As a kid I went on my fair share of field trips. We’d go to Boston, Plymouth Plantation, Water Whiz or to see the light houses in Nauset and Chatham to name a few and they were always good…some were even fun, but yesterday’s field trip with the kids was easily the best one I have ever been on and such a blast! It put ever field trip I ever went on to shame. But before I get to that here’s a little pre-departure story.
On thursday we had the commissioning mass, where we were inducted into the Amigos de Jesus family formally. We were given crosses and each of us had a little guy escort us to our seats and sit next to us for the mass. I was escorted by Vergillio, I think he is 8, he calls me his treasure and gives me big hugs and a kiss on the cheek everyday. The mass was beautiful and it was the first time we really felt completely welcomed and a part of the Amigos family. After the mass, we met with all the padrino’s and teachers. We were given more details on the schedule for friday and found out that the teachers would be cooking at 2:30am and that they needed help. Kristin and I volunteered.
[Fast forward to 2:20am on friday] I go in to wake Kristin up and we get changed and ready to cook. We start trekking over to the dinning hall and notice that it’s dark, no lights are on. At the same time we notice this all six dogs on the property start barking at us and then we see a snake slither into some bushes. So not only was nobody in the kitchen at 2:30am, we probably woke everyone and their mother up on the property from the dogs and then thought we were going to die via snake bites. So we decided to carefully walk to the back of the kitchen hoping that they just didn’t turn the front lights on anddddd of course no one was there haha. So at this pont Kristin and I are thinking this is all a big joke, and that no one is coming. But then we think..hmmm maybe they are cooking at the school, not here. So we head back to the casa, put sneakers on in case there are other snakes, and grab flashlights. We make the 5 min trek to the school and to our dismay, no one is there either. So at this point it’s getting on to be 3am and we loop around back to the cafeteria and still nobody is there so finally we just give up and go back to bed only to get up 45 mins later to get ready to leave.
At 4am all the school-aged boys were up and ready, we walked back to the dinning hall and naturally all the teachers were there cooking (go figure.) When everybody was present, we split into our groups, I was with Profa Carmen, Andres and Padrino Anotonio, we were with the 4th graders. After we split into our groups we had to walk a mile to the bus since it can’t get to the hogar. We got to see the sunrise along the way and all the boys were excited to be going away for the day. The best part about the walk is crossing the river, since it hasn’t rained in a few days it wasn’t too deep only half way up the calf but all the volunteers carried a kid across, it was so funny to watch. Some of the boys carried other boys, teachers carried kids and some just crossed alone. We finally made it to the bus and settled in for a 3 hour ride to Castillo San Fernando (because it’s a field-trip is had to be semi-educational.) thank goodness I fell asleep haha because it seemed like we got there in no time at all.
The castle we went to was pretty sweet, we went on a tour (obviously in Spanish) I picked up most of what it was about. Somehow Rachel and I got split from the kids and the other volunteers so we went on tour with extra staff and some of the older boys, naturally it was longer and there was more information, but all in all it was interesting and the view was incredible from the roof. At around 11 we got back on the bus to head for the zoo/pool/ocean. It was an additional 20-30 mins out and on the way we rounded a corner and there was the ocean, stretching for miles. Most of the kids and a lot of the teachers had never seen the ocean before. When we rounded that corner, jaws dropped, eyes bulged and there were many gasps. Coming for the Cape and having seen the ocean more than any other terrain it was nice to experience others first time seeing it. It was awesome actually, they were all in awe.
Shortly after, we arrived at the Zoo. But, the ocean slipped from view after a few minutes of catching the first glimpse anyway so the kids were excited to arrive at our final destination. When we talked to Amy about the trip earlier in the week she said she had no idea what the trip would be like. She said that she had visited another Zoo in Hondo that consisted of taxidermy animals. I couldn’t stop laughing when she said that and obviously figured this zoo was going to be more or less the same. To my surprise it was the coolest zoo I’ve ever been to. Not only did they have real animals, it was half water park and had access to a beach. All for about 18 dollars a person, take that American Zoo’s. So we started off with seeing the animals. They had a decent amount and tons of land. The kids loved the ostrich, and lions and the monkeys were a crowd favorite. We looked at animals for about an hour. Our last stop was to see Coyotes. Hilarious. One was a coyote for sure but the other one was definitely a dog hahah the kids and teachers had no idea. After that we had lunch that the boys BBQ’d up. SOme kind of steak with, refried beans, rice and bread. It was great. Around one we found out we were running late and either had to swim in the pool or ocean but only one. Thank god the majority voted for the ocean. Crazy people have never seen the ocean before but would rather swim in a pool…weird.
We got to the beach and the view was breathtaking, the ocean was surrounded by mountains and so much green. I could hardly wait to jump in the water because I was so hot. Herson-Daniel, the cutest 5 year old I’ve ever seen we standing by the water just watching while other kids were running in. I took his hand to bring him in but he was adament about not going in. Hahah turns out he didn’t know how to swim so I jumped in, he asked me to fin him a sand dollar and I obliged, he let me pick him up and carry him in the water and he loved it. The water, by the way is ridiculously warm and it felt really nice. By the end of the day Rachel and Jen had taught him to swim and he LOVED the water. He’d jump under the waves and say watch this watch this! Hold his breath and jump back out. All in all the boys and the staff had a great day. At 3 the principle said there was time to hed to the pool and swim there, so we trekked back and everyone jumped in there.
The pool had water slides, so naturally we had to go down those 1 hundred times. Then everyone changed and headed back to the bus around 3:30-4. All the boys had a blast, teachers were happy, so was the staff. three hours later we were back at the Hogar had a late dinner and finally crashed into our beds. It was a truly awesome day. The kids were so thankful, not a single tear was shed and they got treats onthe ride home from the pulperia. Here’s some pictures! Oh and today we got two new kids, a girl and a boy.
We swam for two hours, the older boys were impressed I could hold my breath for so long under water and could swim fast and far haha I don’t think they expected it from a girl.