Saturday, July13: Visited the weaving cooperative

We started the day at 8:00 am, driving to Santiago Zamora, about 20 minutes from where we're staying. We visited a weaving cooperative, where 10 women create and sell lovely textiles, including table runners, blouses, skirts, purses, wallets and bookmarks.

One of the women told us the story of their town and their weaving cooperative. They led us in a dance. By the end of the song, all of us were dancing in a circle. How kumbaya is that? The women then demonstrated their weaving techniques and provided a delicious lunch, called pepillan, with chicken, rice, green beans, potatoes, a tomato-based sauce and fresh homemade tortillas.

After returning to Antigua, a few of the adults went into town to watch the World Cup game. The rest of us remained at the campus where we're staying to watch the game on the TV in the common area or just sit around and chat. The kids created posters that they'll show to students in the schools here and then they played tag for a couple hours.

During the evening, most of the group went into town to walk around and attend mass at the Catholic cathedral.

Here are some observations from the kids about today:
Madeleine: "I really liked the weaving place. Looking around was awesome, the food was great and I thought it was funny when they threw flowers at us during their dance." (Editor's note: A highlight of her day was holding Hakim, Sra. Asuquo's baby.)

Alana: "I really liked the weaving cooperative because I think the stuff that they weaved was really cool and the food was really good. I thought the rice was going to be spicy, but it was really good. I liked playing tag with everyone. It was fun because the campus is big."

Isabelle: "I think the weaving was really cool and the food was great. In the afternoon, I liked running around the compound, which is so big. Also, I liked watching the World Cup. Poor Argentina."

Matt: "I liked the weaving cooperative and the story that the woman told and making tortillas."

Jacob: "I liked the all the weavings and how they weren't that expensive. I also liked the food there."