The island schools (most of them) have dismissed for the winter holiday. Our sponsored kids had their exams last week, and while I haven't seen their grade cards, they all claim to have done well. That called for a little celebration! They have all been begging to go to the beach again, so that's what we did.
We told "our" girls that we could not take all eleven kids by ourselves, so we would limit this excursion to just the three girls, but when we went to pick them up at church, Karla's little brother, Carlos, was there asking "Mr. Don, I go too?" He was just so charming that we relented and let him go. Our car holds four kids, we have four eyeballs to watch them - it was a good fit. Here are some photos:
We had storms earlier in the week with lots of rain. The seas were still rough and full of seaweed, but the kids didn't mind that much. Julissa did get cold and finally got out, dried off and laid in the sun to warm up. The other three played until I made them get out.
Our little charmer, the sand-encrusted snorkeling Carlos, who had a blast.
We met this interesting man, Captain Brooks, who runs a fishing charter. Don talked to him for a long time, leaving me to watch four kids with two eyeballs. You can see that the beach is pretty well deserted in West Bay. October is low season and the beginning of rainy season. Business is hurting here and all over the island.
Our normally white sand beach was covered with seaweed and every roll of the tide washed in more. This man has a endless job - but job security!
Look at those happy faces! After swimming, snorkeling, and rolling in the sand for two hours, these kids were STARVING!! They are waiting for the pizza to cook. We ordered two really large pizzas, they ate all but four pieces and each kid took home one piece "for mom." Sweet.
They've also been begging to come see our house, so on the way back to drop them off, we stopped by our house. They were so excited. They ran all around, oohing and aahing, sitting in every chair, examining every photo and painting. They loved the deck and view, then ran down the stairs, under the house and along the edge of our jungle garden exclaiming over all the beautiful flowers. The house was a big hit.
After we dropped the kids off in the colonia, Don remarked "now they have to go back to their own homes and compare what they have with what they've just seen." It made him sad. Me, too.
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