Day 4: Community Service & Cacao Bean Farm (Leaders: Nate & Phoebe)

Half of us woke up five minutes before breakfast. During our scrumptious first meal of the day it started to pour. Our work day was almost cancelled, but in the end it ceased raining, which allowed us to head out for our second day of constructing the library. Most of the morning was spent making mortar (with a mixture of sifted sand and concrete), which we used to hold the cinder blocks to the foundation that would serve as reliable support. Unfortunately, we had to skip the scheduled afternoon soccer game because of the muddy field, though the pizza served for lunch definitely made up for it.

After the pizza, we left for the chocolate-making tour, which involved exploring a cocoa bean plantation, observing the process of bean fermentation and drying, and grinding said beans to make our own chocolate. We saw a litter of absolutely adorable puppies and were understandably very distracted by their cuteness. Everyone enjoyed the trip. Later, we joined a fun evening soccer game (which we, thankfully, did not lose horribly and managed to tie at). We then returned to the cottages to end the day by eating dinner with four of the community leaders, whom we had wonderful conversations with. We look forward to the final day of work tomorrow and hope to successfully finish our library for the children in the Mayan Center.

~ Nate and Phoebe