Hello Parents!

Day three of our stay was the best yet! We started off the day with a jaguar scare! Yikes!  One of the instructors told us he came and night and was scratching at the door. So, as a result, he had to scare it away. Turns out the whole thing was fake and the door scratches were faked, although you never know. Our breakfast that morning at 7 was fried jacks, papaya, cookies and ham. After our delicious breakfast, we took a short walk over to the school to continue to work on our swing set service project. We rotated shifts on painting the corn hole games, creating a play for the kids, and the extremely exciting and invigorating job of mixing and filling concrete. The kiddos were overjoyed to see us for a second time and had tons of fun playing soccer and tag. By the end of the work time, we had the holes filled with cement and posts up. We will be finishing the worksite tomorrow by setting up the swings! Exciting! By 12 we left (aww) for some delightful lunch of bean empanadas, meat and veggie pizza and scrumptious fruit of watermelon and pineapple. We had some down time after lunch where we played card games and some soccer with local kiddos. After that we went on a thrilling tour through the cacao forests. We learned how the varieties of plants and animals in the forest helped the cacao thrive. Then we tasted some juicy cacao beans which had a white coating that tasted like yogurt. At the maya center museum, the glorious curator, Julio, who showed us how to make chocolate bars. To tie off that portion of the afternoon, the group bought a family size helping of chocolate. In the next five minutes, the chocolate melted. Again that afternoon everyone had some down time followed by trips out to dinner at our home stay families. The food was spectacular as usual and the conversations thrived. In the evening, we had a spontaneous discussion of our fecal matter to make sure everyone was feeling okay. What an experience! Finally, Ms. Schultheis taught us how to see spiders in the dark with our noses and a flashlight. Lets just say everyone was shocked how many spiders lingered in the grass. We tried not to think about it and not to worry, we'll teach you at home. Okay, you can relax now after your mind has just been blown by our blogging finesse! We hope to have a good day tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the one after that, and the one when we go home. Love you guys, see you soon!
  - Abby and Charlie (The greatest leaders of the day yet!)