Sunday June 16th

Hello from Punta Gorda!

We are one day late on Sunday's update due to internet troubles, but we are now in an internet cafe in Punta Gorda.

Yesterday was quite eventful!  We started the day with a delicious breakfast at Tranquility Lodge; french toast, sausage, papaya, watermelon, banana, pineapple.  Then we headed over to Corazon Creek Technical High School for their first graduation ever.  The motto for the graduation was "Together we have experienced our lives, separately we will pursue our dreams and forever our memories will remain."  The graduates sang "Unwritten", "The Climb" and "We are the World".  All graduates received a $1000 scholarship to attend the local University in Punta Gorda. 

The speeches were fantastic.  Ofelia Tush, the Valedictorian, had a very memorable speech; it was so touching it brought tears to our eyes.  As was the guest speaker's speech.  Some quotes that stuck with our team were "Live in poverty, but do not let poverty live in you" and "be a producer, not a consumer".  We also witnessed four of the All Saints scholarship recipients graduate and following the graduation we went to Amalia Caal's house (one of the recipients) to help celebrate.  We enjoyed some tasty food comprised of "Calda" (chicken and broth) and "Poch" (hand ground corn wrapped in a palm leaf).  While eating, a chicken walked in to Allison's juice!  That was so funny, you had to be there.  We wrapped up the celebration with some photos and dancing performed by Sarah, Emily, Shannon and Allison. 

Part of the team moved on to Aguacate to enjoy a church celebration (under the new roof that All Saints helped to pay for) and more local cuisine comprised of chicken and tortillas.  In talking to a local, he was very excited about the new solar power project coming to San Lucas.  Each family will get their own solar panel.

We also found out the hard way that this was one of the first real rains of the season; Todd and Jim were able to show off their swimming skills!

We miss you all and will try to update as soon as possible.  Everyone is having a great time and we are safe.