3 Mar, Thurs.

Thurs, 3 Mar. i met the students from Minnesota at 8am and they piled in a van and we headed for Sandy Bay Beach for the cleanup. it was worse than we had thought. everytime you tried to pick up a small piece of plastic, you realized it was just the 'tip of the iceberg'. the entire bag was under the sand and it was filled with wet sand. it was also tied, so you couldn't dump it out easily. we decided that next time we needed more people and less beach to clean up ! while we were working, 3 young local boys (about 6-7yrs old) came along, grabbed some bags and started helping us! they were so sweet and dug right in there 'fishing' trash out of the worst stagnant waters! i wanted to take their picture, but by this time my hands were so filthy, i didn't want to touch my camera! they were so sweet. they didn't speak english, so we could just smile and thank them. ...and we wondered why they weren't in school with the other children. then the other school children walked down the beach as we were picking up trash, finished their bag of chips and tossed the bag on the sand! i didn't see this, or i would have confronted them, language barrier or not, they would have gotten my message! we worked for over an hour, and some of the areas looked pretty good when we finished. but there is still more work to be done. i went in the truck with Michele to the 'dump' .... enlightening experience. came back and washed some clothes out and hung them on the line to dry. Jimmy and Tita brought me an extension cord for my microwave. it took almost 2min to heat up a 1/2 piece of bread ... wonder how long it will take to make microwave popcorn ? later, sitting at the picnic table working on my excel spreadsheet for the Recycle Program for BICA, when i heard someone yell, 'hey Donna' .... it was Bennie walking the beach. he said he's had a rough day, was hot, was going to get some coconuts, and did i want to join him on the dock, just over there. so i put my stuff away and joined him and his girlfriend Teresa. she is a really pretty Guatemalan girl and works right next door at Ronnie's Barefoot Bar. after watching the sunset, and a shower, i went to Blue Channel for pizza ... they have internet :) then i went back home .... i miss my little friend, Gordo Gato :(