Next stop: Broadway!

What a roller coaster of a week! From such an awful beginning to a wonderful close last night. As a part of our farewell party, students presented the world premiere of their original musical, "The Corn Grows Ripe: The Musical." The musical is based on a children's book we read in preparation for our weekend in the Mayan village of Tinum. The book tells the story of a young boy coming of age after his father is hurt in an accident on the piece of land he farms. Written in 1954, what impresses students most is that village life, methods of farming, total dependence of rainfall, multigenerational families living together, and cooking over open fires has not changed one little bit in hundreds of years. This group is so creative and enthusiastic they decided even before we left Tinum that they would produce a play by the end of the semester.

The result was incredible....4 song and dance numbers, participation in some capacity by every student, great attendance by our instructors, homehosts, friends, language assistants.

Of course, we finished the celebration with food, more music and more dancing.