Day 7

Part 8 of El Salvador Trip Journal

6:47 AM

I had a pretty restless night. I don’t think my stomach agrees with what we had to eat for dinner. I’m feeling a little better, after popping 2 Pepto-Bismols at 2:30 this morning. Aside from that, I’m really excited to build today – it’s starting to look more and more like a real house!

12:48 PM

We’re on lunch break at the build site, listening to Brian’s CD. Most Salvadoran music has that horse-trot backbeat; it’s really interesting to hear. I’m amazed at how high the house is built. It’s probably 6.5 feet now. I’ve had fun with Gonzalez and the masons. He’s told me to listen to Daddy Yankee, a big artist here in Central America. I probably could have used the half day instead of straight to 4:00, but it’s cool to see everything coming together with the house.

4:41 PM

Back at the hotel. Today was such a good day; I’m glad we stayed till 4 PM. We ended up sitting and talking a lot, then at the en we had a long water fight with Brian and Jenny. It was loads of fun; we all got soaked to the skin. All in all everyone ad a great time at the build site today. We ad to use scaffolding to reach the top of the building; we got about 10 blocks high today. I’m gonna miss Brian, Nefri, Jenny, Alex, Julio, Elias, Gonzalez, and the rest of the gang. I had a life-changing week of building, for sure, and I’m not likely to forget the experience anytime soon. It amazed me how accepting the locals were of us foreigners. Especially the mason Julio, who could do everything far more efficiently ith his assistants than with us, kept us involved and working throughout the week. I will never forget my conversations in broken Spanish with Gonzalez; it reminded me of trying to communicate with Måns in Swedish. I couldn’t have asked for a better week.

We’re back at the hotel now, and I think this is a lie-in, relax night for everyone. The bus will be here at 9 AM tomorrow to take us to the beach.

7:20 PM

Julian and I are hanging out in our room. Melissa and Lindsay are over. It started to rain in bursts over the last few hours – rain in the dry season! I think we got a lot more than we bargained for this trip.

Sam Nabi