Project Wave Of Optimism

We just finished an amazing week in one of the most beautiful coastal towns I have ever visited. Playa Gigante (Giant's Beach) is a small community of about 3500 people made up of fishermen, farmers, panga captains, families, and surfers from around the globe. During a surf vacation, Peace Corps volunteers fell in love with Playa Gigante and began an organization based on positive community development, which today is known as Project WOO (Wave Of Optimism). We had the opportunity to spend a week working with this amazing project and immersing ourselves in the community and its culture, while enjoying the wonderful hospitality of our groupstay parents, Dona Lucia and Don Ramon.  Ramon is Bob Dylan-esque guitar-harmonica playing fisherman and Lucia is an amazing cook who runs a pulpería (grocery shop) out of her house.  We set up camp on their lawn and quickly felt right at home with home-cooked meals, dancing, and the sounds of ranchero and howler monkeys echoing through the night.

We woke up the next morning ready for Community Surf Day.  We spent the morning at the beach, with over 100 local kids, learning about the importance of being an "eco-surfista", painting faces, swimming in the ocean, kicking the soccer ball around, and helping in a beach clean-up. The kids kept the girls busy all morning.  Everywhere I looked there were kids playing with TTS students - Ava, Mikaela, and Simone had kids attached to their backs all morning; Emelia played "tiburones" (sharks) with the girls waiting to boogie board with Liz; Maggie & Anna started a pick-up game of soccer on the beach, and Annalise & Eliza were painting the faces of beautiful smiling kids.  It was a special day for everyone involved and a great way to kick off our week at Playa Gigante!

Throughout the week, we also partook in immersion classes, which consisted of baking bread with Dona Maria Elena, cooking traditional meals with Dona Reina, and hiking up Giant's Foot with our groupstay dad, Don Ramon.  The girls loved learning how to make the sweet bread - hand-kneading the dough, filling it with sugar and cheese, and putting it the handmade wood-fired oven to cook...que rico (yummy)!  Unfortunately, Jen & Abby ate so much bread, that they didn't leave room for lunch at Dona Reina's.  Nonetheless, we all got a chance to work it off with our hike up to the Giant's Foot, where 360° views awaited us at the top.

We also had the opportunity to help paint the local elementary school with local teachers & students.  Although there were many hands involved, Ruth was up on the ladder putting on the final coat, ensuring that it looked great!  The girls also got to play in a local softball game and visit the high school, where they shadowed the students and Kat did the translating.

Our last night, we headed to the beach for a sunset swim and saw something we hadn't seen since Casa del Mundo...storm clouds!  As we got back to the house, we heard the thunder getting closer and the first rains of the winter started coming down...and oh, how it poured!  The girls weren't fazed a bit...they started running in the rain, singing "Cielito Lindo" with Don Ramon, and roasting marshmellows over a lighter to squish between chicky's!  They're ability to live in the moment came through that night as their tents got flooded in a pool we had been wishing for all week...ay, ay, ay, ay...canta, no llores (sing, don't cry)!

--Liz