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Today’s report written by Kaitlin Turner, Christina Contelmo, and Stephen Campos
Have you ever felt like one day is actually a week? Well that is how each day feels here. There is just so much to see and to experience that it borders on overwhelming. We started our day as normal with prayer and breakfast. However, today was extraordinary to the fact that it was Kim Turner’s quinceanera, her fifteenth birthday. The quinceanera is actually a huge celebration in Hispanic culture, so there was a lot of celebration for her.
The first place we visited was Portera Grande. There was another fun ride on the pickup trucks on a dirt road to arrive at our destination, but to visit these people it was definitely worth it. They had never before been visited by Americans, and so the people there were even more grateful, and taken aback by our presence. When we were there they too put on presentations for us to give us a taste of their culture. In this village they had a bakery where they baked scrumptious cookies and bread.
Then it was back onto the pickup trucks to go to Montanita. Some of us began to talk and joke around with the children there, and someone came up with the idea to play a game. Since we were already in a circle we decided to play a game of Duck, Duck, Goose, but in Spanish it was Perro, Perro, Gato. There was a little bit of confusion at first, but everyone overcame the language barrier to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Our time was cut short, however, since Henry, our trip director, needed to leave to go to Guatemala. We were all quite upset to see him go, not only because he was the best among us at speaking both languages, but also because he was just an incredible person.
Today was the day that those of us who sponsor children were able to meet and spend time with them. Some woke up at four in the morning just to see us, while others had traveled by bus for six hours. The first child arrived this morning a little before breakfast, and was there for the entire day. The rest of them were there once we got back from Montanita. After eating lunch with them, and talking to them, we were off to go play a soccer game. It was mixed between gringos (Americans) and natives, but the teams were not evenly matched. Many of the gringo players drifted off to the sidelines. We ended the day with a few of the sponsor children here for dinner, and then had cake for Kim. It was the perfect way to end the day.
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