Vivir en el momento: Kermes

Once every six weeks the volunteers at NPH Guatemala put on a sort of “carnival” for the kids here. It’s usually 2 hours on a Sunday where we plan activities, have different game stations, and have some sort of snack, usually that revolve around a theme. This month, Sam and Katie planned all of the events and the theme was WATER since it’s the rainy season here. (In case I forgot to mention, it rains pretty much every day – sometimes for 10 minutes, sometimes for 8 hours, regardless, I still think this is one of the prettiest places in the world :).)

The day of Kermes was BEAUTIFUL. It was one of the first days I’ve been here that the morning was ONLY hot and sunny – perfect weather for a day full of water games that included: water volleyball, the cup pass, an obstacle course, water balloon tosses, and coin tosses (into a baby pool of course). What better day then to get soaking wet with a bunch of little kids? Of course I stayed perfectly dry until some of my students came to my station. After that – FORGET IT! I was doused with pretty much ALL of the water that was at our game = slightly uncomfortable, but very fun :).

Anyway! Kermes was lots of fun. I was in charge of “The Cup Pass” with two other volunteers, Meghan and Katie. The kids were each given a cup and told to stand in a line. Two teams competed against each other to see who could pass water from one cup to the next using only their mouths - no hands. The team that had the most water in their bucket at the end of the game won points. After visiting each station, the teams with the most points won prizes. Los Angeles came in second and won some pretty sweet bracelets (kind of like “Livestrong” bracelets, although these just said “Glitter Critter” haha!) Enjoy the photos :).