The summer of 2010 has come faster than anticipated. Over the last 2 weeks, our staff and volunteers have multiplied and gone from 5 to over 20. It has been both exciting and stressful having all of these new faces mixing around El Pital and the Cuenca. Working to find home stays for everyone and getting people settled has also been a challenge and rewarding. The chance of getting to meet families in other communities has been an amazing experience, not to mention letting the new volunteers experience the people of this unique region of the planet.

One of the best things about this experience is getting a chance to meet new people from all over the world. Ben brought in artists from several countries in Latin America, the US and Honduras for the upcoming ARTE_RIO festival in about 2 weeks. The work shops have been going on for about a week and the build up for the festival is mounting. Next our special education team from UNC (whoop whoop!) came in and has already started evaluating and identifying communities in and around El Pital. With all of the new faces staying with families in El Pital, people have joked that there are more Gringos than Catrachos

As we move through the busiest time of the year it’s easy to get caught up in the wave of activity and forget to step back and appreciate the people and area in which we live. Not seeing my host family as much due to my schedule has certainly taken a toll and I have been victim of only seeing deadlines and arrival dates instead of names and faces. While it is really exciting to have all of these new volunteers here working hard on their respective projects, I sometimes catch myself missing the slower pace of Latin America and being less concerned about the date and where my next meeting is. But than again, I was thinking the opposite 2 weeks ago.