Great highlights from the different community programs in Playa del Carmen!

While letting our food go down after a nice home cooked meal, we went around the table and told each other what was the highlight of our week. This was particularly interesting as we are involved in both the projects and we have one new comer! It’s always interesting to hear what the other projects are getting up to; dinner conversations are never dull.

Jim & Sian: We went to the beach clean up on Saturday with Solexico (the Spanish school) and it was a great success. There were over 100 volunteers there picking up an equal if not more amount in bags of rubbish. The particular beach we cleaned up was private, so we felt a little privileged to be able to go to a beach that’s not open to the public – yet a little bit startled by the amount of rubbish there. It was like a party atmosphere with lots of food and music and afterwards, we all went for a swim. We then decided to create an activity for the kids in the Ludoteca from our experience. The children had a bit of a presentation and they quite intently drew a clean vs. dirty beach and explained the importance of having a clean one.

Anna: Since I’ve only been here for a week, there wasn’t much that I have done that isn’t the usual training, EFR and getting to know the projects and where I live. But my highlight would be the Equine Therapy that I got to attend on my very first day! It was really exciting to be able to meet the kids and our partners and the wonderful volunteers there. I was also very happy that I was able to lead the horse around by myself only after 30 minutes with someone shadowing me of course!

Andi: A lot has been canceled for me because of the rain and the nature of my activities. But my highlight was sitting in on my first ever Music Therapy class. It was great because I met a lot of new children who don’t attend the school or equine therapy. There were at least 8 new kids more than there are in school! They were playing the maracas, tambourines, xylophone, keyboard and drums and singing lots of songs!

Christie: My highlight would be the releasing of turtles in Xcacel beach! It was a privilege to go as a few GVI-ers  were  invited by the 'Flora, Fauna y Cultura de Mexico'. After an informative talk (complete with props including turtle toys and finger puppets) we were ready to go and release the baby turtles. The beach itself was covered with turtle nests, and we were able to release 2 babies each. We named them as well for good luck! Some of us have already had experience with turtles, but others not; but for all, it was a very exciting and amazing experience. They were so small and squishy! 

Great highlights from the different community programs in Playa del Carmen!