El Salvador Volunteer Story: Hanna

After I finished my schooling I still didn’t really know what I want to do with my life. Travel to Teach offered me the perfect solution and above all an affordable opportunity to escape from the capitalistic western world and experience life in a completely different surrounding.

I applied to participate for three months at the sea turtle conservation project on Meanguera Island, and another three months teaching English in Santa Tecla.

Living on the island was a real adventure for me, especially adapting to the tropical climate (Meanguera Island is one of the hottest spots in El Salvador) this was a real challenge at the beginning. I knew that on the island people lived in extreme poverty, but I was still not prepared for the extreme isolation from the mainland life that the islands experience.

The education on the island is dreadfully poor resulting in a lack of prospects for children and teenagers on the island. Alcohol addiction is also a serious problem on the island combined with underage pregnancies. Nevertheless, participating at the turtle project was a unique experience for me. Several nights a week we walked to the beach (30 to 45 minutes) and patrolled it in order to protect the turtle eggs from the locals. (Turtle eggs are a delicacy in Central America). Every time a mother turtle finished laying her eggs, we took them and brought them to a nearby hatchery. The liberations of the baby turtles were always a big moment, as well as watching hundreds of baby turtles toddling for the first time in the sea. It was a wonderful sight.

Thanks especially to our great coordinator who always provided us with leisure time activities like kayaking, fishing, boogie boarding or exploring the island. I really had a great time on Meanguera Island!

For the past few weeks I’ve been living and teaching in Santa Tecla. On my first day of school I was extremely nervous since I’ve never taught before and my Spanish skills are not the best in the world. Luckily all the students are used to volunteers and are very patient and before long I was in full swing and found myself really enjoying the teaching!

What is really nice about El Salvador is that travelling to other countries within Central America is so easy and accessible! So far I’ve visited Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras and am hoping to visit Costa Rica before my time here is up. Since El Salvador is quite small, I have travelled a lot within this amazing country as well. El Salvadorians are always very helpful and friendly and the landscape with all its volcanoes and forests is simply beautiful. And even though I still don’t have the slightest idea what I’m going to do back home, it was the best decision of my life to spend my gap year here in El Salvador.