CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

Interspersed with the work week are cultural activities.  The main one was on Wednesday morning, when we went to refuge/national park that is known for quetzal nests.  It is a very rare thing for anyone to see these gorgeous birds, and we were blessed to see three of them, including one in flight.  A truly spiritual experience, combined with the lovely cloud forest and waterfalls.  I couldn't capture them with my camera; one team member did but can't send at this time so I am posting a photo from the internet.  At the waterfall with me is Christian, who lives and works in New York but is from Puerto Rico and the only fluent Spanish speaker on our team.  Gracie is our youngest member, age 19, and it was her first time to fly by herself and first time out of country.

Both teams visited schools near our separate work sites, and that was a kick.  We had maps of North America, Mexico and Canada, along with one of the U. S. and sat with small groups of kids (ages 8-11 in one classroom) so they could get a perspective of where we live and tried to dialogue a bit with them with simple Q&A's, like their names, ages, etc.  The teacher spoke to us a bit about the curriculum and various aspects of the school.  They were very excited, as were we, to meet each other!

One day before dinner we participated in tamale making with the hotel cooks.  The tamales were just the dough with no filling, but a couple of us got our hands in it and mixed the ground maize, water, cream, and butter, then everyone wrapped a blob of it in a banana leaf.  All were put in a large pot to boil and we had them for supper.  They were very similar to dumplings.