Community Day (No. 7)

Hi Bay Area! This is Toccara Slaughter and Valeria Navarro, your Líders del Día!

We began our day at 7:30 AM (more like 7:45 AM) by taking a trip to Angie’s restaurant La Bruja, where we had the choice of eggs, bistec, and liver with a side of tortilla, empanada, or ojaldre. As always, the food was delicious and some of us even decided to get frappes, which were rich, creamy, and a very much-needed caffeine boost. From La Bruja, we made our way to Sra. Eli’s house in Paris De Parita, while being encouraged to step out of our comfort zones and interact with locals by expressing our own backgrounds and learning from the community. We were then introduced to three local women: Raquel, Isela, and Sonia.

Divided into groups, we went to each of their houses and began our discovery of the life of the community. Raquel’s group learned about environmentalism, were able to explore her beautiful garden, and toured her house. Her speaking was extremely inspirational and helped us feel motivated to move into action when it comes to pouring into our environment and taking care of the small things we tend to ignore. Isela’s group was able to look through the various crops grown on her land, learn about the work culture of the community, and see them play tambores in the traditional folk manner. Sonia’s group took a tour of the city and was amazed by the giant football field that’s recognized throughout the area. The groups went back to Sra. Eli’s house and ate a lunch of rice, lentils, pollo gizado, plantains, and ponche. She shared her gratitude towards us, as did we and we then went back to the hotel.

Once we headed back to our hotel, some of us decided to utilize our free time by going to the local boba shop, Mr. Tea, and having the milk tea we all missed back at home. After we finished our drinks, we went to one of the biggest supermarkets we had seen, Super 99, and bought snacks, as well as an excessive amount of grapes (which were finished later that day). Shortly after walking back, we then met up with the rest of the group and continued to shop. We then walked to the Plaza and bought souvenirs, snacks, and more from small vendors throughout the community. After an excessive and exciting trip to explore, we then headed back to the hotel to continue with our day.

We were given half an hour of downtime to ourselves, then followed by an hour of self-reflection, essentially debriefing our community experiences with one another. It was an experience that taught us our similarities and differences with the people of Paris de Parita, how to appreciate what we already have and make changes within our own communities. After the hour of self-reflection, we headed to dinner, consisting of pollo asado, fries, salad, and passion fruit juice (again, super good, gracias Angie!) Our routine nightly meeting then took place, where we passed on the torch to Arelly and Azul as Líders del Día for our first day of CAP delivery.

Currently, we write amidst loud laughs, the continuing bracelet-making trend, and more grape-eating. We can’t wait to deliver our CAP project tomorrow at La Escuela de Paris de Parita!

Thank you for reading our blog and enjoy the pictures!