Follow the Journey

Day 4- Today was our last full day in Pasac! Ah!! Estoy triste! In the morning we went on another hike to see an absolutely gorgeous waterfall. It was so secluded from the town and felt like our groups little secret place. Once we got back it was time to prepare for our evening.  We all got the opportunity to go in one of the tamascals and clean ourselves. The steam made it hard to breathe but I felt like I sweat out all the bad vibes I had left in me. After sweating several buckets we went back to our host families where our host mothers dressed us in the traditional mayan garb!  It felt like prom night all over again. They did our hair, and gave us jewelry and re-did our hair, and took tons of photos. You should´ve seen the expressions the guys had when they found out they had to wear skirts. After the initial shock I´m convinced they enjoyed it. For our last evening we had dinner with our guides and the other employees of Roots & Wings. It was a very special moment to share our meal all together one last time. We had created a very strong bond with the community and genuinely felt accepted by them. Almost as soon as we started to eat we lost power! Instead of getting upset we all continued the conversation like nothing was different. We were supposed to perform a  couple skits in front of the community but without electricity it did not seem like the show would go on. Luckily, they found a back up generator and we got the party started! I didn´t think a lot of people would show up for our performance, maybe just our host families and some kids, but it seemed like the entire village of Pasac came!! There were so many people that they didn´t all fit in the community center and had to stand outside the building. We peformed a skit about how perfect and welcoming Pasac was, a cheerleading cheer (lead by our awesome barbie, Melinda), did a crazy dance lead by James, Tom, and Jesse. We also did a zumba routine, a beatbox improve performance and ended with a song we wrote to the tune of Let It Be. After all the thanks were said and kind words shared we moved all the chairs to the side of the room and had a dance party! Our group loves to dance so we had a blast. We got our guides to join us and even some of our host families danced for a song or two. It was pretty difficult to dance in our outfits but it didn´t matter. They ended the dance with a salsa tune where we Americans demonstraighted our lack of knowledge about the dance. When it was time to shut down everyone walked back to the Roots  & Wings head quarters where they had made a small fire on the roof. We enjoyed s´mores and each others presence one last time. We shared more kind words and all started to feel sad about the thought of leaving the next day. The guides and community have been so awsome.
We left Pasac the same way we came, in the back of a pickup truck hanging on for dear life.  Heading straight from one homestay to another!