Day 3

Saturday, March 26, 2011




A pick ax to the Eye!! Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds, but I know it would get your attention. Emily Ortega got her own eye pick ax, but it was minor and just below the eye and we do have an eye doc on board (and mom too). We thought we knew hard work yesterday, but today really challenged us all. We were paired up and each team worked a section digging. There were no ceremonies this morning so it was straight to work once we got there. It was also very hot today, so digging and pick axing from 8a to 12a wore us all out. We keep everyone one their water and Gatorade. The little kids came around and me and a group of the girls had fun leading them in song and playing games. We sang chocolate, heads shoulders, row row row your boat, and played duck duck goose…………all in Spanish of course!

During our work day we had no access to bathrooms, so that made for some interesting fun. Melissa had her first “natural experience”! We ate again in the church, tortillas and rice, spaghetti and meat balls and more watermelon. Tonight we had tortillas, chicken, vegetables, and fresh tomatoes. As you can see we are well fed.

We had lots of time in the park today. The students are a real hit with all the kids. We had Stephanie, Macy, and Chastyn doing head stands, Mary and Megan were surrounded by a group of little girls, Connor and Brandon were showing some basketball moves, Niko, Lauren, Melissa, and Kirsten were playing soccer, Nick was sketching the whole thing, and Sami was in the middle of it all. Devin seems to have his own fan club there. I also walked them to the corner store and we bought ice cream. You would not believe what an exciting treat that was, something as simple as ice cream has much more significance now. It was not all play back at the compound, moms get ready, everyone was washing their clothes at the “pila”. This is a small well inside the compound with a washboard and soap. But our chaperones are busy too….Steve Rice has tended to an eye injury, helped fix a truck, and apparently he and Don just helped install a water tank here at the compound. Tomorrow we will go to church and off to the mal nutrition center. We will be delivering our beds as well. The team is both excited and anxious about what they will experience.

Everyone is doing well and having lots of fun. Once again I was very impressed with how hard everyone worked. It was hard to get them to even stop for breaks. I think everyone will sleep well tonight. Thank you for all your comments, they are very much appreciated!

Oh, and Chuck, Don says the fishing here is great, you should try it!

All the students and chaperones say “miss you and lots of love!”