¡Otra Vez!

On Wednesday, we started our day off with eggs and bread for breakfast at our host family's house.  Once we had finished eating, we walked to Yure's house for our literature class.  We began class by talking about José María Arguedas, the author of Los Ríos Profundos.  After discussing the biography and thoughts of Arguedas, we began our discussion of Los Ríos Profundos.  We then ate a delicious lunch of fish, potatoes, and vegetables at Yure's house.  

Beth reading with one of the girls:

Angie helping kids with homework:

Michael playing soccer with some of the boys:

We rested for a little bit, then walked to the orphanage, "El Centro de Atencion Residencial Juan Pablo II".  We have each been rotating between the various casitas each day.  Because some of the casitas are occasionally empty and because there are sometimes other volunteers there at the same time as us, Angie C. and I went to the same house.  We spent the afternoon playing, helping the children with their homework, and reading to the kids.  The casita we were in had not received their bag of donated supplies and toys, but we decided that we wouldn't bring the toys out until everyone had finished their homework.  I did, however, take out the book in the bag.  I read the story to a few different kids about thirty times.  They were so excited to have someone read to them and were very attentive for long periods of time.  The casita houses kids ranging in age from four to about ten.  The younger kids love to spend time with the volunteers, since they rarely get one-on-one attention.  For the most part, they were really well-behaved.  Dr. Shaw, Angie C., and I spent the whole afternoon just spending time with the kids.  We all wish we could adopt them.  We headed out at 5:00, meeting up with the rest of our class.  Michael had a lot of fun coloring a soccer ball with the flags of the various countries who will be competing in this year's World Cup and then playing soccer with some of the boys.  We all really enjoy our time with the kids and wish we could continue to visit for longer.  

The wood-fire oven used to cook our dinners:

Angie, Beth, and Dr. Shaw before dinner:

Amy, Angie, and Michael before dinner:

We headed back to our host family's house and played a couple of rounds of Strategy, the game Daniel taught us at one of the campsites during the trek.  We then walked to the San Blas Plaza for dinner at Pachapapa.  We were able to eat outside and all enjoyed our meals.  We then took a taxi (it was pretty crowded with 6 of us) back to Mery's house to eat a cake that was very similar to Angel Food Cake and drink tea, followed by a few more rounds of Strategy (I lost every round), which was enjoyed by everyone.