Today was the first day of our CAP Delivery Project. Some of us woke up at 6AM again for an early workout. For breakfast, we ate salami with plantains. The group was told to drink water with electrolytes for our safety while we planned to work in the sun all day.

At 9AM, the shoppers went out and bought 50 bags of cement (!), 100 cement blocks (!!), and a couple of iron wires to build our basketball court. Then, everyone met up at Los Arroyos to establish everyone’s roles to get the first phase of building the court done as fast as possible. We split into groups to work on the garden and for others to make the future court area flat for cementing.

For the garden, first large rocks were used to outline the garden area. We had to redo the design a few times based on the teachers’ needs and desires but eventually came up with a great design. Cement also had to be dug up and then dirt from the court area was put in its place.

To get the supplies off of the pickup truck, everyone participated in taking off the heavy cement bags and bricks. Each bag of cement powder weighed 42.5 kilograms!! After a couple hours of hard work, we took a break by eating lunch. As it started to rain, a lot of us went out to cool down which made it easier for us to work and to dig. As more work continued on, we worked together and with many of the locals. The garden area was finished by the time we left at 3:00pm and the brick outline for the court was set. We tutored again today and tomorrow will be our last class before graduation.

FAST FACTS:

Weather: it was a hot day before the project, then it rained during lunch but dried up after lunch in time for us to keep working

Best Meal: Lunch was rice, beans, and chicken delivered to us by Licelot

Best Moment: When it started pouring and everyone went outside to cool down!

Biggest Takeaway: Many places in the world do not have the same machines and supplies for construction as we are used to seeing in the United States. For the project, community members used their hands the entire time with non-mechanical tools like pick axes and wooden shovels.