Scott and I spent the morning in the hotel trying to feel better... The rest of the team went back out the the village to finish up the latrines. There was a community meeting scheduled for this afternoon to explain to the whole community what we had built and about the differences between this and other methods they are using in the village. Cappuccino came back to get Scott and I so we could be there for the community meeting.

Tono, Angel, and Dani are the friends from Guatemala that came to help us. Tono and Angel are Guatemalans, and Dani is an American nun working on the project in Guatemala. Tono made the presentation to the village, and Dani translated for us. He did a great job of engaging them, asking lots of questions, rather than just talking at them. He discussed the importance of water, and how high their water table is, and how important it is to keep that water table clean and safe. He talked about how water tables work and what their other methods of sewage are doing to the water table. And then he explained all about how the composting latrines work. It was a lot of fun to watch this community engage with each other and take in this new information. They are so open and hospitable, both to us and to new ideas. After the discussion we all went over to the latrines for a tour! We got to hear all kinds of gross but completely practical questions about what you do with these things when they get dirty, what if you have diarrhea, etc. We have broken down many walls between us and our friends of Embarcadero this week, both cultural and personal! (By the way, you might notice that I spelled the name of the village differently this time - Embarcadero. This is the proper name for the village we discovered this trip. I'll tell you more about the story of Embarcadero soon.)

We left soon after the meeting. On the way out of the village, the van got stuck in the mud, three times. So we got out to walk past the muddy parts. As we were walking, Lula slipped in the mud and fell in a big puddle, getting herself covered in mud. As we continued walking she was really worried about being muddy, so she asked if anyone had any extra shorts. No one did, but I jokingly said that I was wearing boxers under mine, so she said, "Tim, give me your shorts." So, I did! I walked a mile in the mud today in my boxer shorts so Lula would not be covered in mud!