On the final day in Campamento, we had our planned "Work Day" where we would be mixing concrete floors for a local family. Everyone was planning to sleep in a bit, but we were told we gotta get moving before the rains came in. So all were up earlier than usual to get to a home near the Borro school to pour concrete. I completely did not pack well for this day, as me and the boys did not have any gloves for this day. That left Sam with blisters, me with some cut hands, and Davis...I don't think he had any issues. I did find some gloves halfway thru the day, and that helped for both me and Sam.
Brandon entertained us in song singing while he was a part of the concrete line. I think Sam handled the sand pit all day long. Davis took a couple of volcanos, and was on the concrete line often. And I handled about 3 volcanos before about passing out. Dana was the slave driver, but made sure we had 5 minutes after every 2 volcanoes to rest and hydrate. I used those rest periods to play with the local kids that lived around the area.
And one boy was particularly interesting as I had handed him one of the little poppers, and shown him how to make it work. I saw him 15 minutes later just doing the same thing. It made me happy that these little trinkets are fun for these kids...but it reminded me of myself when little. When that same toy I would play with for long periods of time. You can see the changes in Honduras, even since 2019 when we first started coming...more of the children are playing with mom's phone. At some point they will have their own, then the individual play like this young boy...like me as a boy...slowly comes to an end. But that day will come later, on this day, I just smiled, walked over to him and we laughed together as it popped off the bench, then popped off his hand.
Our concrete line was often moved to the side to let a car through, but also towards then end with two boys were moving their cows up the road. Our concrete line stopped for some of the best ham and cheese sandwiches in the world (only because we were hungry), but the best thing about the sandwiches, was that they were brought by a new group coming to help us finish the day. The new group included Bobby's family (where I met Jennifer, the "cutest blonde in the world" as his facebook posts claim) and all of the intern's families. This group was only spending a day or two in campamento, then all going to Roatan for some vacation. As that group started the next volcano, I can still hear Brandon singing in a higher pitch "you call me a dog" by the late great Chris Cornell.
Back at the day care after this work day, we all got much needed showers. We all sat back and rested. Sam and Davis went to get some coffee in town. My friend from the kitchen, Blanca, surprisingly brought me a gift of a towel with a butterfly on it. I grabbed a pic of her and her two cute grandchildren. Then Yeni came back to the daycare after leaving from work, and brought me an authentic Honduras shirt. Both were the sweetest gifts and not expected at all. It is a blessing to give, and such a blessing to receive, just thankful to God for these connections.
It was also a sad day for me watching all the day care kids leave, as I knew i would not see them for awhile. They all came up with hugs, some asking for some magia, but all just saying their byes for the weekend was here. I can still see the little red head boy, Diego light up when I handed him a couple of ninjas to take home with him. And also one last quick visit from Carlos, who apparently had some weekend plans cause he had some cologne on thick.
The last unexpected gift was from Carmen and her family. She brought me a keychain that had a picture of our Junkin family she had gotten off of facebook on one side, and her three beautiful children that we sponsor on the back. Bobby offered to drive Carmen's family back to their home, so I rode in the back with the kids. I don't know if they get to ride often in the back cab seat of a truck, as they just seemed so excited and happy the whole way home. Sadly, I can't remember Carmen's oldest daughters name, but she kept smiling and saying she did not need one of my toys and finally after I told her about being in school and showing her how you could also make them really loud and annoy your teacher, she laughed and accepted one of my poppers. I waved to those sweet little faces till we turned the corner, and I could not see them anymore.
Our final meal at the daycare was pork chops and broccolli. And as soon as I saw it, I knew it was time to get out of this country. Davis bought me a grapefruit soda that is my favorite, he found it at a different pulperia. After dinner is when Sam showed me that somehow he had gotten poison ivy even in Honduras. Luckily Jennifer and one of the other moms are nurses and helped with some advice. Luckily, we were headed home the next morning. We celebrated Brooke's birthday with a cake that evening and even had some left over donuts that were brought that afternoon. And we had one last visit with Maximo and Daisy, where we gave them the photo album Davis and Savannah worked on. Eduardo had to travel into Tegucigalpa, so we did not get to see him again before we left.
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