Cap Day 2 for the 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone! It’s the leaders of the day Nadira and Natalie, and we’re currently writing this during a glow stick rave under the gazebo (they’re dancing to a very eclectic mix of Bad Bunny, ABBA, the national anthem, etc.)!

We started off our day eating a very American breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup to celebrate the 4th of July! We surprised the group with glittery face paint in American flag colors that most of the group wore to the CAP site.

After arriving at the CAP site, we finally started installing piping into the area we dug; everyone worked hard together and made sure that no one tired themselves out. We dug out another line in the middle of the road to connect it with a pipe that is going from the house. It was quite productive, even though JC and the three older community members had to measure the pipes seven times because they kept getting different numbers! Still, it was quite fulfilling to see the gratitude from community members; one of the neighborhood ladies even brought us cookies and coffee, and Noel (our very silly bus driver) handed out fresh bananas!

For our lunch break, we ate a delicious lunch of white rice with beans, fried chicken, fried corn bread, fruit, fruit punch and orange juice. We sang the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance; afterwards, we went back to the C.A.P area to continue our work. We spent hours working hard with local community members, and even spent time playing with the local children that took some silly pictures of Ms. Pam. Despite the hot sun coming out during our work today, we had a lot of fun racing the pipes back and forth and even having a huapango dance break with Noel.

We headed back home after finishing our work a bit early and had 2 whole hours of free time; we spent time in the pool, calling our parents, hanging out with friends, doing each other’s makeup, and overall unwinding after a hard day’s work. For dinner, we had a quite American meal of hot dogs, nachos, fries, and (for the very first time on this trip) ice-cold soda!

Finally, we celebrated Stephanie’s birthday with some yummy marshmallow cake (with a cool sparkler topping) and flan! After our nightly meeting, JC and Marina surprised us with sparklers that looked so cool in the night, even though they almost caught someone’s hair on fire (they didn’t) (cough cough Natalie). Then, later in the day at the nightly meeting, many people were sharing big loves; Nicolaus (his love for the swing) and Matt (the dancing machine) were the main people who received big love!

Things we did to celebrate the 4th of July:

• American-themed meals! (pancakes & syrup, fried chicken, chips, hot dogs & fries)
• American-themed music during meals and free time, like Party in the U.S.A or Take Me Home, Country Roads
• Glitter face paint in American flag colors
• American-themed meal prompts: who can sing the entire national anthem?
• Glow sticks and sparklers after nightly meeting

We hope everyone back home is enjoying the 4th of July!