Hello from San Andres!
I am proud to introduce to you all the ninth member of our group: Patito the duck (pato being the Spanish word for duck). To recap, after we left Finca Ixobel we were assigned to our first homestay families. We were warmly welcomed into the community, and to ease the transition we stayed with another group member. We also ate our meals together as a group, which made for some interesting conversations ranging from enlightenment to condiments (and often including our various bowel movements). In the mornings we went to the school. Our mission was to help the second through fifth grades plant trees around the school yard. After the tree planting was done for the day we played with the kids at their endless recess block. Our energy levl was hardly a match for a school of 500 plus kids, but we learned names, played futbol, jumped rope, chased, played monster, and accepted flowers until lunch. After lunch we often went back to the laguna at the Finca for a swim or nap, made use of our familys´ cold outdoor showers (when the water was on), and helped the families cook dinner. We could also venture into Poptun with a quick tuk tuk ride to get on the internet or pick up various things at the market. One evening was dedicated to a sewing lesson conducted by Nick´s host mom, Esperanza. We went into Poptun to pick up some fabric, and then ended up mostly watching Esperanza sew a whole outfit with lightening speed on a non-electric sewing machine. Another afternoon part of the group ventured to a nearby cave that had us crawling on our stomachs and barely fitting through crevasses. Many group members have gotten the hang of making tortillas in the past week, and we all took part in a cookie baking extravaganza to give cookies to all our host families in thanks for being so generous. Luckily we have a few culinary experts among us.
The story of Patito begins with Rachel and Jessica´s homestay family, which had an orphaned duckling that Rachel immediately fell in love with. At school one day she jokingly mentioned how awesome it would be to adopt Patito and travel with him, which got Nick and Amanda talking. We had a group meeting and dreams turned into reality as the family wholeheartedly supported it. Next thing we know we´re in Poptun talking to people about how to best transport a duck and learning everything we can about their diet and habits. Rachel made up a traveling box and got his things (food and water) ready to go. We were sad to see the week come to an end as we all had bonded with our families and the community. We played one last game of futbol with the school teachers (pulling out the first win for team CAM and solidifying our new game plan), said our goodbyes, and set out on a bus to Flores and then a boat to San Andres. San Andres is right on a beautiful lake and we will have language classes and our second homestays here. The adventures of Patito have begun, and so far we have learned that traveling with a duck is hardly worthy of a doubletake in Guatemala. You will hear more from our group soon, thanks for tuning in.
Adios,
Hannah
on behalf of CAM 2009
