Day 6: Community Day – Alana & Kenny

Hi everyone! Today we woke up at 7:00 AM. We had breakfast at 8:00 AM and it was eggs with ham, cereal, pineapple, and toast. After breakfast we had a mental warmup for the long day ahead. We then left the hotel around 9:00 AM and traveled to the community (Sonido de Yaque). There was a long hike down on a very steep road and got introduced to some of the community members and then they took us on a tour of the community and showed us their animals, crops, and homes. They showed us where they get the beans for their coffee since they make it and sell it there. We then tried a banana straight off the tree. We split into three groups, and raked leaves to clear the area. Next, we ate food made by the locals. This included: rice, beans, chicken, salad, avocado. We ended up chatting with the locals, and shopping for souvenirs. The souvenirs were made by a local community member, some of the things were bracelets, keychains, necklaces, and ice cream. We spent some time with them and then at 2:30 PM we hiked back up the hill and hit the road to the CAP (community action project) community.

We arrived and the organization introduced themselves as well as the families that we will be helping. Today, we also learned that our project will be creating a concrete foundation for two houses. We got to talk to the families and realize their struggles and why they truly need help. This helped us all to be more motivated and sympathetic towards them. We then said goodbye and traveled back to the hotel and had a self reflection. We then ate dinner which was: salad, potatoes, mashed potatoes, yuca, salami, and fried eggs for the people with dietary restrictions. After dinner we had free time where people talked, played games, and kaboo. We then had our nightly meeting and now we are writing the blog.

Thanks for reading fam!

From Alana, To fam and friends: I miss you all so much. Say hi to all the cats for me, and I hope you are all having a super fun time. Love you sooo much!

From Kenny, To fam: Hey mom, I miss you and I can’t wait to see you, pops, and Kenaiece. I’m having a great time and I love you all.