7
Location: Uvita
We have made it halfway through our adventure arriving on the seventh day of our two-week journey. The day began as the others had a rude awakening to the sound of the alarm and the knocking of the group leader. Breakfast was a collection of plates from which we could take as much food as we wanted, each dish better than the last. After indulging in our meal, we returned to our rooms to collect our things and then boarded the bus for a short trip to the place we would be working. There were three buildings, a recreational area, shed, and a small room for a volunteer to stay in which is where we spent our time today. It was a building so small it could barely fit a bed, with indoor walls that had not yet been painted and a floor that was rough and uneven. The outside had been painted blue on three of the sides leaving one to be finished. Our job was to filter sand for cement, and the unpainted walls, paint wildlife on the finished walls and lay the cement we had created across the floor. We split off into three groups: one to sift the sand, another to paint the wildlife on the walls, and the last to sand the inside walls. I was given the job of filtering the sand which was a slow yet fulfilling job because I was able to watch the fruits of my labor quite literally pile up before my eyes. We worked like this for at least an hour until we decided to switch jobs leaving me to sand the walls because I do not have nearly enough skill or talent to paint creatures and plants in a manner that does not look like the scribbles of a child. We worked like this for some time until we returned to the hotel for our lunch break to refresh our minds and give our bodies a chance to recover from the abhorrent labor conditions we had endured (It is only a joke, please do not take this seriously). After a delicious meal of rice and beans mixed with other things of less importance, we returned to our labor to finish the job that we had started. The people who had been painting returned to their jobs while I was, once again, given the task of sifting (oof), this time it was cement mix instead of sand. After the sifting was finished, we mixed the cement and sand with water to create cement which we later used to even out the floor of the room. As the cement was being mixed, the painting was continuing quite nicely with flowers and insects appearing across the walls in a bright array of colors that drew in the eyes. We began laying the cement, and the others continued their painting, and slowly but surely the building began to look finished. We finished laying the cement, and with the extra, we gave the building a small step and started cleaning our tools. It took some time to remove all of the unwanted paint and cement, but it felt as if it did not take much time at all. We had finished our job, and with that, we boarded the bus to return to the hotel, but on the way, we were rewarded with the pleasant surprise of Anna (one of our supervisors) buying us ice cream sandwiches. We returned home where we indulged in the delicious snack and prepared for our dinner. Once again we were met with another surprise, for dinner, we would get pizza! The pizza was incredible and finishing it left us contented and tired of wanting to return to the hotel where our beds awaited.