Mazatlan school kids

We've spent our first week here in Mazatlan. We've learned our way around the city, rode our bikes to old town Mazatlan, and taken the bus several times. We're feeling more comfortable with our surroundings. It would be easier if we could speak some Spanish. We've also been walking on the beach in the mornings.

This past week the park we're staying in had a 'field day' for a Mexican school that the park helps sponsor. A woman who once stayed here in the park started helping at a makeshift feeding center several years ago. Now, there is a free school for approximately 60 children ages 4-6. They are enrolled at no cost to their families. In Mexico public schools still have costs associated with them and some families are so poor their kids can't afford to go to the public schools.

We volunteered to help bring some of the kids from their school here to the park. So, we had 7 small girls all speaking Spanish - laughing and yelling and giggling in our truck. They kept trying to talk to us, but we didn't have any idea what they were saying. Once arriving here at the park, they played with beach toys in the sand. They then had hot dogs, juice, watermellon, and cookies. Next on the schedule was crafts. They made masks for the carnival, got their faces painted, and made bead bracelets. At 2:00 it was time to make the return trip with the kids back to their school. Altogether, we had about 45 kids here in the park that day. All in all it was a very great day. Very enlightening to how things work in Mexico.