Friday (catching up!)

Friday was a long and wonderful day.  Father Don and Rose were able to stop in at Hillside Clinic to show the director the prosthetic hand they had gotten from the Rotary Club in Kirkwood. These devices are donated and could be life changing for a farmer or other people who have lost a hand. The director at Hillside was excited and knows of a farmer who will benefit from it.

The San Lucas crew, Mary, Father Don, Jill and Donna had the children participate in a living rosary led by Father Don. They were treated to a lunch of chile mole, a black soup. After lunch the children changed into their beautiful traditional Mayan clothing and performed some Mayan dancing.  Jill led the kids in a parade outside with the children playing the musical instruments we brought.  Several dogs joined in by singing along!  

In Corazon Creek, Rose, Carolyn, Roberta and Christy also led the children in a living rosary prayer.  The children practiced their ABC exercises. For lunch they were invited to the home of the catechism for Chut, a tortilla filled with smashed beans, a sweet corn tortilla for dessert and a cacao drink.  They were treated to traditional dancing after lunch, as well as a more modern dance called the Tornado.  

The construction crew in Corazon, Vernon, Don M, Gordon and Dennis, fixed up the library (to keep out the bats!), built some bookcases and built some new benches for the library porch.

In Otoxha, Chris, Rick and Roy, along with some help from two local men, got the library painted.

The teachers in Otoxha, Anita, Jody, Annette, Denise and Ann, completed four art projects before lunch, that might be a new record! Paper bag puppets, pinwheels, a rainbow fish and foil crosses were a big hit at every school this week.  At recess the kids begged for another chance to dance the Cupid Shuffle.  The entire group was invited to lunch at Mr Ac's house, he is the principal. Imagine his poor wife having to cook for eight extra people!  They had caldo with cabbage and rice.  The school hosted an assembly to thank our team. The Alcalde (mayor) and village chairman offered their thanks as well.

We all met in Corazon to visit several of our scholarship students and present them with solar lamps to help them study in the evening. A big thanks to Gary and Suzanne for donating them.

We headed up the road towards San Lucas. The nice thing about working in the same villages every year is that we know everybody along the road, that is also the bad thing!  We have to stop at MANY houses to visit and shop for handicrafts.  As we drive down the road we laugh at the people who see Ann and run up to the van yelling, "Miss Ann, Miss Ann!"

One van gave some teachers a ride home into Punta Gorda. It's kind of funny that we NEVER got stuck all week while driving through the muddy roads in the villages, but they got stuck trying to get out of his driveway!  Needless to say dinner was a little late!

After dinner we had a relaxing evening visiting with the sisters at the retreat center.

Wow, what a day!