Volunteer El Salvador  |  Santa Tecla

In 2001, after the earthquakes in the city of Santa Tecla, the Casa de la Mujer Tecleña was founded to give women the chance for social economic development. It is creating work opportunities by respecting gender equality and prepares the women for facing the competitive job market by offering adequate training and qualification for different professions.

Travel to Teach cooperates with the Casa de la Mujer Santa Tecleña, offering English and IT classes for women and their children. La Casa de la Mujer Tecleña supports around 800 women. Besides teaching English and IT classes, volunteers are welcome to assist in art, music, environment, orwomen’s rights workshops.

Divina Providencia Orphanage

In Santa Tecla Travel to Teach works with an orphanage run by the Catholic Church. The Orphanage is situated just outside of the town and has a huge garden where they grow all sorts of fruit and vegetable and also produce coffee for sale.

The orphanage has around 80 children, both boys and girls aged from 5 to 20 years. Volunteers can help with homework, extra English tutoring, and general care, playing games and all sorts of sports.

Read how your fees are spent or compare our prices with other volunteer organisations.

View our prices in other volunteer locations's or combine your stay in El Salvador with stays in other locations as part of a combination stay.

What you receive

• Orientation upon arrival
• 24 hour support
• Accommodation
• Airport/ bus station pickup
• Regular follow-up meetings
• El Salvadorian cultural introduction
• El Salvadoran cooking classes
• Local mobile phone
• 20 hours of Spanish Lessons

Apart from our fees, you must pay for:

• Your travel to El Salvador
• Vaccinations and Visas
• Travel and health insurance
• Food (about 4-6 dollars per day) and other personal expenses

Our application process typically takes two or three weeks, but can be speeded up if there is a need for that. When we receive the initial application from you, we will send you our full application form.

(1) Complete the Initial Application Form:
The first stage of the application process is to fill out the brief initial application form. Upon receiving this we will send you the full application form.

(2) Complete the Full Application Form:
Fill out the application form. After receiving this we will assess your suitability and place you on one of our programs.

(3) Placement info:
We will return detailed placement information and an invoice. If you accept the placement you should pay the invoice and send us receipt of payment by email or fax.

(4) Program Fee:
The program fee should be paid to us at least 2 months before you are due to start your placement. However please be aware that we have a limited amount of placements, so placements will only be secured when we have received your payment.

(5) Communication:
Once you have made your traveling arrangements you should mail your time of arrival and the means of transportation and we will confirm pickup.

For the majority of our El Salvador programs, you can join us for any amount of time from 4 weeks to 6 months. However, some projects have minimum time restrictions. We recommend a trip of 3-6 months since it offers the best value. Regardless of the length of your stay, you will have time to get to know a new culture, come to know its people, and form relationships that will outlast the duration of your stay.

Travel to Teach volunteers home stay with El Salvadoran families giving them the opportunity to experience daily Salvadoran life first hand. Our home stays are located in a nice area of Santa Tecla, close to banks, shopping centers, markets/supermarkets and cultural and historical sites. Volunteers will have a private room and will share facilities such as the kitchen, refrigerator and bathroom.

Santa Tecla’s main attraction is the old town's dazzling array of churches and cultural buildings some dating from the early days of colonization. Being only 30 minutes form the beach volunteers can also take part in bungee jumping, swimming, surfing, snorkeling.

On weekends there are a number of day or weekend trips that volunteers can take from Santa Tecla. These include the cloud forests of the Montectisto National Park. Located around 4 hours west of Santa Tecla on the borders with Honduras and El Salvador, the areas damp cloudy climate has created a number of unique micro climates and huge and diverse range of vegetation and wildlife. Wildlife includes flora, orchids, ferns, spider monkeys, anteaters and over 100 species of bird, many of which are endangered and unique to the park.

Other possible destinations include the arty colonial city of Suchitoto with its surrounding lake wildlife and volcanoes and the biggest lake in El Salvador, Lake Suchitlan. Volunteer can also take trips to El Pital - the highest mountain in El Salvador at 2730 meters - where activities there include hiking, climbing, biking, and bird watching and Alotepeque mountain chain.

In the far south east there is also the 8 islands of the Gulf of Fonseca, which make an excellent weekend trip and include Travel to Teach's other El Salvador location on Meanguera Island .

The food most identified with El Salvador are Pupusas, an El Salvadoran speciality of stuffed tortilla which are filled with cheese, beans and sauces. Other popular foods in Santa Tecla include chilate, nuegados, yuca plant, atole de elote, tamales and shuco.

As well as excellent range of El Salvadoran restaurants, Santa Tecla also has Italian, French and Japanese restaurants in places like multi plaza and La Gran Via (commercial center). For those needing a fast food fix there are also a growing number of Taco Bell's, KFC's etc.

El Salvador has a tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. The rainy season extends from May to October with virtually the whole annual rainfall occurring during this time mostly in heave afternoon thunderstorms. In the lowlands temperatures are hot throughout the year with an average temperature of 23°C and temperatures reaching as high as 38°C in March and April. Santa Tecla's elevation makes it cooler than the lowlands although temperatures are still consistently warm throughout the year.

By Air

There are many airlines serving El Salvador. Check American Airlines, COPA, Delta Airlines and Iberia.

By Bus

You can also travel overland by bus from Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Nicaragua, check with local companies for times and costs, we at Travel to Teach recommend Tica Bus.

You will be picked up from Comalapa Airport or San Salvador Bus Station by a representative with a placard that says Travel To Teach.

Immigration requires that visitors entering El Salvador have a visa or tourist card. You can obtain a visa from your local consulate or on arrival. The tourist card is generally issued for 90 days and can be purchased for US$10 at your port of entry. Check with your local consulate to see if you need to arrange a visa in advance. Visas for US citizens are free. Citizens of some countries may have to pay a fee for their visas. More information is available at http://www.rree.gob.sv/sitio/sitiowebrree.nsf/pages/svisas_requisitospais origin

Hepatitis A: Recommended for all travelers.
Typhoid: For travelers who may eat or drink outside major restaurants and hotels.
Yellow fever: Recommended for all areas in the north and its mountains.
Hepatitis B: For travelers who may have intimate contact with local residents, especially if visiting for more than 6 months.
Rabies: For travelers who may have direct contact with animals and may not have access to medical care.
Routine immunizations: All travelers should be up-to-date on tetanus-diphtheria, measles-mumps-rubella, polio, and varicella immunizations.

One of the conditions of entry onto our programs is that volunteers have travel insurance. Most importantly the insurance needs to include medical treatment and repatriation in case of unforeseen accidents or illnesses. Volunteers should purchase insurance independently and bring a copy of their insurance certificate with them for their local co-ordinator to check before starting their program. Read our terms and conditions.

You will get a Travel to Teach certificate stating the time and place you have been teaching.