Day Six of our tour - Suchitoto - a great place to be!

Day 6 of the tour - July 2014

All this is on Tour Builder Good to have this here too!

A visit to the colonial town of Suchitoto in Cuscatlán province for a tour of the historic town, the Joya de Cerén Mayan ruins (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and for an introduction to the work of SalvAide sister organizations CRIPDES and CORDES in the region.

Suchitoto is a beautiful town.  This may be a location where the group will elect to stay a bit longer here.  This is also a good location to return to after the formal trip is over.  Spanish language training is available here and you can be billeted with a family!

I love this town - it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in El Salvador and the only place I could find real Salvadoran cigars!

Here is one of the many web sites on this beautiful town.  There are many more!!

Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón Cañas" Romero Centre The Romero Tour on Tour Builder - Day 4

Day Four of this year's tour will be taken up by the Romero Tour.  The last three entries have been taken up with the tour.  The last entry is included below.  Tomorrow, I will move on to Day Five.

The tour will take in other important locations including most significantly, the Romero Center at Central American University, the site of the 1989 Jesuit Massacre.   The Romero Center includes many relics from the time of Romero including artifacts from the murder of Oscar Romero's friend Rutilio Grande.  The center also focuses on the murder of the Jesuit priests in 1989.  The rose garden you can see in a few of the pictures here was planted by the husband of the priests' maid who was also killed during this incident.

There is no question that this is a crucial part of the tour.  While there are other locations we may visit, these are the key ones to help us get a sense of the importance of Oscar Romero.  

I have included a few key images from the Centre in Tour Builder.

Tomorrow - a visit to the colonial town of Suchitoto in Cuscatlán province

Tour Builder

Now that we have a trip confirmed and we are in 2014 - only months away from our next trip, I have started working with a great new tool called Tour builder - yet another great tool by Google.

This one combines Google Earth with the ability to easily upload images and videos from your collection.

Each day of the trip will be documented and outlined so that participants can take a good look at what is proposed for any particular day.  Right now, I am working on Day Four.  You can add photos, written descriptions, even videos.  The first stop on Day Four is the Cathedral in San Salvador.  I was able to add

video taken the day of Archbishop Romero's funeral.  This should give participants some historical perspective on what they will be seeing.

As I post each day, I will now add this to the blog so viewers can see the tour here or on Tour Builder.

Really exciting, I hope this will add a new dimension to our group formation this year!

We have a trip!

At this point, early in the school year, it is safe to say that we will be having a trip this summer!  We have the minimum of six participants and we hope to attract more participants in the upcoming year.

This year, we are simply charging $1200.00 for the trip - transportation, translation, accommodation, facilitation, meals, etc.  People are expected to book their own flights, but we can help by suggesting a travel agent.

The trip is newly designed to provide people with an introduction to the country and its people.

You can see the current schedule here.

The really interesting idea is that we are promoting respectful partnerships between our schools and schools in El Salvador.  One partnership exists between several schools and the school in San Jose las Flores.

We have two schools who are now interested in developing new partnerships.  This will be a really interesting process and I see all sorts of interesting possibilities that can arise from this.

For those who have decided to come this year, I can guarantee you a very meaningful experience.  For those who are still thinking of coming - there is no time like the present!  Come join us. 

Short video on upcoming meeting

First meeting of the new group

We are meeting on Oct 1. Th is should be a great meeting - we have over 20 people signed up for the trip - I think we are really offering something good this year.

Here is the agenda:

Introductory Meeting
Compadres y Comadres
Collective of Ontario teachers moving for peace, action, development and relationships in El Salvador
Tuesday, October 1
4:30 PM- 5:30 PM
St. Gregory School



Trip Dates: July 1 – 12, 2014



Introductions/Greetings – Paul

Outline of the trip - – Paul & Rene

A day in a life of a delegation participant– Meg

Opportunities for developing links with communities in El Salvador

Introduction to El Salvador and partners – Rene

Logistics
a. Program Costs - $1200. – minimum 6 people (meals, accommodation, transportation in El Salvador, interpretation, coordination – does not include flights or travel insurance)
b. Payment Schedule: November 15 initial deposit $600. 2nd deposit $600. – January 15 You are responsible for your own travel arrangements, but flights need to be booked by January 15.
c. Passports
d. Spanish preparation
e. group preparation and orientation – Saturday, June 21
f. optional additional trip to Guatemala

Launch of a new program for July 2014

We have launched our new program for July 2014. The information is going out throughout the school board and because this is early, there should be enough time for staff to consider this experience for next year.

Here is the poster we are using to promote this year's trip. Very different and very exciting opportunity for those who want to learn more about El Salvador and possibly establish links with communities in El Salvador.