Day 2, First Day at the Worksite

This morning Scott made breakfast, panqueques y huevos (pancakes and eggs) and we were all VERY thankful. Marcia stopped by with her hijos (kids) and her workers. When we got to the work site, we were greeted with smiling faces and lots of hugs. We stood around at first, waiting for instruction, then Rich talked to the site manager and we were put to work. We filled buckets with gravel, and dumped them on the ground. That's it. Taylor had a brilliant idea to use the wheelbarrow. We kept some buckets with Stacy and Kim. They filled them up, and Elizabeth, Yoe, Pam, and Peggy dumped them in the structure to act as a barrier between the concrete and the ground. That was all of the work most of us did.

We took a dance break after that. First, Dillon started beat-boxing, one of the boys pulled out his cell phone and started playing a rap song, and Dillon plugged up the phone to the speakers. Dillon and Peggy got some of the boys to dance. They took turns doing various robot moves. A few songs were played until Dariangelique recongnized one of them, and started dancing. She danced and sang along, while we watched and took pictures. Taylor and Elizabeth attempted dancing along until some of the older kids started dancing the same dance. It was a sight to see.

After our little fiesta (party) we were put back to work. Rich translated and said that they wanted us to move some blocks in one pile in the middle and move them to a corner into another pile. We did it without complaint, and we used the same method we did with the gravel. We dug around a little, and then Peggy freaked out. She started screaming SNAKE! SNAKE! And we needed Rich to translate so the workers could kill it. They grabbed some sticks and sharp tools and started stabbing the ground and pushing aside blocks until they found the little snake and chopped it into three bits.

After that little episode, some of us went outside to play with the kids, including Dillon, Scott, Elizabeth, Peggy, Pam, Stacy, and Kim. When we got out there, most of them were crowding around Dillon and looking at pictures on his phone. Some of us knew enough Spanish to tell them how old we were and about our families. They loved talking and asking questions. Stacy got a massage from Paola. Paola also braided Elizabeth and Stacy's hair. We talked and threw bean bags and took many, many pictures, some of them are on the Due West Facebook page. Stacy was our fantastic photographer. We played Kicking Ball (kick ball) with the kids, which they loved. One of our favorite moments was when Jim went to catch the ball and it slipped right through his arms. Dillon and Scott were the stars of the game. We said goodbye and hasta manana (until tomorrow) and went back to the seminary.

Come back tomorrow! Hasta manana!

Stacy found her baby!

Lunch time