El Castillo

I like beaches. However, I simply cannot do the whole "laying out" thing. I've tried, and it just never lasts. Anything deemed by society as "relaxing" bottles up my energy until I nearly explode. Luckily, our team had plenty of beach activities up its sleeve.

Day two at the beach was shockingly jellyfish sting-less. After body surfing in some waves that were much better than Friday's, I went to join a few of my teammates in sand castle building efforts. As I approached, I was greeted with a strict strategy involving a moat, a mountain range, and a plot for a castle. While the mountain range may make this plan sound involved, you honestly have no idea.

What ensued in the following hours is now known as Kingdom. Kingdom is many things. It is a place, a dream, a coming together of the body of Christ. It is a vineyard, an irrigation system, a village, a three-towered castle, a cobblestone framework of roads, a towering palm branch, a bridge that can support the weight of an adult. Kingdom is a cemetery, and not an airport because, "This is a kingdom! There are not airports in a kingdom!"

(photo credit to Linsey)

Never have I ever seen so many people who are so very old working together on a sand structure. Never have I ever seen so much pride invested in anything, either. I truly love the amount of enthusiasm we put forth as a unit towards just about anything. Using trash, water, and sand (though on a beach, Jess always somehow seemed to be running out) we made art.

Speaking of how hardcore our team is, for the second day in a row, our men cracked open coconuts for us to drink out of. Those things hold a surprising amount of jugo.

We missed normal lunch time, being caught up in construction, and after a late lunch, a few of us wandered towards "Misty Point" to climb on some big rocks. We found a beach area with giant, smooth stones where you could see nothing but ocean and mountains and hundreds of crabs. I could have explored all day, but alas, we were subjected to Fancy Picture Night. Personally, I prefer big rocks to fancy pictures, but I suppose there is something to be said for keeping all the mothers at home happy. By the time we got back, scraped, wet, and gross, most of the team was all dressed up and lovely. We made it work.

One more post to come tonight,

Jenna