Sunday, July 27 - Coconut, Sugar Cane, Reflection and Fiesta!

Up and breakfast at 7:15 am - bread, fried eggs and pineapple. Mass at 8; it is Father's Day.

Here are some fathers that came up to the altar for a special Father's Day blessing by Father Ron. Our group sang, and individually thanked the community and our families for their welcome. We went back to Chica's to rest before 10:30, when we headed back to the church for pickup...

..and speaking of heading back to church and finding our way around, this is what starts my journal entry for today...we figured everybody else in our group found their way around by themselves, it was time we did too!!

We traveled by the school van to Peluda to see the church that Sacred Heart is helping to build. The members of the village sang and danced for us; everyone has been so welcoming to us wherever we go...

	After the presentation, they cut up some coconuts...
...and let us taste it and drink from it...you can tell how apprehensive I was about it (were they laughing at me?!?)...although it was DELICIOUS!

Then we got to taste sugar cane...chew the fibers only, don't swallow, we were told...

All that, and it was only lunch time...back to Don Juan for lunch, which for us was meatballs, mashed plantains, chicken, something that seemed like fried salami, and bananas. We met back at the school for reflection with Father Ron from 2-4, then prepared for our fiesta for our host families. We decorated the hall, and made them tossed salad, pork chops, potato salad, watermelon, and cake. This is a group shot in the church hall, before the fiesta began.

We had a great turn out; we made our host families thank you cards; Jamie read ours to Chica, thanking her for being such a wonderful hostess...Chica cried. Then she told Jamie to tell us, if she did anything to insult us, she was sorry...they seem to be very concerned that they are going to do something wrong. She was a wonderful hostess and we are thrilled that we got to stay with her! This picture is from that fiesta...

All the host families were treated to a ride back to their homes in the school van (stocked with leftovers from the party); we cleaned up the school, headed home, and were in bed by 10.