Sugar Mill Tour and Tails with the Elders

Day 6: Sugar Mill Tour and Tails with the Elders
Emmet Johnston
We started the day off with a great breakfast consisting of corn pancakes with cheese, sausage to put on it, fruit, rice, and beans. After we finished breakfast we walked over to a sugar cane farm where we were greeted with sugar cane sticks and freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. The founder of the farm explained to us his story and how he came up with the idea to crush the sugar cane. When we finished the tour, we walked back, took a shower, and got ready to do some community service. We came to a park with a library that we cleaned and repainted all white. We got it prepared so that we could come back two days later and paint designs on the library. During the community work we were accompanied by one of the locals with an afternoon snack that contained fried yucca with green onion garlic dip and lemonade. Delicious! Once we finished we went over to play basketball with the local kids until I got hit in the face with a basketball and we had to go back. Then we had the wonderful opportunity to speak with an elder of the town who told stories of her childhood and how it was for her growing up. It was very empowering and gave me the chance to learn more about other people’s experiences. When we got back to Rancho Verde we had a great dinner and then went right back out to the town for a soccer game that almost everyone came to watch. And that was Day 6 of this wonderful trip.