CAP DAY 2 “RINSE & REPEAT”

Buenos Dias, familia, from Arturo, Zuri, and Averi.

Yesterday, we did a lot. Our day started fresh and early as leaders at 6:45 a.m. We started by waking everyone up and making sure we had everything ready for ourselves. It took about 40-45 minutes for everyone to get ready and meet downstairs at 8 am. Before breakfast, we made sure everyone had their necessities, like meds (if needed), sunscreen, bug spray, and anything in those sorts. Breakfast started a bit later, so we all hung around and talked before then.  Today’s breakfast was sandwiches containing pork, tomatoes, cheese, and condiments. Breakfast ended around 8:30, because at 9:00 we had to meet at our community to start our project. Yesterday’s project, we mixed sand, water, and cement powder to make cement for the floors. That took approximately 2 hours, including passing the very heavy buckets to the homes.  As the leaders, we reminded everyone to take a sip ofwater every 30 minutes to make sure they were hydrated and had enough energy. We only finished half in the morning due to running out of cement and having lunch at 12:30. We returned to the hotel to eat lunch. Lunch was very good and abstract. Sancocho was our first meal after our project. We all enjoyed it a lot, and it was most of our first time trying it.

 After lunch, we had 10 minutes to get situated before we left again to finish our project.  During those 10 minutes, we talked about our previous work we’ve done earlier, and how we will do better when we return later.  Around 2, the bus came back to get us and dropped us off. We were doing really well. Most of the boys were shoveling, and like 3 girls. Most of us girls did not want to shovel due to the heaviness of the shovel, so the majority of them passed around the buckets. An hour in, it started raining, womp. We went inside a home that was being worked on by others in the community. It was raining extremely hard for about 10-15 minutes. During those minutes, we were listening to music, vibing out, and enjoying each other’s company until it was over. We surprisingly finished the project extremely fast, and we were all very proud of the outcome and the timing we finished.  After the project, of course, we had to take a group photo. After the group photo, we were waiting for the bus to come to pick us up. We noticed a goat next to the house, and we all wondered if it had been there the whole time lol. It was really interesting to see.

We were all happy to finish the project when we did, because that meant the rest of the day was free time!! During our free time, we all met up and planned to walk around the town before Dinner at 7:00. Most of us showered before going anywhere because the cement and dirt got our clothes extremely messy. We all started walking in different cliques. The walk was calming and peaceful, and the breeze was heavenly. We all met up at a pizza spot in town. The pizza was very cheesy and saucy. The sauce was really sweet, and it tasted different from the ones we were used to in America. We were all very full and questioning whether or not we would be able to eat dinner at 7:00. We were at the pizza spot for an hour, just laughing and having a great time. We walked around a little bit after to let our food digest, and we still had extra time. We stopped at jewelry stores and grocery stores to get souvenirs and snacks.  We finally returned to the hotel, and we all talked before dinner.  The majority of us were debating whether to eat dinner due to the pizza we had earlier. We still had a good dinner, in the presence of our company and friends, and the soda they gave us for dinner today. This was our first time drinking Coke and Sprite in like a month. After dinner, we came to our nightly meeting, and went over our work today, and any follow-up suggestions, questions, that anyone had. Yesterday’s quote of the day was, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” This quote is very similar to our trip, because the whole time we’ve been here, we have been helping others and making them feel good all around the community and their neighborhood. They were happy to see new faces from a different country, and see people helping them out, and wanting to get to know them. 

 Cap Day 2 was a success, and we all enjoyed it. We did very well as leaders, making everyone come together and be in a good mood for the rest of the day. This wraps everything up for what we did today and what we accomplished. 

 Chao, from Arturo, Averi, and Zuri!!!