Babies at the Beach

Each year before Easter, many of the pequeños have the opportunity to leave the ranch to go visit their families.  Those that remain here have the chance to go on a trip with their hogar, usually to the beach or to a lake.  However, my hogar, Casa Suyapa, waits until after Semana Santa to take their trip to the beach.  Thus, this year, on April 7^th, I left to the beach with 102 children (& babies) for four days.

Needless to say, before the trip I was quite anxious about it.  How in the world were we going to keep track of so many kids near such a big body of water?  Also, I had no idea what to pack, but I knew that I had to include a mattress, as we would be sleeping outside.  Never the less, at 7:00 am on April 7^th, we were loading two buses, a truck, and a van with all of the supplies (and kids) for the trip.  Think of all the mattresses, clothes, diapers, food, etc. that we had to take!  By about 10:30 we were on the road and the whole bus was yelling “Señor Conductor, más velocidad, …” anxious to arrive at their destination. 

The transport used to get to the beach

Many of the children were so excited to leave the ranch, but the ride was filled with mixed emotions for me.  The two boys I sat with were always looking out the window and pointing out “their house” as we drove by, and one was looking for his mom in the buses that passed.  It really melted my heart.  However, the mood was also lightened by singing songs and chants for several hours.  One in particular, reminded me of our “Who took the cookies from the cookie jar?” chant:

-          Valerie robó pan de la casa de San Juan.  Valerie robó pan de la casa de San Juan.

-          Quién yo?

-          Sí, tú.

-          Yo no fui.

-          Entonces, quién?

-          Marcos.

-          Marcos robó pan…

All kids were curiously looking out the window

Finally, at about 4 in the afternoon, after a long drive and a lunch stop, we arrived at our destination.  On the first day, we took the kids down to the water, although nobody was allowed to swim.  Even so, they were all busy finding shells, building castles, and getting dirty.  Haha.  We somehow ended up with plenty of sand on our bodies that night for a simple “walk to the water”.

Lunch stop

First steps in the water :) She enjoyed it more later.

Casa Suyapa rented a house at the beach.  There was a small kitchen, two bedrooms with window air conditioners for the babies and chiquitos to sleep in, another bedroom for a few adults, and three bathrooms.  Yes, three bathrooms for 102 children and about 50 adults.  Needless to say, the trees were well watered (and fertilized) over the next few days.  The kids also showered outside, but the line for the showers of the caretakers seemed to never end.

Sleeping arrangement

After that first day, we spent two whole days and one half day down at the water.  My worries were useless, as the beach was perfect for the kids.  It was a private beach, and the water was very calm.  Each kid (depending on age) was given some kind of life jacket or floaters, so they were all able to swim with little supervision.  Since I spend my time with the babies and chiquitos, however, I constantly had somebody with me.  Most of the babies loved the water, although they were a little scared at first.  By the last day, two babies began crawling towards the water.  We followed to see how far they would go, and yes, they crawled right to it!

During the day, we would take the babies out in water rings, and they would often fall asleep on the water.  The chiquitos and other kids played for hours on floaties and rafts.  On the beach, the kids were constantly digging in the sand, and the babies were eating it, too!  As much as we tried to keep them from doing so, with babies on a beach full of sand, we couldn’t keep up.  One girl even had sandy poop in her diaper…

Haha. Some enjoyed being buried more than others.

The food at the beach was also a welcome change to the daily rice and beans at the ranch.  Our first meal was hotdogs, which I think was the cause of my stomach troubles at the beach.  (No, not fun when there are only three bathrooms.)  We also ate fried chicken, fried whole fish (yummy!), tlajaditas (fried plantains with salsa), and various kinds of fruit for snacks.  The caretakers and other adults took turns cooking.  The volunteers had to cook breakfast on Thursday and Friday, which meant we had to begin cooking pancakes at 5 am on Thursday.  We made more than 300 pancakes and served them with fruit and Nutella, which is quite a treat here.  On Friday, we began cooking pupusas (a kind of tortilla with cheese and sausage in the middle) at 4 am.  While it was a first time for me, I think after making more than 300, I can be considered a professional.  They must’ve been good, too, because many of the kids ate thirds!

Hotdog

Pupusas at 4 am

By Friday, I think we were all ready to go home.  The bus ride home was much quieter, with many people sleeping.  We did stop for a snack at a small zoo with some tigers, lions, crocodiles, turtles, coyotes, and other small animals.  The children enjoyed their time there, and the girls I sat with couldn’t stop talking about it on the way home.  One girl asked me if lions eat people, and I told her that they eat meat, so yes, you have to be careful when you are around them because they could really hurt (or kill) you.  She then asked if they kill with a knife, and I said that they had claws, but she didn’t understand and then asked if they used a machete (something all children are familiar with, as that’s what they cut grass with here).  I think I need to show her a lion episode from Animal Planet.  (They were also amused by the wind generators we saw, and asked where they sleep.)

Finally, with buses full of children, we didn’t want to stop to use the restroom (besides our stop at the zoo).  So when the girl next to me had to go (I warned her it would happen after drinking so much water), they handed me a bag for her to pee in.  I don’t know about you, but this was my first experience trying to get a kindergartener to pee into a bag on a bus.  Needless to say, she missed, and then the girl next to her was crying because she was all wet, haha.  I then used the bag to put all the toilet paper in that I used to wipe up the urine.  (Golden rule: ALWAYS carry a roll of toilet paper with you.)  I was glad that by that point we were almost home.  It was a long, exciting, and tiring week.

Yet another survivor photo :)