Before we start today’s blog, we would like to introduce ourselves.  I, Shreya Reddy, am pictured wearing a red shirt and dark brown pants. And, I, Nathaly, am not pictured today, but I am there in spirit!

Today, we woke up at 6:15 a.m., and many of us were grateful for a little more sleep than we got the night before.  After listening to some music while getting ready, we headed to breakfast at 7:00 a.m.  There we enjoyed a meal of toast served with rice and egg.  As our final step to getting ready, we played our energizer and waited for the rest of our English students to arrive at the Hostal.  Finally, we were ready to take on another day of hard work, and we headed into the bus to Barrilete.

As soon as we arrived at our destination, everyone split into groups based on the projects we were working on: painting the murals; remodeling the windows; fixing the tables and chairs; or decorating the banner.  Eager to commence work on a new day, all the Glimpsers immediately began assigning roles, gathering supplies, and discussing game plans.  Every group had its challenges.  For example, I, Shreya, was a part of the banner group, and we encountered problems as soon as we walked into the door.  We found a new set of dirty shoe prints, even paw prints, on our newly painted banner.  In addition, we realized that the Styrofoam trays filled with oil paint that we had left in the room overnight had dissolved, causing the paint to drip through onto the floor and the banner.  However, all of us were able to overcome these challenges, finding a way to adapt to the situation at hand and make the most of what we had.

After four hours of pulling through despite the heat and our exhaustion, we took a break to eat our delicious lunch consisting of rice, meat, salad, and tortilla.  Before getting back to work, we played another quick game to get people ready for the next two hours ahead of them.  Many of us ended up getting tired, but we ended on a happy note with an impromptu paint fight filled with laughter.  At the end of the day, we had before us a full academic mural covering all four walls of the living room, three windows with new shutters attached, some newly refurbished tables and chairs, and a bright yellow banner hung up in front of the school.  As a finishing touch, we each added and labeled our handprints with initials on one of the walls in the living room, leaving our own personal mark on Barrilete.

Finishing our CAP Delivery also meant saying goodbye to the kids and teachers at Barrilete, which was hard for all of us to do.  But our spirits soon lifted up after we were all able to return home and wash off the paint that had accumulated on our bodies throughout the day.  Finally, at 5:00 p.m. we headed over to dinner, where we ate some gallo pinto, repocheta, and salad.  After dinner, we all headed over to our English Tutoring, dressed in our fancy clothing, ready to participate in our school-wide talent show.  We all immensely enjoyed ourselves at the talent show, where many belted out songs, in both Spanish and English, demonstrated their “double-jointedness”, and performed comedic skits.  At one point, we all got up to sing and dance to a couple of songs as a group together, which many of the glimpsers expressed was one of their favorite parts of the night.  All in all, we had a great time, so when it was time to go, many of us were reluctant to say our goodbyes to our English students for the last time.  As a result, we took the opportunity to take pictures and exchange contact information, before it was finally time to return home.

Back home, we had our Nightly Meeting as usual, and discussed our experiences with CAP Delivery in our small-reflection groups.  As I am writing this, we are all settling into our rooms to get a goodnight’s sleep before tomorrow’s fun, wild adventure!