Now that we are all adjusted to Santa Cruz and we’ve found our routine, the week is starting to fly by. I myself am getting over a sickness. Last weekend I went to get tested for Yellow Fever and Malaria in Mazan – the tests say negative! The best part about getting adjusted in Santa Cruz is the connection we’ve made with the people. Once a week we’ve started teaching the primary classes english. They’re all doing really well with colors and numbers! When they have a break at 10:30am they all come by our worksite to play. Our care takers son, Rodrigo is only 6 and he loves to play with us at the site. John has been teaching them all to play Frisbee and they’re all getting great at it! This week we had new neighbors at the campground. A group of 8 college students and 4 professors from Tennessee, all studying Biology. We learned from them about some of the wildlife around here. They were very excited about everything from the beetles to the snakes. This week we also celebrated Alex’s 20th birthday! Our site manager, Emerson went all the way to Mazan to get cake ingredients and candles to surprise her. It was really sweet and we all appreciate the way Emerson, our cook Isaac, and our caretaker Requillerme, have been so nice to us. This week we’re finishing up half of our trip and even though we’re all homesick we’re still so happy to be here and excited to see what the rest of this trip has in store for us.
- Jessica Smith