Day 4 we awoke early for yet another day packed
with activities. This time, it was our first Cultural day of the
Moot.
When we awoke, we found cows in our campsite! I'm not sure if they were "wild" cows, or if they belonged to a local farmer. Either way, they were pretty scrawny, and looked funny in amongst a bunch of Rovers!
Our team (67b) also had our official camp photo taken this morning. Although I don't think anyone actually bought the official photo (they were pretty expensive) it did give us a good opportunity to take our own pictures of the team in full uniform!
For pictures of these folks, plus other we met along the way, go to our Friends page!
More cows along the path down to the bus!
We waited for the bus for a long time (no surprises there) so we started singing campfire songs! I think this one was "Singing in the Rain," but in Spanish of course! The folks with the yellow neckers were our staff for the day.
First, we drove out into a little town where we learned how tequilla is made (I guess that's an appropriate Mexican cultural activity!) In town, this was a neat little scene that I captured on film.
Here's the bus load of us testing out a drink called "poolke" although I'm not sure of that spelling, so don't quote me on it. This stuff was basically the tequilla drink, after natural fermentation but before distillation. We also tried the juice straight out of the magge plant (don't quote me on that spelling either: the word is pronounced "ma-gay.") Anyway, that's the cactus that this stuff comes from. I didn't enjoy the juice straight from the plant too much, but others seemed to. I did like the poolke though.
After the poolke tour, we went on to the City of Cuernavaca, the heart of culture and commerce in the province of Morelos. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures except this one... but its a neat facade. Anyway, we went to a Mexican museum that used to be the local palace, and we also went to a restuarant in town for lunch! Finally, we got back on the bus and returned to camp.
After dinner, back at camp, there was a big campfire! Of course, this isn't a picture of the actual campfire, but it is the fire pit. The most beautiful campfire circle I had ever seen at a Scout camp for sure... What an experience - sitting around the campfire with 1000 Scouts from all over the world, singing songs in so many different languages. I really think that this is what Baden-Powell was thinking of when he came up with the idea for the whole movement.
Day
5