Another school another experience

Friday, January 30, 2009

There are a lot more passengers on the bus today for the trip to Cerro de Ortega. It’s a long drive. The bathroom break midway is much appreciated.
A visit to the banana plantation has been scheduled. Unfortunately, most of the workers are not here today, so we don’t get to see all the action. We do however get a much more detailed explanation of the procedures and are able to ask a lot of questions.
A visit to Cerro de Ortega is not complete without a visit to the cyber cafe. The owner of the plantation sponsors 27 students through Project Amigo for their education. These are all children of plantation workers.
The students get together for homework at the Cyber Cafe, which is free for all students. Others are able to use the computers for $ 1.00 per hour. Locals are also able to use the small library and computer classes are given here as well.
The students play a game of Mexican Bingo with us before we drive to our next destination.
Once we arrive at the school we understand why there are no workers at the plantation. The Tecoman area celebrates the day of the the Virgin Candelaria.
Despite the holiday, a group of about 25 students age 6-12 show up in their school uniforms. Their parents are there as well and have brought a variety of fruit.
Each students comes forward with a fruit, names it and explains it’s nutritional or health value.
Each child gets to pick a book in which they write their own name and then pick out two pieces of clothing. We quickly run out of boys jeans age 8-10, and suggest they take what they can find. Perhaps they have an older or younger brother who can make use of it.
It’s interesting to see how the boys select their clothes compared to the girls. Boys are easier to please. They’re all happy with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with a slogan. An 8 year old boy picks up a nice, shiny pair of black dress shoes. He is wearing a pair of old and drity soccer cleats and could really use a new pair of shoes, but they do not fit. He is so disappointed. If I could only make them fit, he would be so happy.

Before we leave we are invited to taste the fruit which has been cut up and is nicely displayed. There is such a variety and it all tastes so good. I try the orange with chili sauce, I must say I prefer cinnamon instead of chile sauce on my orange, but had to try it at least once. It looks like chili sauce it put on everything here.
The jack fruit is rather interesting. The only part that is edible is the dark flesh around the large seeds. The rest is wasted. When we leave for the bus, one of the women gives me a large papaya.
Every day is a new experience, every school in every community shows their appreciation in a different way. We feel, that what we do is so little, but they are so grateful.

It getting late and we still need to eat lunch. We know by now that lunch is usually not served before 2:30 pm. We drive to Las Hamacas in Pasquales. It’s a real treat to be right at the beach. The food is excellent. After we order our drinks plates with Ceviche are put on the tables. This is spooned on the small crispy tortillas. Next comes the Quacamole, which also goes on the tortilla. Then large platters of seafood appear in front of our eyes. Large shrimp prepared in different ways, a delicious local fried fish and some deep fried fish. We all dig in with a hearty appetite. We still have time for a walk at the beach. The dry sand is extremely hot and I almost burn my feet. Once we approach the water it feels a lot better.
Mom and I buy some colourful jewellery, for a bargain price, from the vendors outside before we head back to the bus.
There is one more school to visit in Tecoman for a book delivery and clothes distribution.
When we sit in the bus again for our 1.5 hour return trip we are definitely tired.The days have been very busy. As much as I enjoy the workweeks, I look forward to a few days around the RV with a slower pace.