Team Journal - October 5th

Tuesday, 5th October

Thought for the day: “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Maria Robinson

We knew ahead of time that today wouldn´t be normal, but who wants normal anyway? The boys wouldn´t be running around at CDLN until much later, so we had plenty of time to see the grounds, the pavilions, the animals, the fields of vegetables and to meet Brother Hugo and some of the tutors and other volunteers.

We snuck a taste of the panettone that the boys make in the bakery of CDLN and sell for special occasions. We had lunch early. We had a few tasks given to us by Jose and then Flor. With Jose, we helped feed the animals [now remember, I said that the boys were not yet on the grounds], I mean the guinea pigs and the chickens. We first went all the way around the vegetable fields to the back where they pack the produce, such as cabbage, broccoli and lettuce, then we loaded a wheelbarrow full of the discarded outer leaves of the cabbage and the woody stems of the broccoli and even grabbed some leaf lettuce. I swear these discards were better than some salad bars I´ve seen back home. Then Jose pushed the barrow back to San Martin [the pavilion, not the city] to the cages. Barry and I then spread out the leaves for the guinea pigs and then I chopped some lettuce for Barry to give to the chickens.

We followed that with getting some windows ready to paint at San Antonio for Ms. Flor. She wants the pavilion like new in time for the October 24 anniversary of CDLN, so she has a paint scheme implemented throughout, the windows and doors remain black, but the study area will be lighter with beige and brown and the inner columns richer with ochre, followed by the hallways painted ivory. Now we just have to find the time and the paint. We made it through sanding the inner and outer doors today, we´ll see what tomorrow will bring.

Back at the hotel, Barry and I decided to try out the suggestion made by Jeannette about Cafe San Antonio. Apparently, we need to try out the desserts (covered by Global) and the maricuya pisco sours (not covered by Global). It just goes to show that you can´t make everyone happy all of the time.

At dinner the only splurge was an ice cappucino for each of us. Cafe San Antonia ranks 4 stars for selection and inexpensive prices. The location, facade and uniformed waitstaff at first made us feel underdressed in our jeans and tshirts, but we quickly saw that it was populated by local friends, just like an ice cream parlor back home. In all, a pleasant experience.

Denise Hazelrigg