Camp Mayto Final Day

Saddly enough, we knew the experience had to end. Surely enough day 4 came and the time for our trip home as well. None of us were looking forward to the bus ride home, but we all were ready for a good shower and a long night sleep in our own beds.


During the trip, the students did a great job embracing the kids. Since we both teach middle school, we really didn't know the 12th graders before we left. Despite this, they made us feel part of the group and many of them fell in love with the kids. It was not uncommon during the day to see David and Edan playing board games or card games with the kids while Joelle sat cuddled on some teen girls lap or found herself being buried in the sand by a group of teens. The students were great!

Before we left, Marilyn and Jon Bennett (A wonderful British couple that we met at the camp who had lived there the past 3 months) took the kids down to the beach to release turtles one last time. During these times, Joelle would often hold up the turtles and yell "Fly away baby turtle". They never did fly away, but these last couple of turtles all made it to the water safely. This week as a family we released over a 100 turtles and as a group we released around 1500.

We then packed our stuff, took a group picture, and made sure we got a seat up front near the bus TV's so the kids could be pacified by the movies on the long trip home.

The bus ride home, while long, because it was during the day allowed us to really appreciate the scenery of the trip. The whole trip was up and through mountains. We made a half way stop in Puerto Vallarta to grab some lunch, ironically at McDonald's. (It was the worst meal we had the whole trip). We arrived home about 8 o'clock and were all happy to be home. We spent some time reflecting, knowing that we had just embarked on a once in a lifetime experience. (Unless we go next year!)

One last funny thing about the trip I missed. One of the teachers said today that Edan was overheard saying to another one of my kids, "We are not here to have fun. We are here to save baby turtles!"