CHACALA 2 MARCH 2007

PHOTO : PARTY ANIMAL LUC WITH HIS SMOKING FRIEND!!!!

Off to “escuela” for Luc, whilst I spent the morning catching up with emails and working on the PR program. I pick Luc up from school and luckily the “collectivo” is there when we get to the town centre, so no hour wait this time. We are in Las Varas early and decide to have lunch at Anastasia’s friend’s little take away (we met him last week). Order tacos with chicken (up to now we have always had buffet at the resort, so never needed to order food!). We have a conversation in Spanish – and glad to say that we are beginning to understand some! From there to Laundromat for washing and then off to clinic. The kids are really happy to see us. Anastasia has made cards to divide them into the 4 groups we had painted on the walls – fuergo (fire), agua (water), le sol (sun) y la Luna (the moon). The kids are very excited about the groups. I end up with the girls in La Luna. Luc wants to be here, then decides to be with the boys and then, after not understanding their conversation, comes back to us. We give them tasks to create a song for their team. I get the girls going in my terrible Spanish. We set the pace with our spirited song, and I use all my old school cheer leading skills to keep my team going. It finally catches on and, with the help of Anastasia and 2 students the groups do stunning work! They are much more controlled – the plan is working! We do some games and then use the last 30 minutes to give them a brief background on the play – Themba and the lion (which I am not done with!). We leave the project a much happier crowd! Although Luc disappointed us with a few tantrums and even hitting a child! We meet Stdephan – a photographer who also works as a volunteer at a school, in the collectivo. He desperately needs camera cables, so I offer him mine – if it works. He tells us about the party in the village. It is the celebration of the “coming of age” of a young girls ( ). The word “party” gets Luc going and he decides that we will go. After dinner we chat with Anastasia (who is on bar duty), Rodolpho teaches Luc to salsa (did not last long, as Luc now prefers break dancing – the in thing in this part of the world), the yoga group has a birthday party and Dr Bruno’s group is dancing salsa. By 10 we are all dead tired, but Luc is wide awake and ready for the party. Two girls from the yoga group decides to go with us. I am a bit nervous to walk in the dark and Luc has 1 minute of terror attack, but the moon is full and it ends up being a really nice walk. Luc immediately recognises his school buddy (his sister’s party!) and is in 7th heaven. We are welcomed, each gets a sweet tequila drink and join the very slow (!) party. There is a big “wedding cake” and another big cake – Luc digs in. The main attraction is the karaoke singer! I ended up having an amazing conversation with Kris, who lives in Seattle and lost a friend who drowned in her basement. It is a real tragic story and one that makes one rethink life… We get home at midnight and Luc is so dirty (after rolling in the sand) that he has to take a shower.

MOMENT OF THE DAY : The complete discuss on Luc’s face when he told us that his 5 year old school friend was smoking! He immediately went on a crusade to find Anastasia to get her to tell him not to do it!