New Places....New Faces

Today brought some changes around El Faro as the medical teams headed out and members of a youth church retreat came to stay.  It was definitely sad to say goodbye to some of the new friends we had made over the week, but we all traded emails and promised to find each other on facebook.  Rosie, Liz, and Alisha remained at the camp, and once again helped with P.E. classes and soccer camp.  They also worked on a recylcing project and got to know some of the new faces around El Faro. 
Ellen, Alexis, and I (Hannah) went with most of the group to a new village about an hour's bus ride away.  The road was the bumpiest ride I´ve ever had with huge ruts, abrupt turns, and steep hills, but when we arrived the bumps were definitely worth it.  The village had a school, and the many children had all arrived incredibly early in anticipation of meeting their guests.  We played futbol, did crafts, painted nails, took pictures, and generally got to know the children.  They had such a beautiful innocence, taking delight in things we consider commonplace.  The children loved taking pictures and when Alexis and I brought out our cameras we were promptly swarmed as they asked to take pictures of us, with us, of their friends, and of the other members of the team.  It was so sweet.  These people were so willing to accept us and play with us, and as I sat in their one-room school house I had a strong desire to adopt all of the children and take them home with us. 
Some people on our team spent the morning helping these people paint and redo their bathroom, and tomorrow our whole team will return and hopefully finish the project.  Before we left the townspeople provided us with lunch, and although it was delicious, we almost had an incident because they offered us juice made from their water, and a few people had a sip before we realized we couldn´t drink it.  Luckily no one is feeling sick.
This afternoon has been spent mostly relaxing, as I think the work and also possibly our sun burns, are catching up to us, but I think I can speak for all of us in saying we are all sad we are nearing the end of the week.  Hope everyone is well, Love, the Team!