Day 11: CAP Day #2 (No. 7)

Hello family and friends! Today was our second CAP Day, meaning we continued our work at the Aquiares School in the field near the gym. We had breakfast (fried eggs, gallo pinto, bread, and fruit) at the lodge and then walked over to the school to meet the maestro and plan the work for today. We had little sense of direction fromthe previous afternoon because of how our previous foreman had to cancel on us on the first day. However, Memo, our Aquiares resident Program Coordinator and tour guide, was able to ask another engineer, Omar, to help us continue from where we ended yesterday. So then we got to work digging the rest of the trench we needed for the tubing of the sewage system.

Eventually, the children who were attending school today had their break sometime around 11:00 and we left to take a break and play with them while the maestro planned our next action. The kids invited us to play basketball, and later to play soccer. They kinda destroyed us. Their energy is something to behold. Well compared to us after shovelling for a few hours.  After the kids had left, we had lunch in their cafeteria. Without a doubt, school lunches here are A MILLION times better than in the states. While we are getting microwaved bags, the students here are getting freshly cooked meals by their kind chef Marcela. We had a finely seasoned fish with rice, beans, and topped with salad. And may we say, it was absolutely wonderful. It defitely gave us energy for the work we had ahead of us.

When we came back, Omar instructed us to dig out holes which we would later pour cement into for the supports of the foundation. This was challenging due to only being able to rely on our manual labor we could do with the tools provided. With our teamwork, however, we were able to overcome this hurdle and we got all the holes dug. Though we wheel out several carts of stones and cement

As the day went on, we found the progress we were making satisfying. Digging up the holes, laying out the tubing, and finalizing this aspect of the foundation all within two days is amazing to us. It really goes to show how much a team can when we collaborate. And in the end, as we were cleaning up and making our way back to the lodge, considering the visible progress we made invigorated us. Tommorow, we hope to perservere just as we did today and help create something that this school in Aquiares will benefit from long after it is finished.

Peace out, from your LDDs, Hope and Alex.