Saturday 25th January:

On Saturday morning we went to the waterfall to abseil after breakfast! It was about a 30min drive from the lodge up into the Mountains. We had to walk for about 5 minutes from the car and then we go to the top of the waterfall and I was SO SCARED – it’s 30 metres high! I made myself do it though and it was the most AMAZING thing I think I have ever done. You come down right in the water, and it’s the best feeling ever when you get to the bottom! We all took loads of photos so I will try and upload them all sooooon.

That evening we had a big party in the lodge because a whole group of new people were arriving that night! It was such fun and glittery and there was lots of rum and cervezas and dancing! Then on Sunday (despite everyone feeling slightly worse for wear) we went to a beach called Playa Blanca for the day – you have to take 2 buses and walk down a hill for about 40 m (we found out later that we could have got a bus…) and then get a boat out to the island. It was so stunning and perfect -  bright white sand and clear water. We got a lovely lunch and I had a piña colada – yum yum yum!

Playa Blanca- stunning, stunning, stunning!

Playa Blanca- stunning, stunning, stunning!

That week started out a bit slow and on Monday we didn’t get that much done, but on Tuesday we did our presentation in a local school about the project we had been doing and why it is bad to litter etc – it was short but in Spanish so that was necessary! We all did really well though and the kids got really involved, we made a work sheet and on Friday we found out that they are now doing a project in school about rubbish!!!!!! So I think we made a big difference. On Wednesday evening we had a crash course in Merengue (a dance like Salsa but slower) which was very fun and very sweaty!

By Friday we had finished making the bin (with a lot of help from Manuel, a guy who works at the lodge) and in the morning I painted the front with leaves and trees. It looked really good! We laminated the notice board me and pip had made and put it under the welcome sign and took it all out to the beach in the afternoon to cement it in!!!!!!! So it’s all up and finished now, and it feels so good to actually see our work! This Saturday we went shopping in the big shopping centre and had another fiesta on Saturday for Roberta’s birthday!!! So much fun.