Dear Parents and Family,
I hope you guys aren´t missing us too much. Happy Thursday everyone! Today we started by going to the local high school in Bahia and worked with the Eco Club kids again. This time we worked with the kids to create bamboo crafts. We had many options to choose from and each student brought their own individuality to their crafts. Some of us made cups, some made bracelets or boxes, and others made plant holders. Within this time, many friendships were made with the Eco Club kids and we all helped each other to understand one another despite the language barriers. We all hung out with one another, climbing trees, singing songs and having conversations. After this, we went back to the hostel to have lunch.
After lunch, we headed to the supermarket and then down to the local stands. The supermarket that we went to was called Tia, which had a great variety of different candies and all sorts of treats. The entire group loved the store and almost everyone bought at least one thing. There was something there for everyone, and an aux cord for the entire group´s enjoyment. After Tia, we went to a few local stands with a great selection of handmade jewelry and other fun things. Everything there was so beautiful, and many people were able to get something to bring back home to friends and family. We then headed back to the hostel, and boarded the bus. We took the bus to a community built for people who lost their homes in the 2016 earthquake. One group painted tires and planted flowers in them, another built a trash can area out of bamboo, another group painted a mural, and finally, a group created a compost area out of bamboo. This was a great way for us to connect with the community, when building the trash can area some community members came and worked alongside us and spoke with us. The afternoon activities were a great chance to expand horizons and interact with community members.
After our community work, we headed back to the hostel and changed into our bathing suits to go swimming! We all walked down to the beach together a little bit before sunset and the water was sooooo perfecto. It´s so crazy amazing how warm and beautiful the ocean water is here. We swam for a while and watched the sun go down. The sunsets are one of the most incredible things about this place. All of us played volleyball in the water with some of the Eco Club kids and it was so fun. Once the sun had gone down, we left the beach to go to dinner at Don Carlos´ restaurant. The food was amazing as always. After dinner we did a reflection on our day with the group and played a couple games. We then came back to the hostel and are now about to go to bed.
Lots of love!
Fay, Malea, and Nora J
