One of the things that appealed to me when I was originally doing research about Bluefields was the fact that, perhaps unlike some of the larger hotels and guest houses here, this family-run resort really seems invested in the local community. Aside from the fact that they employ so many people from the town to work at the resort, they also give back quite a bit to the community in other ways, and one of the ways is in funding the Bluefields Basic School, a local early childhood education center for three, four and five-year olds in the area.
One of the things we really wanted to do when we came down was to visit and help support the school, and we were so pleased that they weren't yet on summer vacation, so we could actually meet the teachers and the children. Given that Joe and I are in healthcare (duh), we were particularly interested in earmarking a portion of our contributions towards something related to early childhood health and safety. As one concrete example, some of the contributions from Bluefields and friends of Bluefields have gone towards subsidizing healthy and fresh school lunches for the kids, some of whom don't always get a chance to eat breakfast before school each morning.
Another reason we wanted to go visit the school, and perhaps a more selfish reason, is just for the sake of keeping perspective in check. Joe and I are very lucky people, our kids are incredibly blessed, and we're having an unforgettable family vacation. But part of vacation to a foreign country should be learning about the community you're visiting, and we thought that spending some time at the school would be a interesting and familiar way for Cal to do just that.
Plus, did I mention how adorable these kids are?
That little one, there, in particular, mounted quite the charm offensive. After I took that photo, she magically extracted camera right out of my hands with the force of SHEER CUTENESS and took all those pictures below. Kid's got talent, right?
Anyway, everyone loves being on vacation, but it's also nice, when being taken such good care of by a community of people, to be able to give something back. Learn more about Bluefields Bay and their local community initiatives here. And thanks so much to the Bluefields Basic School for letting us visit on their last day of school! Have a good summer vacation kids!
