Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Saturday, August 14, 2010: Earth Lodge & Dinner with the Girls

It’s the first morning of no field school. No more waking up to walk to some sort of obligation. No more Casa Maria. No more Spanish classes. But most of all, no more field school students roaming the streets of Antigua. It was strange walking around this morning because most of the students took early flights out so the normal day to day running into people was not the same today. I didn’t see anyone I knew which felt so odd and a little scary because I really feel like a foreigner now. It’s like day 1 all over again.

A few stragglers did stay behind including Sue Coppola (the OT Practice Supervisor), her daughter Josie, Joy, Ellen, Jessica, and Nicole. We all headed for a day trip up to Earth Lodge, an Eco-Resort a 15 min drive up a hill near Antigua, which we did standing in the back of a pick-up truck. It was a sight to see and when we got to the very top of the steep mountain, we saw people living in a place that didn’t seem possible. Here we were trying to get away and be in a more primitive environment as a change from the norm, and for these Mayans, it was the norm.

Anyway, Earth Lodge is a cute little place on the top of a steep hill with magnificent views of Antigua and the surrounding areas. We played Farkle, ate amazing food, playing with the resort dogs, and just lounged in the quietness of nature (with our laptops of course!). I liked it so much that I booked a night for my amigos who are visiting for the week so we have a guaranteed getaway in one of their unique treehouse rooms where we can just enjoy doing nothing for a change.

At 3pm, Joy and I headed back to town to have dinner and drinks with Mary and Jennifer, an OT student from the pediatrics component. Now that the field school is over, we all got together to discuss our thoughts, feelings, and impressions of the whole experience, which I have to say, are mixed. When you bring people from different backgrounds, experiences, and with different expectations together, they all have different experiences no matter how much you try to make them the same. That’s my way of saying that some people loved the program and some people didn’t. I can see both sides, but I guess I liked it more than I didn’t and I don’t think we’ll know what we’ve gotten out of this until we get home and start putting our new skills to work.

Brian comes tomorrow!!! So much to do… can’t wait to see him!