The picture below is from the dining area where we are served breakfast every morning.
Let's see, we started our time here with a hike on Sunday up a volcano: Volcan Izalco. It is on the left part of the picture below . . . notice how steep it looks, even from a distance!
We started on the peak next to it. So, we went down the other hill, up the volcano, and then back to where we started again. It took us 30 minutes just to hike down the initial portion of the trail, because it was so long and steep.
This is a picture from that first part of the hike, which was all under a canopy of huge trees. Occasionally a cloud would come and engulf us. We were pretty high up!
It took us another few hours to summit the volcano, after stumbling over a combination of huge boulders and loose gravel. There were a bunch of police officers acting as guides, as well as non-police guides, but they didn't exactly help. Every once in a while they would talk to us, though.
Looking back, we could see the mountain we had just descended.
And the volcano top up ahead. Alisha's goal was just to make it through the hike alive, and she succeeded! :)
It was incredible because as we neared the top, we saw steam escaping from the side of the volcano, and the ground was actually hot when we touched it!
A view of the crater, and more steam vents!
We made it out alive!!!
So, the next few days we actually had trouble walking around much, because our legs were so sore, but it is so satisfying to have made it to the top!
Monday we started our actual work, in a rural community outside of San Salvador called Las Delicias. Compared to the people we worked with in Nicaragua, the people here have fairly good access to a clinic, hospital, and emergency transport when necessary. Even still, access to medical attention is not easy. On Thursday we had a 4 year old at the clinic who was wheezing and having trouble getting much air into her lungs. She needed a breathing treatment, and her mother needed to return to work, so I accompanied the doctor of the clinic on the journey 'up the street,' to the house with the nebulizer machine. After about 10 minutes of walking up the hill, we reached the mother's work and I was handed the sleeping, sick 4 year old child to carry the rest of the way up the mountain. It took us another 20 minutes ( it felt a lot longer!) to reach the top of the hill! I was exhausted, and my arms were shaking from exhaustion, but it helped me realize that even though this community is close to the city and the clinic is 'just down the hill,' that there is still very limited access to medical care in the community.
The FIMRC coordinator here, Meredith, works with a nurse in the community from the Ministry of Health (MINSA), on public health campaigns, vaccinations, home visits and a micro-health insurance program. As part of that work, we got to help weigh and measure local children, to report to the ministry of health (a task that must be completed monthly for every child under age 5). There are several different stages of malnutrition, and thankfully we only saw a handful of kids in the first stage, but it was still disheartening because we didn't have anything we could do for the families. One mother told us that all she feeds her daughter is beans and tortillas. She didn't think that fruits or vegetables would help the child put on any weight. We were able to talk to her a little about nutrition, but for other families, the problem is that they can't afford to feed all of their children.
One of our first days in the community, we were invited to learn how to make traditional corn tortillas in a local family's home. The woman in the picture below showed us how to carefully form the freshly made masa into flattened rounds. She also meticulously taught Alisha and I how to cut tomatoes and onions for salsa, without the use of a cutting board . . . the guys had to wait a long time for lunch, but it was delicious! Fresh made tortillas with cheese, homemade salsa and avocado!
Wednesday after clinic we stopped at a local fruit market. We bought 10 mangos for a dollar, as well as a pineapple, watermelon, limes, green mangos, and avocadoes (for Jonathan) . . . it was heavenly! 
So- we are enjoying our time in El Salvador! And more adventures lie ahead... Tomorrow, Jonathan and I will be taking an exciting, high-flying hike that we're sure to have stories about. Sunday, we'll have a little fiesta at the hotel, and next week, we've got tons of work awaiting us in Las Delicias.
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