Volunteers

Monday, July 16^th

Today, seven German girls came to the park today to volunteer. However, they are more interested in a beach vacation then actually volunteering. I gave them a tour of the parque, which they didn’t pay attention to and then I put them to work painting trees. They painted for about 30 minutes and then quit, left all the supplies out, and sat around for the rest of the day. It is frustrating because you don’t go somewhere to volunteer and expect to sit in a hammock reading all day.  They also ALL signed up to feed the animals at the parque and didn’t sign up for any of the other 8 different chores that needed to be completed for the day. Feeding the animals is obviously more fun, but not all work can be fun.

One girl actually asked me to a book a tour of the mangroves for her. I’m not the parque’s personal travel agent! This girl couldn't do anything for herself...about every 10 minutes she came up to me to ask me to do something for her. I get the impression that these are wealthier, sheltered girls who aren't used to hard work and living on their own. Later that night on our patrols, the same girl came with me and screamed at every log and rock she saw on the beach. By the end of the day I was at my wits-end with these girls. On top of everything, my buddy TJ left to go travel some more around Guatemala. I’m going to miss his company!

Luckily, I was able to get out the parque for dinner. Glenda, Mariachi, Alice, and I had dinner with some of the egg buyers at Hotel Honolulu. They were hotel workers with the good relationships with ARCAS. They were being treated to dinner as a reward for cooperating. We had chicken katsu, rice, and some weird but yummy potato salad. For dessert, we had fresh brownies. It was delicious and a great change from the parque fare. It was also interesting to listen to the conversations at the table even though it was all in Spanish. One of the egg buyers took a particular shining to me and said I must be his English practice partner.