1st Day of Construction

Author: Madeleine
Location: Picagres
Waking up at 7am this morning we all felt rejuvenated and excited to start our first day of work on the site. We had a bountiful breakfast of fruit and cereal and headed off at 8am to the school at the top of a mountain, what a wonderful sight! We began to dig holes in order for poles and cement to be inserted to build the new cafeteria. The holes needed to be 25cm wide and 90cm deep. This was not an easy task and all of us were sweating a great deal after a short time. After a while we came up with a good system of digging the holes, even a few of the natives joined in on the fun. After working hard and completing about 8-10 holes we ate lunch and continued immediately to play games with the local children. We played red rover and an intense game of soccer or "futbol", ending with a score of 2 to 2. After it started to rain we all shouted "hasta maana" to the locals. We traveled to the healer Juan Sanchez. He told us about cleansing and healing the spirit rather than the body and showed us multiple medicinal plants. We enjoyed smelling, tasting, and rubbing the plants on us. The sacrificial locations, spiritual temples, and animal bones were interesting, and even a bit startling. Juan Sanchez also had 2 adorable dogs! We then returned to the hotel, swam, had a great dinner, and contemplated what animal we hoped to be. Now we're all off to bed, tired from yet another long day.
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