Thursday and Friday

     Thursday dawned as a dusty, beautiful day in Cabo Corrientes. We spent the night at a hotel on the beach, where we ate fresh caught shrimp and (for the first time in my life) raw oysters. They had a dollop of chipotle sauce on them and gthey were fabulous. We had watched them come off the boat an hour before dinner. Talk about fresh!
     We visited three schools, but I'll always be touched by the visit to Villa del Mar. Bob had suggested we not go to that school because in his visits there, the school had been disorganized, the students unruly and the teacher blase. I decided that the kids shouldn't be punished for a bad teacher, so we went anyway.
     As it turns out, the previous teacher had left and two young women have taken over the school. There were 37 kids in two rooms. Well, not exactly two room. There was one room for the fourth to sixth grades. The  first, second and third grades were outside under a roof but no walls. A true outdoor classroom! When we arrived, the kids all came into the room inside and I presented the books (no Alicia, so I had to do all the Spanish speaking this time). The kids grabbed their choices, checked them out and started reading.
     As I walked around checking to make sure they signed their cards, one of the older kids gave me his card. I asked him to sign his name. He shook his head and asked me to do it, pointing to the back of his soccer jersey where his name was printed. I didn't know what was up, but I didn't argue and I signed his card "Eduardo" and sent him off to give the card to his teacher.
     As always, I grabbed some of the fist and second graders and started a read aloud with them. Soon I had the usual crowd of 10 - 12 scrunched around me, laughing at the book and laughing at my Spanish. I asked a fifth grader to take over a read a page for me. She couldn't. It was Dr. Seuss' Un Pescado, Dos Pescado (One Fish Two Fish)
     Later, I talked to the teacher and found out that when they inherited the school, almost none of the kids could read. They had simply lost whatever years they had been in the school, because the teacher had totally failed. They were starting from the beginning with all of them, treating the 11 year olds like the six year olds.
     Those kids. They were so sweet, so helpful, so good to each other and to their teachers. They deserved to read, but the system had let them down. They hadn't failed, their school had failed. We talked for a long time about how we could help. A second room would be nice, but not the most important. More important were the books. The teachers had been very smart. Every student was required to read each night at home and write a few sentences about what they read.
     Not only that, but the teachers were staying at school two evening a week to teach the parents! Because of course, they couldn't read either. Those two ladies, Elsa and Olivier were giving everything they had and all their time to educate this community. The good news is that it will work. Kids love to learn, parents love for their kids to learn. If they stick with it, the community will succeed. I promised to return next year with more books. And I will.
     I'll show some pictures of Villa del Mar on the website.    

Wednesday

     Today we arrived out in Cabo Corrientes. It was a three hour drive to the school we wanted to reach, but the drive was beautiful. The town is called Corrales, a small village tucked between the mountains and the ocean. There are 20-30 houses, but there are as many more houses up in the hills that send their children to the school. The main means of survival is fishing and the common access to the town is by boat rather than by road.

     The visit to the school was great. It's a two room school, divided between two teachers. Luisa teaches grades 1-3 and Ramona teaches grades 4-6. We brought the kids together to show them the books, and asked the big kids to help the little ones pick out books. After they got their first books, we talked to the teacher about the importance of reading aloud to the students, including the older ones.

         I sat on the floor and read aloud to a small group for a few minutes, and before I knew it, there were 10 or so around me, including several 4th and 5th graders. The fun of listening to a good book read aloud never ends. I read "Little Red Riding Hood" in Spanish and had the whole group saying the good lines with me!

Current library in the school in Corrales before our arrival.

One group of kids with their first books. The girl in the middle couldn't even stop long enough to smile for a photo!

Monday evening

     Drove down to El Tuito today. It's the county seat - a small town of about 5000 or so but there are a LOT of children. There are 450 in the elementary school, so they have to go to school in 2 shifts. A wonderful coincidence is that the community of in the process of putting a library in the school. They have enough to re-model the room and put in the bookshelves, but didn't have much for books. I'm going to give them four libraries to get them off the ground. They want me to show them the card checkout system, because they hadn't figured out how to manage that part.

     Later I went to the middle school. I wanted to find out about their needs for English-Spanish books, since Mexican schools are making a strong push for English language education. They want to find engaging novels and science books that will be easy (3rd or 4th grade level) texts from which to learn. I'm  interested in talkingt with some ESL educators about this, but I think we can come up with some good recommendations.

     There's a mariachi music festival in trown tonight, so I'm off. Regards to all.

First day

     Our first day in Puerto Vallarta has been fabulous. The weather is clear and sunny, the food is fresh and spicy, the people are friendly and funny. The bad economy in USA and Canada has had its effects on the economy of P.V. Tourist travel is down by 40% and as a result, unemployment in the city is climbing. Small shops and restaurants are hanging on by a thread, or have closed down.
     The countryside is affected differently. The folks out in Cabo Corrientes are not directly dependant on tourist dollars to make a living, but a lot of the young men and women who left home to work in the city have lost their jobs and have moved back home. It puts a strain on family budgets and on the local government.
     This weekend is the Dia de la Revolucion (Revolution Day) which is always a fun time. Lots of Mexican tourists take a long weekend to come to cities like P.V. There are buskers on the square, bands playing, fireworks and everyone staying out talking and singing until the wee hours of the morning. I went to bed 11 PM last night; going to bed was not the same as going to sleep. Music on the street lasted until almost 5 AM. Thank heavens for Starbucks.
     Tomorrow morning we leave for Cabo Corrientes. The first stop will be the town of El Tuito where we will talk with the Director of Schools for the whole area. I want to talk to him about the success of Libros for Learning up to now and get his input on any changes he recommends. I also want to get his guidance on how to start to work with the high schools. Up to now, I have only worked with primary schools.
     On Tuesday we will start visiting schools, with plans to go to eight schools during the week. With luck, we'll be back in town on Thanksgiving with the chance to have a turkey dinner. At least turkey tacos!
     Post comments if you like. I think I'll be able to read them.

Greetings

It's just one week until I leave for Mexico. I finally got the Customs approval for bringing in the books. Every year it takes until the last minute. Two years ago I started the paperwork in October and barely got it done in time. Last year I decided to start a little earlier, but it still took until the last minute. This year, I applied for permission in JULY, but sure enough, I just got approval 2 days ago. Sigh...

There will be three of us flying down this year. My cousin Randy is a world traveler and someone who is always on the lookout for how he can make the world a better place. Mike Leonard is my mentor and role model. He's been doing the same work in Honduras for several years and has taught me the business side. While we're doing the work, we'll be brainstorming about how to be even more effective.

The hard part is leaving Joan and Katie for Thanksgiving. I love turkey and dressing and I love the long day of cooking, eating, playing games. I also hate to leave my class for two days. They are so much fun to be with... every day is precious with them.

While I'm in Mexico, I will try to update this blog every day. I'll also try to add photos. It depends on internet access, which is always iffy. Plan to check every day.  Feel free to post comments and ask questions. I'll answer them all.