¡Bienvenido a El Salvador!

We made it safe and sound to El Salvador! The only hold-up was at customs, where we have to do a little more paperwork to get some of the medical supplies released, but it should be resolved soon. Shout-out to the generous donations from faculty & staff at two of our community campuses, in Midland and Flint!  We couldn't have done this without you.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the fabulous FIMRC (Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children) team, including Marloes, the Field Operations Manager, and Italo, transport and tourism guide extraordinaire.  :)

Since we arrived over the weekend, we were fortunate to have some time to explore some local gems in the region of San Salvador (capital of El Salvador). Italo took us on the grand tour of la Ruta de las Flores, with stops in the villages of Juayúa and Concepción de Ataco, where we explored local cuisine, shimmied to cumbia music, and checked out the artisanal markets. We also had a lovely time at the cascada (waterfall) Los Chorros de la Calera, basking in the sun and cooling off in the crisp water.  And we had the joy of meeting the friendly neighborhood snake of Concepción de Ataco!

Here are a few pictures from our journey:

From left (in both pics!): Angela Kuznia, Julie Celebi, Steven Moyo, Michael Moffat (all 4th year medical students)

Tomorrow, we will meet with Morena, the Community Health Coordinator and local health promoter.  She is a lifelong resident of Las Delicias, the rural village where our clinic is based and where we will be conducting our health campaigns.  We are excited to see what awesome community projects we can be a part of!

Until next time...