What sound does a monkey make?

Today was such a fun day--the zoo field trip went stupendously well! We got all 16 children there safely and (surprisingly) didn't lose any on the trip around the zoo. They are a wild bunch so we were a bit worried about a few running off. However, our guide was wonderful with the kids and they followed her every command. The zoo itself was interesting, there were the "standard zoo animals", zebras, bears, monkeys, birds, but the strangest thing was the dinosaur exhibit. When you walked inside, you immediately had to enter this dark "time travel" tunnel with rotating neon stars around the entire inside. It felt like the whole room was spinning and it was difficult to even walk straight. The kids were loving it, but I actually got really dizzy. So we hurried on through and walked past the rooms of eerie, large mechanical dinosaurs. To me it was comical how fake everything looked, but I could tell that some of the kids were a little frightened because it was dark and really loud inside. I would say that's the most odd exhibit I've been through at a zoo. We finished our last half hour at the gigantic playground, complete with the most fantastic pirate ship I've ever seen. It was so wonderful to watch the kids run and laugh and seem to have the time of their lives. Where they live they don't have any playgrounds that even come close to how great this one was. They seemed to enjoy all parts of their journey through the zoo, but on the playground they were free to roam and laugh their little hearts out. I even had to join in because the pirate ship was too cool to not try out myself. I pretended to be the witch that was coming to eat them all, so their giggles turned to elated screams as they scrambled to run away. I loved this time to bond with them and to just be wild, silly and carefree. Back at home for dinner, the day came to a nice end with our traditional "guacamole night". Every Monday we whip up a HUGE bowl of guacamole (like the size of one of those giant popcorn bowls). We make it a complete meal by adding red peppers and choclo (giant sized corn kernels) and then pairing it with fried yucca (aka yuca frita) and bread. Tonight was even more special because we went out for cake, ice cream, and fruit salad to celebrate Connie's (a friend and fellow volunteer) last night in Huaycan. Sadly, she will be leaving tomorrow and her last request was to get a taste of her favorite deserts she's grown to love here. But all in all, today was great! Another volunteer and I, finished off the night by throwing around ideas about what to do about the attendance issues. It was refreshing to talk to someone and come up with ideas about how we can make things better. I want to change the negativity I've felt into something positive, to actually improve things. So it was so nice to feel like we're starting to get somewhere in coming up with a better system of getting the kids to attend the classes. I'll go into more details later, but it pretty much entails giving them more of a motivation to come to class. Despite my frustrations, I am excited that I have four more months to stay here and observe their progress and the growth of the organization. 

Outside of the dinosaur exhibit with our lovely guide

Guacamole with a multitude of ingredients