San Salvador | El Salvador
It’s so hard to believe that 4 years ago I went to El Salvador on a Compassion Vision Trip with my work colleague. A few years ago, the company I work for created a relationship with Compassion International so employees could sponsor children. Some of our company dollars were even donated to support the building of new bathrooms and kitchen areas at local churches in El Salvador. For a few years in a row, we participated in Compassion’s Vision Trip where some of our employees were able to go to El Salvador for a week and meet sponsor children and see our dollars at work. I was fortunate enough to be chosen to go on the trip in 2017.
Because I was the only employee coming from Dallas, I had to fly to Atlanta to meet the rest of our team before we all flew together to El Salvador. It had been a really long time since I packed a week’s worth of clothes into a backpack, but I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of space, and I’d need to pack light.
The flight into El Salvador wasn’t bad at all. Flying above San Salvador, the landscape was very green and beautiful. We even had a really good view of the volcano!
Once we arrived and stepped of the plane, I immediately knew we were closer to the equator. It was HOT…and very humid! We made it through customs and then hopped on a small bus to take us to our hotel in San Miguel. The roads were…desolate. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but there was a lot of farm land and a ton of vendors on the side of the road selling watermelons, fruits, vegetables, and all sorts of things.
Our first day in El Salvador was pretty mentally exhausting, adjusting to the heat, the new landscape, and essentially eliminating all first world amenities. We stayed at the Comfort Inn in San Miguel, and it was pretty nice, but I guess I didn’t know what to expect here either. Our company partnered us up so there were two people to a room to save on costs. My friend, Kristi, and I ended up sharing a room for the duration of the trip, so it was nice to have a friendly face!
Our room in San Miguel had 2 twin beds with limited bedding. It was all pretty simple – there wasn’t much to it! I will say we also didn’t need that much bedding, as the air conditioner couldn’t really keep up with keeping the room cool, so it was always pretty warm anyway.
The other thing we had to get used to was only drinking out of water bottles. Because the sanitation system is different in El Salvador, everyone encouraged us to drink bottled water the entire time — including brushing our teeth with it! Of course, the very first thing I did when I got in the shower was open my mouth. Facepalm.
On our first full day in El Salvador, we visited one of the local churches in San Miguel where many of our employees had sponsored children through Compassion. The drive up to the church was beautiful. The countryside truly is remarkable there.
The children at the church had quite the welcoming committee for us! I’ll never forget how absolutely happy the children were to see us! Apparently, it’s not often that a church gets chosen to participate for a Vision Trip, so it really is an honor for the families to host us!
During the day, we received a tour of the facilities, and then the children put on skits, sang songs, and entertained us. Although many of us didn’t speak Spanish, and many of them didn’t speak English, you could still feel the love and excitement in the room. We were also fortunate to have some really awesome translators with us!
After lunch, we hosted a pseudo-Vacation Bible School for the children with arts and crafts, games, and activities. One of my colleagues and I hosted “Physical Education” where we attempted to teach the children how to play “Red Light, Green Light” – but because there aren’t many stop signs in the town, the game never really caught on. Instead, we kicked around soccer balls, and bounced basketballs. There wasn’t much of a “yard” or field, so we had to play most of the games in the middle of the street. I ended up playing catch with one of the older kids for at least an hour. It was a fun and sweaty afternoon!
In the afternoon, we split up into groups for home visits, where some of the children got to bring us to their homes and show us where they live. You could see how much time the families put into preparing for the visit. Many homes had dirt floors and concrete walls, outdoor kitchens and bathrooms. They were so happy to show off their homes that they had put so much effort into building and making their own.
I think one of the most exciting things about our trip to El Salvador, was the ride in the back of the pickup truck! It really is the simple things in life!
Pickup trucks serve as taxis, and everywhere we went, there were always people riding in the back of the truck — even on the interstate! At one of the churches we visited, we were joking about riding in the back of one, and wouldn’t you know, the pastor had his own pick up truck! He offered to take us for a ride down one of the city roads, and it was a blast! I know that is such an every day occurrence for the people of El Salvador, but it was fun to “live like a local” even just for a few minutes.
Our trip was chock full of visiting local churches/schools and playing with children. It was so much fun! I also really enjoyed being able to see how our company dollars were building bathrooms with plumbing!
At the end of the trip, we took some of the children to Pato Canales, a local water park. The water park was a fun treat for the kids and their families, as this is not something they would normally do. The water park was really just a pool with a few slides – nothing fancy – but we had hours of fun splashing, swimming, and trying to stay cool.
For dinner, Compassion took us to Las Brumas Grille at the top of the volcano for Pupusas, Tamales, and Hot Chocolate. The food was sooooo good! At first, I thought it was weird to serve hot chocolate with Salvadorian food, but then I realized that these are the foods and drinks they’re known for.
While El Salvador is known for being full of gangs and criminal activity, you would never know that by the children and families we met. Everyone was so nice, welcoming, and appreciative of us. If I ever have the chance to go back to El Salvador, I’d love to. It’s a beautiful country, and I’d love to be able to (safely) explore on my own!