Puerto Lopez has the summertime spirit with
students off from school, surfing lessons on the beach, and raucous Good Friday
celebrations (legend has it that the sea turns to gold at the stroke of
midnight!).April at Clara Luna and the Foundation Jose Rivera brought new
volunteers from across the world to help out: Lena (Germany), Courtney
(Canada), Bayden (Australia), Rachel (USA), Mollie (USA), Jessica (Canada),
Daniel (USA), and Helen (New Zealand). Community dinners continued to the
benefit of all. Jessica, in fact, cooked her first meal (a veggie pasta) for us
and it was delicious!I must make a special shout-out to the roast chicken
dinner cooked by Lara and Nick, Spanish students from Australia, because it was
beyond delectable – there might have only been bones left.
At the beginning
of the month, Lena as solo warrior helped everyday with the Foundation and Club
de Ninos. Courtney took over the English classes when she arrived and assisted
with Club de Ninos as well as Intercambio. That week the major topic for Club
de Ninos was ‘The Weather’. The students took part in experiments to create a
tornado in a jar (http://www.weatherwizkids.com/experiments-tornado-jar.htm),
make your own cloud (http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/science-experiments+10/how-to-make-a-cloud-in-a-jar+12511.htm),
a personal rainbow (http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/makearainbow.html),
as well as a pinwheel anemometer (http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Nature/pinwheel/pinwheel.html).
Jessica, Bayden,
Rachel, and Mollie arrived in the midst of Earth Day (April 22) preparations
and put their talents to use. Jessica and Bayden aided with Club de Ninos and
began teaching their own English classes. Rachel and Mollie are kinesiology
students with interests in physio- and occupational therapy. They continued and
expanded with the physio programs set-up by past volunteers at the Foundation.
Rachel also assisted in teaching English classes with Bayden.
The Club de
Ninoskids read the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax and watched the recent Danny
Devito voiced Hollywood adaptation. The book/movie teaches the importance of
Trufalos… or trees … to the stability of the environment and continuation of
life on Earth. The kids brainstormed ideas of what Clara Luna was going to
present at the Earth Day celebrations in the Plazoleta. It was settled that a
few of them would perform an experiment to explain how trees are related to
carbon dioxide and oxygen, whilst the others would create a tree out of paper
leaves with promises to improve the environment written on them. Kids and
adults at the demonstration wrote promises to recycle more often, to ride their
bicycles, and to not throw away garbage on the beach.
The Clara Luna
house continued to celebrate Earth Day by picking up the trash in the empty lot
beside the building and the dry river bed. Lena won for most disgusting item but
in-all we picked up ~20 bags of trash. The following week, Native Divers asked
anyone with scuba experience in the house to come down to the beach and help
clean up the area surrounding the Puerto Lopez pier. A lot of metal, fishing
line, and rope was hauled out of the ocean but the divers were rewarded by
seeing angel fish, sting rays, and seahorses during the clean-up. The new
volunteers, Daniel and Helen, were lucky to arrive that weekend and help with
the on-land garbage pick-up around the pier.
