Our Weekend at Camp: Swimming at Sunset, Palm Leaves for Kindling and #CampHairDontCare

This weekend we camped with girls and young women from across Aruba. As sisters in guiding our camps have a lot in common, but there were some noticeable differences from our camps back home. Here's our top five similarities and top five differences:

5 things that we recognised

1. Spontaneously bursting into song. The weekend was punctuated with musical interludes: energetic renditions of 'Thunderation', morning wake-ups with 'Alice the Camel' and 'Everywhere You Go' in both English and Papiamento. 
2. Roasting marshmallows on the campfire. Smores. Enough Said. 
3. New best friends after 48 hours. We got to know the Aruban leaders and the young women who guide here, but it was also an opportunity for girls from different districts to meet for the first time.
4. Food, Food, Food. We enjoyed the chance to sample some delicious Aruban dishes, but just like at a camp in the UK there was plenty of food and opportunities to tuck in. 
5. Giggles from the girls past midnight. Leaders anywhere in the world share the experience of a first night of camp where you want to get to sleep, but are partly delighted to see the girls having so much fun talking and playing games together late into the evening. 

5 things that were new for us

1. Sunset swims at the beach. This was no cold paddle at Skeggy, as the sun set over the Caribbean Sea we enjoyed the tepid waters at Palm Beach. 
2. New materials for lighting fires. Talking of palms, there was no difficulty lighting a campfire built with dried palm leaves as kindling. In the UK, we'd usually use screwed up balls of newspaper.
3. Iced Tea on tap. Another new one for us as at camp in the UK we're more inclined to drink our tea hot to keep us warm!
4. Flip flops not wellie weather. Walking boots are not required here in Aruba as the chance of rain is minimal. Whereas mud is a consistent feature of UK camps. 
5. Sleeping under the stars. Whilst some of us have bivouacked in the UK before, sleeping on the patio here was preferable to getting into a hot tent and another new experience for us. 

As guides we all have so much in common, but as individuals and with our different cultures there is so much we can learn from each other. This weekend we had so much fun doing just that.