March 9th:

Hola! Today we got to San Miguel at 9:30 AM. We immediately started working on the desks. Some of us drilled the pieces together, some of us sanded the pieces and some of us sanded the old paint of the chair frames. We ate lunch and then headed down to the library. I met Marta who is actually the coolest little girl I've ever met. She taught me so much Spanish and I kept the pictures we drew together. Her mom and dad work in the coffee plantations (a very common job in San Miguel) and her mother washes laundry on top of that (also very common). Next we went into the Community Room at Open Windows and watched a presentation on eye care, eye examinations and injuries. All of the kids paid attention the whole time and at the end they asked a billion questions and this wasn't even at school! It was after. It was totally different from a Canadian class. After this it was play time. I played some more games in the courtyard with the girls. They are hilarious. A couple of them are really good at explaining the rules, thank gosh! We played until 4:30 PM when we had to go back to Antigua. All of them give us big hugs when we leave. I will hopefully get to see Marta tomorrow. We got home and OG (minus the chaperones) went out on the town! We went to the Mediterranean restaurant that we went to for dinner a couple nights ago. We hookah-ed mint and mango shisha. After that, we went to the McDonald's that is crazy nice! There were candles on most of the tables and the courtyard was lit up with lights. We walked back to the hotel at 7 PM to eat dinner at Fernando's. We had a broth filled with salantro that had to chunks of squash and a piece of chicken. On the side was rice and carrots. We drank juice as well. Guatemala's juice is definitely different than North America's.. It is usually pretty thick because it is fresh. And so good! The rest of Our Group (because I was allerica) ate brownies for dessert. Tonight we are going on the roof again! I knew it would become a regular spot to hang out.. but the view is so pretty because the balcony just shows the beautiful skyline and volcanoes. Anyways, tomorrow we are going to OW to paint the desks! Buenas noches!

Torry Harris
Developing World Connections Participant