Day four in Abaco by Claire Winn, a student with Pella Christian’s team.
Today was our Cultural Day!! We started off by driving to a harbor where we all got on a boat and sailed up to a little island called No Name Cay! As we approached the harbour, we spotted all sorts of hogs! This was a surprise for all of us, thanks to Laura. We swam with the piggies for a while and fed them bread. These pigs fascinated me. As I was feeding them, they started chasing me and continued to almost harass me. It was quite the day there. Overall, I really enjoyed them for their sense of direction and character traits they all have. We stayed on that island for a bit and enjoyed the CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER and found all sorts of things like; star fish, sea biscuits and sea cucumbers as well as these incredible colored conch shells. The island had a resort where they made a conch salad. Zach bought some and we all got the opportunity to try it. It was a little gross but overall I’m glad I tried it! Next stop was Monterey Jacks where we hung out with the stingrays. It was probably the coolest thing I have ever done! We got to stand in the water and the rays would come up and just rub against you. They are like little golden retrievers in the water. It was truly amazing to see how God’s beauty and creativity was seen by the interactions with the rays. We then went back to the souvenir shop which was very fun. We walked around a different island which gave a completely different perspective on the world. Moving from Cay to Cay on this day of travel, it opened my eyes to God’s beauty through the different ways the different islands are set up and the hospitality they have for each other. The one thing I really look away from this trip and this experience is the way these people truly love each other. Their hospitality is incredible and it humbles me as I am about to enter back into the United States, how I can make a difference or change for the better.
Day four in Abaco by Maria Dahm, a student with Pella Christian’s team.
Today was awesome! I had been looking forward to the culture day all week and after having done tons of painting at the church, today was even better than I had anticipated. We went into this morning not knowing anything about what Laura had planned for us which made the hour long car ride to Treasure Cay even more exciting. Once we got to the marina, we met Sheila, who was our guide for the day, and she was awesome. She was so passionate about all of the animals. First, we went to No Name Cay, which was home to quite a few pigs along with a resort. With our loaf of bread, we all tried so hard to coax the pigs into the water with us. But as it turned out, the pigs didn’t really want anything to do with us, they just wanted the bread as long as it wasn’t soaked with sea water. Speaking of the water, it’s the most beautiful I have ever seen! It’s crystal clear and from the beach, it’s bright blue. We went on another boat ride to the next Cay, which was known for having a lot of stingrays and sharks. We saw so many stingrays and they were super friendly. Sheila gave us cut up pieces of squid to feed them which was quite the experience, they would circle around and come up to us and eat the pieces of fish right out of our hands. At the end of the day, we were able to walk through a town that had a few little shops and tons of roosters. Today was a much needed day of fun, full of so much laughter and LOTS of sunburn.
