August 9th - To Guaimaca

Anita & I were going to go to the farm this morning to watch the boys milk the cows, but when I woke up, Anita had told me she wasn't going because she had been sick all night. I went with Lindsey over to the boys' area to look for Velma so she could take her medication. When I got back to the volunteer house, I worked on the puzzle a bit more until Lindsey, Oliver & I went in to town.

Lindsey needed groceries and I found out that the supermercado takes credit and debit cards AND will give you money back if you have a debit card and request money back. Oliver brought 2 girls from the orphanage who are sponsored by his parents. The girls had a little bit of cash to spend from their sponsorships. One girl got a pair of sandals and a nice skirt & the other girl got some tennis shoes and lotion. Oliver took the girls to "el parque central" for some ice cream after they were done shopping. All of the children here at Orphanage Emmanuel are currently sponsored and some children even have more than one sponsor, which is awesome...considering the number of children here.

I bought a special gift for Alina today which I think she's going to love! I have ideas for Andrés and Noah, but we'll see as time goes on. When we came back from town, I updated my blog and headed back to the volunteer house. Esti came out and said she was headed down to the restaurant for a taco de pollo (did I mention the BIG hill between the volunteer house & the restaurant???)...but I accompanied her anyway. We met up with Todd and ate together. Todd will be going back to Alabama Sunday morning and getting ready to go to Spain to study in Salamanca this fall semester.

I saw David & Lydia (the founders of Orphanage Emmanuel), but only in passing. When I got back to the volunteer house, Anita was still sleeping I woke her to check on her and she claimed to be very tired, dizzy and cold. This happened to me when I traveled with my college group to Cancun on my study abroad trip to México. My professor had told me that I was dehydrated and lacking the proper sugars in my body. He had me drink a carton of apple juice and after a few hours I started to do better. I suggested the same to Anita and she too started feeling better after a bit.

I went to the young girls dorm again tonight to help with bath time and brushing teeth. The girls were SO excited that I was helping them. After getting back to the volunteer house, I worked on the puzzle a bit more and then Todd came over to say his "goodbyes" to all of us, since he'll be leaving on the 6:00am bus to Teguc.