Today a small group of us went for a run to a waterfall. The waterfall was small because this is the dry season in Guatemala, but the views along the way were very hermosas (beautiful).
After eating some Guatemalan breakfast cereal, we prepared for a very busy day in the morning. In the morning, we “taught” some classes for the niños (kids). We have quickly embraced the fact that we cannot teach a lot and we really have no idea how the classes will turn out, but if everyone has fun, it is a success.
In science class, the kids created boats out of clay. The older kids successfully made boats that floated, but the little kids quickly discovered that it was pretty fun to just dunk their heads in the water.
Since the little kids seemed to like water a lot, when we finished our planned activities for sports, a full-scale water fight broke out. They ran around with water bottles, smiling and laughing as they chased us. We all ended up very soaked.
Art class for the younger kids was a little wild, as a few of the kids seemed to find escaping from the art room more amusing than doing the craft. Still, they were all able to make some very pretty sun catchers filled with multi-colored pieces of tissue paper. The older children made impressive 3D paper stars. Some enterprising kids even cut designs in their stars using X-Acto knives.
We also discovered the kids had a talent for tug-of-warring. When Alan, Garrett, Angel, and Keith (the sports and science staff) challenged them, they teamed up and used the poles of the nearby building as pulleys. They pulled with a unified chant and, needless to say, they soundly beat the sports staff.
Each day, we also have the opportunity of eating traditional Guatemalan food. During lunch today, we were served an interesting dish called pepián, a traditional Guatemalan stew, consisting of meat, vegetables, and spices.The combination of flavours was amazing. For supper, we had fried eggs, chips and traditional dips. It felt a little bit strange to be eating eggs for supper when typically we are used to only having them for breakfast, but the meal was delicious!