Day 3 of 2009 Trip

Monday, January 5 was day 3 of our trip and our first day to visit the villages where we would spend our week.

The day started on an interesting note for my roommate Joanne and me...we were getting ready that morning and had a surprise guest outside of our window in our room...a tarantula the size of a hand (not kidding!). We did what most girls would do...we screamed, then we took our camera and took photos of the furry little thing. Then, Dave, another team member came to the rescue and tapped on the window until the tarantula fell to the ground. The rest of the trip Joanne and I checked every nook of our room for spiders!

I was still feeling quite sick on Monday, so I stayed behind at the convent while the rest of the group headed out...but they came back with some great stories...here are a few:

• The corn crops are planted in the shape of a cross, so that God will bless the crops...pretty good planning!

• The construction team who worked to build a church in one of the villages had some pretty strong rain showers and had to wear their ponchos and even wait out the rain in the van. Then had to dig a trench to drain water the foundation of the church.

• Several of our team members visited villages to vaccinate pigs to de-worm them...some of these pigs weighed 250-400 lbs!

• And much of the team spent time at schools in the villages meeting and working with the children. Some of our team went to a village called Blue Creek where they are lucky enough to have minimal electricity and two computers...this is a larger village and not so remote. Other team members visited San Lucas, where our team has been several times. A funny story about some of the children here...when they learned Fr. Don was a priest...they were very amazed and impressed and asked him if he knows how to sing the "Holy, Holy, Holy"...very cute. And, the last village we worked with was Santa Teresa, another village we have previously worked in...one of the students quickly took to Joanne and brought her tropical flowers from the village.

The drive to the villages can be pretty bumpy because the roads are not paved...so Mike got a little creative and used a volleyball we brought for the kids to keep his head from hitting the ceiling of the van. As you drive through the villages, you will often see women doing their laundry, dishes and even bathing in a nearby river or stream.

I stayed at the convent and stuffed hygiene bags all day to bring to the schools later in the week. The bags were stuffed with the items many of you donated. A big huge THANKS!

Later that evening, we went into Punta Gorda to make a few phone calls and update the blog....and I finally got to call and talk to my Doug.

Later in the evening, we packed suitcases full of supplies to take to the villages.