Wednesday

Did I say Plan B?  By today I think we are up to at least Plan S or T!  One of the items on the packing list is a flexible attitude, good thing we all packed one.

Started the day back at the hardware store hoping to pick up the paint that had been ordered on Monday.  All we knew is that the paint was, supposedly, on the bus.  After standing around for an hour, we found out that the paint was, in fact, put on a bus in Belize City yesterday. That was the good news. The bad news was that the bus was still sitting in Belize City along with our paint.  So after a very late start, we arrived in Santa Teresa.  We worked on Pen Pal letters with all of the students and had all of the kids "shop" for new flip flops. They call them "slippers."  It is interesting that the boys are fine with pink slippers or glittery ones.
While we were working on that, the construction crew was busy repairing some doors and shutters.  The guys were amazed that the shutters on the school are made of MAHOGANY!  This is a local wood and is plentiful. The men started with a big chunk of wood and used a chain saw to cut it down into boards.  Quite a sight to see.  Meanwhile, Ann, Nick, Emily and Kris headed down to San Lucas.  They were only a few minutes down the road when a can of paint that was in the van rolled, hit the door and exploded!  Of course this was the oil based paint that was actually going to be returned to the hardware store.  Our ever resourceful team member, Kris, had the brilliant idea to cut off the bottom pant legs of her scrubs to use to clean up the mess!  Between that, baby wipes and some used lunch bags, they were back on their way in no time! In San Lucas they read a story, worked with wooden block letters and built construction paper roller coasters. The biggest hit of the day was the parachute activities.  Thanks to donations from the students at St Dominic, we were able to get a LARGE parachute.  The entire school was able to play with it at the same time. The kids had a great time and the teachers were exhausted!
After lunch at Santa Teresa Donna and Randy helped the little kids make Play Doh shapes and decorate paper dolls to look like the children.  Anita, Judy and Donna worked with the older children on two Readers Theater presentations.  The Standard 3 students practiced and presented The Giving Tree and the older children presented an Asian Folktale called The Deer Mouse.
It was a full day!
On the way home, we took a detour to the village of Aquacate to check out the roof of the church there. In January one of the men from the village made a request that we help the village repair the roof.  The road to Aquacate makes most of the other roads in the country look like city streets!
Sam was able to spend the day with a Physical Therapist from the Hillside Clinic. They visited an 8 year old patient in his home in Laguna, made another home visit in Punta Gorda and stopped in at the clinic in San Pedro Columbia.  Many women here wind up needing PT for their necks and backs since they carry their babies in a sling balanced on their head. 
The highlight of the day might have been the cold bottles of Coke on the way home, might not have been the coldest bottle ever, but might have been one of the best!
Tomorrow is Mass/graduation at San Lucas followed by lunch and then an invitation for a second lunch at Santa Teresa!  We are so blessed.