The villagers of Rancho Palmeras greeted us in full force as we arrived late Sunday afternoon, clapping as we stepped off the bus and many snapping shot after shot with their smart phones.
Then there were the handshakes, the hugs and the speeches of thanks, even though we technically haven’t done anything yet. This was followed by so many photo opps that some of our members later, privately expressed embarrasment about all of the attention cast our way.
After all, aren’t we here to serve them, they remarked? We were invited to play with the children out in the basketball court behind the school. This included soccer and basketball with dozens of kids at a time and even Marco demonstrating the fine art of paper airplane throwing.
Earlier, on the drive up Tom and I tossed a few of the soccer balls we has brought out the window to random groups of children, much to their delight.
The drive to the village took about three hours over roads both very smooth and rough, much like driving on logging roads in say the Grays Harbor area of Washington. Our bus and driver handled them just fine though.
We attended church Sunday morning in Barillas and some of us rose early to explore the city, already a hub of activity at 7 a.m. At church we were asked to sing a song in English to the Spanish speaking congregation – we chose two verses of the familiar He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. The congregation sang it to us in Spanish too.
Before retiring for the night we watched a brilliant orange moon morph into an eclipse.
Monday begins our first full work day of installing stoves and water filters.
Wonderful to learn of your safe arrival. Great village photos. Thx