July 7 (Sunday)

While it’s normally the leaders who have surprises up their sleeves, today the students surprised Lucas by all getting together to sing him happy birthday! They all waited for him at the bottom of the school’s staircase to ambush him. He said it was easily one of the best moments of the program (for him). From there we spent the day working on the cemetery and painting the classrooms. The projects are coming along really well and our students work so hard that we’re almost ready to wrap them up! After a long day of work we celebrated our achievements (and Lucas’ birthday) with a chocolate cake. Finally we ended our night at the local basketball court, rotating through games of 6 v 6, until the power went out.

July 8 (Monday)

With our group projects nearly done we dedicated the bulk of the day to our students’ independent projects. That being said, we put the finishing touches on the outside of the school and made a small ramp leading into the cemetery. With that done we got together to play baseball in the afternoon for two of our students’ personal project. We filled the bleachers and enjoyed watching our boys (both local and visiting) play a six-inning game. Overall it was a relaxed day with many students visiting the community’s corner stores to buy candies, juices, and sodas in preparation for tomorrow’s first big excursion to Bahia de las Águilas! We’re all very excited for the trip, and we will let you know how it goes!

Signing off!

— Lucas y Jimena