Hola friends and family of our Itza family! We had an incredible last day in Roatan, which included a day trip to West Bay, where we lounged and swam in one of the most beautiful beaches that we have ever seen. About half the group even got to go on a final dive the last day, swimming in underwater galaxies with many little fishes, eels and turtles by our sides. Before dinner, we led the students through a meditation exercise which walked them through out entire journey, from the first moment they heard one of our voices on the phone, to meeting up in San Francisco, remembering many of the outrageous and hilarious characters we met along the way, and revisiting all of the incredible places and people we visited over the past three months.
After dinner we all went out to an incredible fish feast at the Lighthouse restaurant, located right on the water with our tables under an open sky. With the moonlight and a clear black night sprinkled with flashing stars above, we feasted on delicious fresh fish and filled any remaining pockets in our bellies with strawberry and chocolate milkshakes. During dinner, we reflected on this incredible journey, sharing our favorite moments, biggest challenges, surprises, and talked about preparing for our arrival back home. We were all somewhat in denial that this epic trip had truly come to an end until we were driving to the airport this morning.
After checking in to the flight, we did a final appreciation circle, recognizing and honoring each member of our community, our family, before parting ways. The students will all be together in San Francisco tonight and will then begin their journey back to their families tomorrow.
We cannot thank you enough, parents, for entrusting us for three months and allowing your students to take flight into the world and begin to truly spread their wings and soar beyond the community, country, culture, and world in which they had previously lived. As you will soon learn from all the stories and pictures, soar we did, diving in to new families in Nicaragua and Guatemala, getting our hands dirty and rising at 6 am to work and sweat on an island farm, studying hard and learning to breathe underwater and swim beneath the sea, and learning what it means to travel and live in a group alongside people whose lives are starkly different from our own.
The blog posts may have been sparse the last few weeks, but the experiences have been anything but. A few of the students will be posting in the next week to fill in the gaps to share our journey more through words and photos (they might need a reminder, hint hint).
Thank you all for your trust and commitment to this journey.
Love from the Caribbean,
J & N