Friday 26.09.2014

It was a bit hard to fathom exactly what was going on at the Fish Fest though the large statue of the Virgin Mary surrounded by candles was a bit of a clue. When we arrived under the lights and bunting the band were in full swing and pieces of cake and sweets were being handed round. Arturo explained it was essentially a thanksgiving for the fish industry which is such a vital part of the local community and added it would go on most of the night and there`d be lots of drinking. The previous night we`d heard fireworks close by which was also part of the celebrations.
It was a colourful, exuberant event but wisely we headed home having watched for a while....taking one of the tuk-tuks up the hill out of town - a mode of transport neither of us have tired of yet.

But flexibility is the Bus Book watchword and though we thought we`d be up early and heading out for school in the morning, turned out there were more exams in progress so we weren`t needed.

However, there`s always something to do. Arturo went off early to make contact with some new schools and we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck into a bit of book sorting (our colleagues at work would have felt right at home!) One of the important plans for development of the BB is to begin establishing libraries and here in Puerto Lopez, the BB house offers the perfect small space to make a start and introduce children to a concept which is not necessarily familiar to them.

So we sorted and cleaned and made piles of different sorts of books and by the end of the morning had a potential "reading corner" for young readers.

We measured up for some shelving to display the books





and with that and maybe a few little chairs it could soon be up and running. In another corner we put non-fiction and reading for older readers as well as leaving some space for games and colouring activities

and with a little judicious furniture rearrangement we even managed to set a little "office" space for Arturo

Very small acorns and all that but the potential is limitless and Arturo has all sorts of plans for reading groups, storytimes and even maybe drama groups as well as involving teachers and parents.


Halfway through the morning we took a stroll into town

in search of book cleaning materials (and just maybe some coffee...) It was tempting to buy all sorts of things for the library (it really felt like an exciting thing to have been in at the beginning of) but we settled on some brightly coloured, cut-outs of butterflies, ladybirds and trucks for the walls as our contribution.


And suddenly and quite unbelievably we`ve arrived at our last day here! This second week has absolutely flashed by.
We were back at the school at Agua Blanca and realised straight away something special was happening as the children were even more smartly turned out than usual with ties for most of the boysand neckties for the girls. Turns out (more flexibility!) that a ceremony of allegiance was to take place so our time with the children was limited.

However the first big group went well, more stories, games, "sopa da letres", masks and "serpientes"



though there`s always the hazard with the latter that you`ll get attacked and have to feign serious poisoning.

The ceremony went off without a hitch

before it was time to wander home for lunch with a pal.

And all too soon we were on our way back to the house having parted company with Arturo who was taking a bus in the opposite direction. He has been great to work with and we will definitely be keeping in touch and look forward to watching all his projects come to fruition here and maybe in the future welcoming him to Scotland.

For now though it`s Adios and buen viaje....

...and for us it`s one last coffee, crepe and beer at the peerless Restaurante Patacon and then up at silly o`clock tomorrow morning for the journey to Mindo, the last stop on our amazing trip. :)