kids were excited to let us read a couple stories to them and we left with about fifty--or so--new friends :-)
The next school was a first-time BBW school recommended by Don Pabel. Texispulco is a small, three-room school in a rural agricultural village. Getting to the school requires 4x4 so we were happy to have our trusty (well maybe not so trusty) truck to get us there. Don Pabel grew up in the area so he told us about the challenges that face kids in the rural areas of El Salvador. It almost seems like the government forgets about these kids because they don't have even close to the resources that kids in bigger schools have.
When we pulled up to the school all the boys were playing soccer while the girls swept and mopped the classrooms. Kira and I found this a little sad (for the girls) but nothing out of the ordinary for this culture. They all stopped what they were doing when they saw two gringos roll up in that rickety old truck. We introduced our program to the principal and she was happy to accept the books into her tiny start to a library. I wished we had more books to give. The kids were so excited! This may have been the first time they had ever seen an illustrated storybook! I made instant friends with the Kindergarten class (who ever said I don't have any friends...lol) and I was sad to leave when the time came for us to return to Ahuachapan.
On our way home we stopped by to see Don Pabel's family. They were some of the humblest people I have ever met. They were kind enough to share their meager lunch with us--tortillas, rice, and cheese (from their own cow) with a little bit of Tang to drink. I was nearly brought to tears as I ate with them...no joke! These people never cease to amaze me!
I enjoyed chatting with Don Pabel on the 1 1/2 hr ride back to Ahuachapan. At one point it started raining so hard that we could hardly see the road but it was ok.
We got back safely and met up with Alice at the hotel to make one last stop at El Hogar de los Niños--an orphanage in town. Although it was sad to think that anyone could ever give up these beautiful children, it was amazing to see the loving care that the nuns provide them 24/7. I enjoyed playing Legos with the little boys...it brought back memories. I nearly lost an eye at one point when the "tallest tower in the world" came crashing down due to a "bus accident." It was fun!
We finished up the day with a nice meal at the world-famous Guatemalan restaurant chain "Pollo Campero." It's almost like comfort food to me with all the time I've spent in Central America lately :-)
Despite all of the wonderful times I'm having I have to admit that I'm missing family and friends right now. I love the comments that you've been leaving...keep 'em coming! I love you guys!

A Near Miss...

Welcome to another blog post my friends! Today was a miraculous day. Alice has been feeling down with a bad cough since we got here and last night was horrible for her. When she woke up this morning she really wanted to go do the book delivery but she was feeling really tired. So, Kira and I set off to find a school in Texistepeque.
We caught a bus to Santa Ana and easily found the connecting bus to Texistepeque. It was a long trip (2 hrs) but everything was going great. During the bus ride I started chatting with a lady next to us and we started talking about the schools in the area. I told her we were going to visit the school in Texistepeque and explained about the libraries and everything. She thought it was wonderful but wondered why we had chosen to go to the school in Texistepeque because it was considered one of the richer schools in the area. She knew of some more rural schools in the area that may be in greater need. I told her to have the principals contact Books for a Better World so we can get them connected—I hope they do. As we got off the bus the lady kindly showed us the location of the school.
As we walked up to the school we could hear a marching band playing. Kira and I were astonished because we had never seen a school with that kind of a music program in Central America. We were beginning to see what our friend had told us about it being a richer school. We found the principal and he knew nothing of Books for a Better World. We then looked through their decent-sized library and couldn’t find any of our books from years past. Scratching our heads, Kira and I began to realize that we were in the wrong school! Luckily, Kira had been to El Salvador three years ago and remembered having visited the school in Texistepeque before. She remembered that she had taken a photo in front of the school so we went to an Internet café to look through her pictures for clues. She found the photo she was thinking of and it had a beautiful sign, which read: “Centro Escolar Canton Costa Rica.” It was just the clue we needed!
Time was running short so we hopped on a mototaxi (a small, three-wheel motorcycle) and he took us down a bunch of winding dirt trails to where the school was located. I don’t think we would have ever found it on our own!
Just as we arrived, a woman was getting ready to lock up the front gate. All of the children had gone home for the day and she was the last one there. When we introduced ourselves she was so excited! She told us that they were worried we weren’t coming because volunteers usually come earlier in the year. She let us in to the little two-room school and we sat down with her. She told us how much they enjoy using the books and that they have set aside reading hours on Mondays and Wednesdays of every week. One look at the books was all we needed to see that they were being put to good use. As she glanced at the shiny new covers of the books in our collection you could sense the anticipation she had to share them with the students. She almost jumped out of her seat when she saw “Harry Potter.” It was so much fun to see her enthusiasm and we felt lucky to have found her there just in time! We left that school with a great feeling that what we are doing is making a difference in that tiny, two-room school.

I love this place!

So, today starts our work delivering books to our sites in El Salvador! We left at 7AM to get started early at a couple of the furthest schools. At the first school (Santa Clara), we were immediately greeted by the principal smiling from ear to ear. He was one of the most positive people I've met in a long time. His excitement for the new donation of books was incredible! He immediately let the teachers know that we were there so they could gather their classes for "reading time." It was so much fun! We went into the first classroom (see above) and started reading with the kids. You could tell they were accustomed to having reading time because they interacted very well with us. This is a sure sign of a school using our book donations to their fullest! It's a great feeling to see the schools taking advantage of a gift that we work so hard to bring them. It also makes me happy for the kids because I can see a bright future in their eyes (in know that's so cliché but it's true).
One of the biggest surprises was when the principal showed us their new COMPUTER ROOM--with internet! I couldn't believe I was in a rural school in El Salvador. I know we take it for granted in the U.S. but this is a huge step forward for this country. We were informed that about 100 of the 5000 schools in El Salvador have computer rooms with internet access but they are working hard to get it in all of the schools. It was exciting to share this accomplishment with the principal!
By the time we got to the second school we were pretty tired but still excited to be there. Did I mention that Kira and I were in the back of a pick-up for about three hours!!! Alice got to sit in the front...lucky thing!
Anyway, the second school (Sisimitepec...try saying that one) was almost completely empty by the time we made our way down the bumpy road and arrived at the front gate. There were a couple guys doing some clean-up so they helped us get to the principal's house to deliver the books. He was a really neat guy and also seemed enthusiastic about the reading program. He must have seen that Kira and I were parched (from being in the sun) so he cut a few coconuts for us and we drank some thirst-quenching coconut water :-) This is one of my favorite things about Central America btw...the fresh, tropical fruits.
So, we sat and talked with Mr. Ortiz (that was his name) and he told us how much it meant to him that we were willing to deliver the books to his house. He was so grateful!
As we were getting ready to leave we notice that our driver (Pabel) was doing something under the hood of his luxurious 1980 Isuzu truck. I just figured it needed more water or oil or something but there was actually a leak in one of the cylinders of the four-cylinder diesel engine. Now, I'm no mechanic but I figured this wasn't good...lol! He seemed to have a handle on everything so I wasn't too concerned. He had a good amount of tools but he was missing the one wrench that he needed so we tried capping it off with bailing wire, electrical tape, a plastic bag, and even considered chewing gum. After several noble but failed attempts, some guy driving by was cool enough to help us out and we got the cylinder sealed off so diesel (which is $5.15/gallon btw) would stop shooting out with every sputter of that poor little engine. We crept our way back over the mountainous terrain on three cylinders but we made it back--tired yet content! It was quite the adventure.
I can tell this was a good day by how tired I am right now! Time to shove off to bed soon!
Good night everyone!

Welcome to El Salvador!

What a beautiful place! Alice, Kira, and I got to El Salvador last night and were welcomed into a wonderful little bed & breakfast type of place in San Salvador. We got a great night sleep in a simple little three-bed room (WITH A/C) and, after a scrumptious breakfast, headed to Ahuachapan where we will be doing our book deliveries. The bus ride was quicker than I expected (about 1.5 hrs) and our hotel is right next to the bus stop so it was easy to get all of our stuff in with no problems.
I´m actually really impressed by a lot of things here but one thing is technology. They seem to be much more advanced than most of the other places I´ve been in Central America. For instance, we decided to get a cell phone and it was extremely easy to set up a prepaid cell phone account. If anyone feels like calling me here is my number: 011-503-7155-0185. I´ll have this number until July 5th when I switch a the Guatemala network. There are also quite a few places here with wireless internet so keeping in touch should be easy!
Tonight we went to a local ¨pupuseria¨ where they serve the famous pupusa--a cheese-stuffed tortilla with cabbage and tomato sauce on top. They are so good! The best part is that Alice, Kira and I all ate to our hearts´ content for $3 TOTAL!!!! And we were stuffed! No joke!
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with Don Pabel who will be driving us around to the schools in the area to deliver books to all the kids. I can hardly wait to get started! It´s so much fun and there is so much to see and observe! We have a lot to accomplish so wish me luck! I´ll try to get some photos on here for the next post.