Sock Puppets: Rockin' Socks

Hey guys, remember this post?  From back in March, when I talked about the vacation camp for kids that the teenagers ran?  And how we constructed scenery for puppets out of cardboard and duct tape and various other materials?  And I said, "Stay tuned tomorrow, we have some important visitors coming?" 

Well folks, the tomorrow of yesterday is today.  And of the day before yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and March 27th's tomorrow is also today.

What I'm trying to say is, in March, two representatives from Peace Corps in Washington made a trip to Guayaquil to visit some volunteers and see what life is like in the field.  (You all thought I was in Ecuador; turns out I was in the field all along.)  Their visit coincided with the celebratory last day of vacation camp, so we planned a big shebang.  The Washington people were kind enough to send me some photos of the event, and now - today - I am sharing them with you.

The kids were supposed to arrive early to help set up, but they arrived late.  But late for them is like arriving on time, so really they arrived early even though they arrived late. 

Setting the stage.

The puppets waiting in the wings.  The story we performed: Jack and the [Raddest, Awesomest, Coolest, Spiffiest] Beanstalk [Ever Made].  If you wish to see a picture of said beanstalk, check out that post from back in March.  Then you'll see what I mean.

Luckily, all parties were running on Ecuadorian time, so everyone arrived pretty much in the order they were supposed to.

The kids gave a presentation to our visitors, as well as their gathered family and friends, on our activities in the vacation camp.

Then came the puppets.

The show in progress.  We had designated narrators, prop managers, and puppeteers.  It was all very professional.

Except for the cardboard sets having a tendency to flop over if they weren't held at the correct angle and people missing their cues and whatnot.

But we had fun.

The sock puppet with the tophat is the narrator.

Taking a bow.

Friends and family came to see the show.

Afterwards, we took our visitors outside to check out the garden project.

Two of our most dedicated "Garden Promoters" explained all we'd done to build and maintain an organic garden.  They've seen it through multiple harvests during the almost-year it's been producing.

The PC office sent some literature - the Annual Report for PC in Ecuador - which apparently the little one found fascinating.

Here we all are, wrapping it up in the garden.  Everybody was excited to show off what we'd been working on for the past few weeks (and, in the case of the garden, months), and hopefully our visitors enjoyed themselves and got a good idea of what Peace Corps Volunteers are accomplishing here.

Cheers!  -jordan