Today was really fun!!!
We started off the day with a 6:30 wakeup call, and were forced down to breakfast, which again, was pretty good. As we walked back, we (everyone except for Noel) decided on Power Rangers and I was given whatever was left over (pink L) Coincidentally, Noel became green, because he’s only around when we need him. Ivy was red because red’s a leader, Matthew’s blue because he’s king of blues, and Shaina was yellow because she’s a girl.
After listening to the Power Ranger’s theme song, we boarded the bus to head to the Indian Reservation, where we were led into a hut where we met Choto, the shaman of the village. As Ivy probably said, it was really cool how they can live with their culture and traditions without being disturbed by everyday life.
In the hut, we had a welcoming ceremony. During the ceremony, Shaina was busying drawing the hut, fire and chief all at the same time. After the ceremony, we were led outside to watch a sugar water demonstration using only sugar cane and a very complicated “tool” (it wasn’t electronic). Afterwards, we visited their museum, where they told us about their fight to keep the artifacts. Shaina also drew some of the artifacts. There we also became part of a traditional ritual, where he shook maracas in our faces, brushed us with banana leaves, and splashed us with holy water. He also poured what looked like a kind of oil over a huge ember and made it smoke.
Once we were done at the Indian village, we drove up to the school the kids attended, where we met two incredible kids, a fifth-grader named Maria and a kindergartener named Manuel. Both gave incredible speeches about technology and water. Shaina drew Manuel, and Ivy became Maria’s new best friend.
to be continued…
