Week 5, Saying Goodbye

Who Did It?

The beginning of Week 5 something was a little different. Slowly, all the cutlery turned up missing: knifes in the morning, spoons at lunch, and by dinner, there were only spatulas and serving spoons hanging in the kitchen (nice try guys, but there was no note and you missed some forks!). The weekend came and went, but on Monday morning, the staff and EMs awoke to find a sculpture containing all the knives, forks and spoons hanging by threads of yarn, dangling from the canopy of the eating area. The kitchen scissors were duct taped to the ceiling and a lone note was forked into the table, "Third times the charm"…we'll see what happens next.

Tuesday morning began with an all day game of tasks (or pranks) put on by Jenna, Dana and Shayle, this time, at least we know the culprit. Some of the highlights included Mike and Rob carrying tying up a volunteer and tossing them in the ocean, water and flour dumped over peoples heads, singing, dancing, strange announcements, cutting in line, getting tied up in hammocks, food thrown on snorkel masks worn at lunch, and food being stolen off plates. Luckily, we were all reassured with a sneak attack hug from base manager Laura. By the time dinner rolled around, everyone was laughing, and looking a little paranoid as people walked around the communal area with more cups than usual. The vote for the best executed prank will take place tonight.

We were lucky enough to have Cynthia from the Playa del Carmen office come for a visit. She led us in some great team building games where we learned the names of animals in Spanish, worked together without our eye sight, and controlled blindfolded robots to pick up the keys to release us from our cages.

Thursday, the 5 weekers last night at Pez Maya, was spent playing Escape from Pez Maya with Shayle. Three teams of crafty Pez Mayans had to escape from base without being caught by the guards. We really showed off our skills in camouflage, crawling through the mangroves, creating distractions, and team work. As the evening grew darker, you could begin to see silhouetted figures darting across the volleyball court, palm trees walking across the beach, and hear the quiet rustle of twigs snapping in the forest. An hour and a half later, all three teams managed to reach their goal. Congratulations to Reshma for making it out of Pez Maya first!

It was really sad sending off the 5 weekers Friday morning. After a lot of hugs and goodbyes, and a lot of sitting on the beach, the rest of us decided to make our way up to Playa del Carmen for a surprise send off. The expressions on Shannon and Alan's faces were priceless. After a good night out on the town (and a good weekend in Playa), we all made it back to base and prepared for a much quieter week 6.

Standing by 67.

PS. Swine flu is under control enough for us to get to go back to Punta Allen to teach 6-12 year olds English. We celebrated with yummy orange juice popsicles after (Shayle is sad that I didn't make it into the picture.

Week 5, Saying Goodbye