I'm staying in a beach town called El Tunco, it's a small place where a lot of tourists come to surf the beaches of La Bocana or Sunzal Point. When I first got in on the 1st, I was welcomed back with open arms from all my local friends I had left in January when I first visited the country. It's impossible to walk through El Tunco without running into someone you know, you're constantly waving/saying "hola" to everyone you walk by (giving a hi five followed by a fist bump).
After a couple of days of settling in (relaxing and easing back into the surf with 6 foot waves), I made my way over to Remar Orphanage to figure out my schedule for the time I had planned to be in El Tunco. They were in the middle of building a library, laying cement for the playground so my duties would include helping with those projects. FYI - The library that was being built was used with the money I had donated to them the last time I was there (my Muay Thai coach from home donated $1,000 and I had $600 of left over funds from baggage fees). It was amazing to see all the work that was able to come out of that money. A little goes along way in El Salvador.
As I was walking through the orphanage, I was welcomed back by all the kids and teens. I was drowned with hugs and kisses and big smiles. It filled my heart with such love to see how happy a persons visit back can make a such a difference. They remembered all the toys I had brought back from home last time and were so grateful and thankful for all friends and family who had donated back at home.
While getting showered with hugs and kisses, I ran into a group of Christians who were on an amazing mission called "The World Race". They do missions around 11 countries in 11 months. Amazing right? Imagine leaving everything behind back at home to devote 11 months to helping people. So inspiring! This group is on their third month and they'll be staying at the orphanage, so I'll volunteering at the orphanage with amazing company.
Over the past week and a half, my days have been full of surf, cement mixing, moving dirt/rocks, digging and playing with the kids. I was also invited to one of the community outreaches with one of the missionary groups to provide food (beans/rice/corn) for the impoverished communities and spend some time playing activities with the kids on the soccer field.
Now that I've gotten into some sort of a routine, I've narrowed down the following schedule:
5:30am - 7:30am: Sunrise Surf Session
8:00am - 10:00am: Breakfast and Elly time
10:00am - 12:30pm: Volunteering at Remar Orphanage
12:30pm - 2:00pm: Lunch
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Volunteering at Remar Orphanage
4:00pm - 6:00pm: Sunset Surf Session/Run
I've got plenty more stories to update all of you at home on, but I'll save that for the next post. I can tell you about the time I had to help with the killing of 50 chickens....not joking!
Hasta Luego!
Elly
xo
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