Pre-El Salvador

Keeping a blog of all my travels has been a lot of fun, has kept me on top of recording my thoughts and experiences and taking pictures, and has worked really well to let a lot of my friends and family see what I'm doing ... that's all great, but now I have a problem. I began the blog while traveling through major cities in Asia where hotels and hostels and cafes all have wireless internet; tomorrow morning I'm leaving for San Salvador, the capital city of what I'm told is a third world country (though I expect it to be more developing, like Belize). But this is what I mean ... I can't clarify this with you here when I find out because I will not be online, and couldn't be even if I brought my laptop. So this is my pre-El Salvador post ... I will record my thoughts and experiences by hand and in memory, and post again at the end of the trip, and if you'd like, you can read it pretending I'm still there ;-)

El Salvador is a small country in Central America, located between Guatemala and Honduras along the Pacific coast; it is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean shore (as Belize is the only one not bordering the Pacific). It is a little smaller than the state of New Jersey, and the most densely populated country in Central America. 12 other members of my church in Tempe and I are flying down tomorrow to work at an orphanage and school facility just outside San Salvador. For the six days between our flights, we will be working about 8 hours a day doing painting and concrete work on the grounds; in the evenings, we'll be interacting with the children. The Shalom Center was established by an American couple 15-20 years ago (I think), and is a Christian enterprise, so we'll be attending services with them, and though we're of course bringing the Word with us, this "mission" trip is less missionary than service-based.

I'm looking forward to getting to know my fellow-travelers better; so far they seem a lot of fun and a good group of people. I'm looking forward to getting back to the jungle in this part of the world - the humidity (almost wrote "heat" there, haha!), the rain and thunderstorms, the forests ... even the bugs, somehow. Some of them. But El Salvador is also known for being along a fault line, and has earthquakes occasionally and several active volcanoes, which will be different from Belize, and we may be in a more mountainous region than the escarpments in Belize. Again ... clarification on this to come next week! I'm looking forward to learning some more Spanish, and to meeting the orphans.

So ... as I have not yet been there, I can only write so much now. More to come soon!