Sun, sand and a little bit of sickness

These three things characterize some of the major elements of the week we spent at camp with the kids last week. The weather was gorgeous - sunny with a cool breeze nearly every day. I discovered that the camp is essentially a walled in plot of sand with guest accommodations and a concrete soccer court, which made for sand ending up just about everywhere imaginable. I started the week off with a touch of stomach trouble, and Tony ended the week with a miserable battle against food poisoning it seems. But despite the tummy troubles we had a wonderful week with the kids!

The campers were divided up into four teams on the first night. Throughout the week they would compete for points, battling for the winning prize of a basket full of goodies and sodas to share. To earn points they cleaned dishes, performed skits, competed in afternoon games and theme nights, raced to the top of mountains, and decorated their rooms each morning with original ideas and any materials they could find. The room decorations were a highlight for me. Each morning before breakfast the teams had to complete their decorating and we would judge the rooms while they ate. These were the decorations from Wednesday morning:

Team Octopus

Sand art for Team Dolphins

A cemetery of all the dogs the orphanage has had over the years!

A beach side snack bar

Julie saving Tony from a killer shark!

We spent the afternoons at the beach while some played soccer in the sand, others swam, and others watched after the little ones running after the baby crabs that were scattered around each time the waves came in. I spent my fair share of time in the kitchen helping the other women with the cooking. Cooking here is quite an ordeal because everything is made from scratch. I never realized how many processed items I rely on for my recipes until I moved here and realized I actually have just a few recipes I can make here without major modification! Those times of cooking are some of my favorite moments with the women here. Conversation flows right over the interspersed commentary on so-and-so's method of peeling potatoes, slicing onions - and yes, I'm usually the so-and-so they're talking about! But I don't mind anymore because over the course of the afternoon I get to hear the women's stories, their memories and reflections on the road they've walked in this life.

The other joy of the week was getting to be a part of so much play and laughter. I loved watching the kids personalities come out as they competed in the games, relaxed together on the beach and whispered together about the cute boys and girls they were hanging out with. Here are a few pictures that help to express that fun side of camp that did us all good.

Ximena on the swing set

Rinds left over from the watermelon eating contest
(the team representatives had to eat an entire watermelon -
I was waiting with Pepto Bismol pills right after they finished!)

Johan playing with his favorite toy

Tony making the kids laugh (and scaring some of them)

Sofia relaxing in the hammock The last, and perhaps biggest, adventure of the week was trying to make it home from camp in our Jeep! What should have been a 2 hour drive home turned into a 5 hour excursion with the many stops we had to make due to consistent overheating problems. We eventually made it home safely and the Jeep is now being tended to in a local shop. We leave you with a few pictures from the trip home...

Tony looking concerned at the water bubbling out of the radiator water reservoir

The most common sight on the trip home:

Our faithful friend, Milton - a true jack of all trades!