Recap: My @SchoolBOXhelps experience, part 1

Posted In: Me July 8th, 2014 divider No Comments »

Yes, I didn’t do much running while I was in Nicaragua for my recent SchoolBOX adventure. Something to do with with the 40+ degree weather, the lack of time and the fact that I was pretty beat every night after long days in the sun.

But I did get some activity in. And I burned a few calories simply sweating. It started when I got up in the morning and it didn’t stop until I went to bed at night. But no complaints since it was such a cool part of the trip.

Most days also included some manual labour. I loved every minute of it since you felt like you really helped with the build and you could really see the progress. For me it was doubly sweet since it’s not something I do often. My fitness base really helped so I could provide a few hours of hard labour each day on site and still feel good in the warm Nicaraguan sun.

They don’t have machines other than a compacter and a cement mixer so it was a lot of work with shovels, buckets, picks and wheelbarrows. It’s quite different from our construction sites I’m sure but they’re quite efficient considering.

We also did some walking around the communities and playing with the children. Since I was the biggest adult by a lot, they loved to get thrown in the air and climb me. Some of the adults even got into the fun as you can see from the pic above.

We also had to walk every time we needed water. They had wells but some of them ran dry so we had to move on to a further on. And load a makeshift carrier with wheels. It was funny since my Mom told me to spill any while I was walking back with the buckets full. Unfortunately an uneven dirt road with rocks everywhere makes it quite difficult. Sorry Mom!

Stay tuned for part two later this week. This is an experience I will cherish for years so I thought I should share it with all of you…