Today was our last full day at Maya
Center! In the morning, we spent time with our host families doing various
daily activities. These activities include raking leaves, washing clothes in
the river, putting up fences, and helped with cooking food. Washing clothes in the creek helped the some
of us clean our dirty clothes, and learn how to wash the old fashion way.
It was a really hot day in Maya
enter, which caused some of our peers to need some “cool down time”. There was also a scavenger hunt in the
afternoon that involved visiting various sights in Maya Center. Some of the
sights were, a hurricane shelter at the school, a church in the village, a stop
sign, a butterfly farm, and a phone booth. It was a timed race with three
groups. The groups started the scavenger hunt at different times so we couldn’t
follow each other. But during the middle of the game, two groups decided to
join together to find the clues. So now the joint group, and the separate group
started having an intense competition. When we found a clue, we wouldn’t tell
each other what the clue was. Or we would lie about what the clue was and hide
from each other to try to throw each other off. Even after we did all that, we
still got to the last clue at the exact same time. Once the last clue was read,
it was a race to get back to the lodge because that’s where the last clue was.
It was a very rigorous race, but all three teams got back to the end at the
same time. That’s when we realized that the group that started the scavenger
hunt last won, because there was less time between start and finish. It was all
fun and games and no one lost an eye.
We had some rest after we came
back and started to think of some ideas for a performance for a community
celebration at dinnertime. The Cup Song from Pitch Perfect was altered to
become a goodbye song. We practiced various ways to sing it and decided which
version was better. After we perfected our performance, our groups decided have
a sing-off. The teachers gave a word, and we had to find songs to sing that
included the word in the lyrics. After a fun time singing, we started to get
ready for our homestay families coming for an exciting night of celebrations.
Our homestay families brought
dinner for us to eat. There were tortillas, chicken, broth, rice and delicious
fried plantains. After our fantastic dinner and some quality time with our host
families, our group performed The Cup Song. Aurora also shared some traditional
Yucatan Mayan songs. After Aurora’s amazing performance, our group decided to
have another sing-off in front of our host families. Categories included
Oldies, and Disney songs.
During ANCHOR, Ms. Schultheis showed
us a way to spot spiders at night by using our flashlights. We found a
tarantula in the grass and all of the kids took turns making a bridge of hands
for the spider to pass. And we were all extremely proud of some students
overcoming their fear of spiders to join the fun.
It was an exhausting and great day
at the village, and all of us are looking forward to great times in Tobacco
Caye tomorrow. Hope the weather is nice in Boston! ;-) Looking forward to more fun times!
-Philip and Charlotte (Leaders of
the Day)
Helping build one of our host families build a fence
Helping build one of our host families build a fence
