We woke up to a wonderful breakfast made by Julia and Alexis! Then we walked over to the school/construction site, which is about 15 minutes from where we're staying in Comalapa. We started with a tour of the construction site - we got to see all of the classrooms, buildings, and sustainable practices that LWH has implemented here.
For example, many of the buildings are made from tires stuffed with trash and sand, or plastic bottle "bricks" with plastic trash compacted inside.
For the first part of the day, we split into two groups: one group stuffed trash into plastic bottles to make bricks and one group shoveled sand or gravel into buckets to make cement for a rain cistern. We took a break for una "merienda" or snack where we could have cantaloupe, popcorn, or dobladas (small tortillas stuffed with potatoes and covered with avocado, tomato sauce and cheese). Then we worked 2 more hours before lunchtime, which was beans, rice, vegetables, and more tortillas!
After lunch we continued with a variety of tasks, including sifting the sand, making shingles out of plastic bottles, and making hurdles out of bamboo sticks for the students' upcoming track meet. There has been ample opportunity for us to practice our Spanish. On the walk back, some of us stopped for crepes at a café in town and we rode in a tuk-tuk (rickshaw) back to the hotel.
Others returned the hotel first, then went back to town to shop for bags and other souvenirs. For dinner we had pasta salad and the most delicious fruit salad made by one of the Long Way Home Staff. After dinner we had a group discussion about community service and our universes of obligation. We left the day exhausted but inspired!
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