Hello all, my name is 2/C Andy Aguado-Scheyer and I have the pleasure of writing today’s blog.  I woke up around 0600 and got ready for the day. For breakfast, Violetta served oatmeal and a ham-and-cheese omelet with mixed cut-up fruit.

Following breakfast, CAPT Lennon picked me up in front of the Purpose Hostel, where we are staying.  We headed up to San Pedro Las Huertas to work on a retaining wall project at “Brillo de Sol,” a school that serves economically impoverished children with disabilities.  We dug trenches, leveled out dirt, set cinder blocks, and filled them with gravel to secure them in place. On trickier sections, CAPT Lennon used rebar for extra stability. We finished by cleaning the area of hazardous debris, knowing that kids were starting school this coming Monday.  One nice part of our experience at Brillo occurred during a meeting the school hosted to prepare parents for the start of the school term.  They gave us a standing ovation to thank us for our help in improving the school grounds.

After wrapping up the workday, Professor Cadwalader returned from another worksite and drove us back to Antigua. I was dropped off right in front of Violetta’s for lunch. Lunch consisted of another delicious Guatemalan plato tipico – pork with white beans, rice, and a red salsa. Along with my comida, I had freshly squeezed lemonade, which was much needed after a few hours of hard work in the sun. Shortly after lunch, it was time for Spanish class. Today, my instructor and I practiced writing in Spanish. Spanish has many more characters, such as accents and various punctuation marks, than English does. In our three-hour session, I practiced writing short messages similar to those sent over text.

At 1630, the entire group sat down in the lobby and discussed today’s events with Prof C. and CAPT Lennon. Each group described the events of their respective sites, and we discussed tomorrow’s climb up Volcán Acatenango.  After the meeting, I used my free time to walk down to Antigua Gym and get a solid hour and a half of a workout in.  For dinner, I had a taco bowl at Tacorazon, which is only a five-minute walk from the hostel. After dinner, the group sat up on the rooftop deck for a while and then headed to bed early to prepare for tomorrow’s hike.