We started off our packed day by going on a hike up a mountain to
see the sunrise. On the top of the mountain we did yoga and wrote found poems from our journaling. Afterwards
we had a discussion on global issues and learned about the Millennial
development goals. Following that, we played an activity and had to organize
the goals and decide which goals were most important. It was very difficult for
us to do this because all of the goals seemed important and many of them didn’t
affect us. Then we had help putting on saris by some of the local women for our dance performance. They did our hair and gave us jewelry to wear. At the celebration we watched the younger girls perform a dance and then we showed our dance to some of the community members.
In the evening we sat on a rooftop and some of the local girls did henna on our arms. We then had a conversation with them about the lives of women in Chinchoti. Surprisingly, some of the stories that we told each other through a translator had similarities and overlapped. Tonight was the first night of Holi and there was a parade of all the people in the village carrying a large tree to burn for the long multi-day celebration. The parade had really loud drums and a few of our homestays were outside to see it. We are really sad to say goodbye tomorrow and leave our host families. We will miss Chinchoti so much!
Renee & Katie
