At 6:15 am we got up to get ready for a big day…. we had to wake them up at 7:00 am, but we told them to wake up at 6:30 am as a joke. Some were okay with it and others were extremely angry, but we’re all friends so it’s fine. At 7:00 am we got ready for breakfast and we ate yogurt with strawberries and bananas and three pieces of toast, but there were five different options: blueberry, white, chocolate, wheat, and oat. We also had papaya juice and eggs, but our gluten-free friend (Alexis) had plantains once again.

While in our painting clothes, we waited around for about 45 minutes as the packed lunches were being prepared. Around 8:50 am Don Fernando arrived with the bus to take us to the Carlos Garbay farm in order to complete our Community Action Project (CAP) day 1 plan: painting the outer wall of the Carlos Garbay Institute, in order to make it look better. We arrived at the farm around 9:30 am and started pulling weeds out of the entrance of the farm. We then swept the walls to take of any dirt and began our first coat of paint. We all painted the wall until 10:30 am when it was break time. We ate Oreos, crackers, and Zombos (a frosted cookie with chocolate chips on top). We then continued painting until noon; while some people painted others collected the weed and rock piles from before, and scattered them across the side of the farm. To make sure everyone was healthy and hydrated, we reminded them to make sure to drink water by saying “cheers” and also gave them sunscreen. At 12:00 pm we had lunch, which was chicken pasta, apples, juice, and a cookie. At 1:00 pm we continued working and we almost finished the entire wall. By 2:00 pm we had run out of paint, but we almost finished the entire wall. We will put the finishing touches on it tomorrow before starting our second phase of the CAP plan.

We arrived back at La Primavera at 3:00 pm and had time to decompress. At 4:30 pm we started a seminar project, led by Jess, one of our GG Leaders. This project was writing letters to the supporters who contributed to making our trip possible. Most people finished writing the rough draft of their letter by 5:30 or 6:00 pm, and had time to plan the next day’s lesson plan.

At 6:30 pm we left La Primavera for Lina, a Mexican restaurant downtown. We got there around 7:00 pm and waited for our food. Burritos, Flautas, and enchiladas were all part of the menu, along with lemonade and jamaica juice. To celebrate Ricardo, Janeyda, and Shu Ping’s birthdays we also ate tiramisu cake. During the dinner, we also had our nightly meeting and passed the torch to Janeyda and Griffin, who are tomorrow’s Lider del Dia’s. We left Lina at around 8:15pm and got back to La Primavera at 8:30 to write this blog post and hang out until bedtime at 10:00pm.

Tomorrow we are going to finish the wall and begin to paint the lunchroom of the Carlos Garbay Institute. We will also have our final English tutoring class in the morning, which is met with mixed feelings. Lastly, we will also be revising the letters for the supporters in the afternoon. Cheers!