The next morning, the volunteers returned to Cotorro, with plans to finish the playground site by early evening. The volunteers worked tirelessly, alongside many Cuban workers, to assemble and construct the equipment. The majority of the volunteers had no experience with using the tools or with assembling the equipment but everyone learned extremely quickly. Some volunteers, who had participated in the May 2003 trip helped the Team Leaders by instructing the new volunteers.

Lunch was provided for us by the neighborhood Cubans, under a canopy, on wooden tables with tablecloths. They served all the volunteers with pork, rice and beans and crispy deep fried vegetables. Earlier in the day, they also provided refreshing fresh fruit, sandwiches and freshly squeezed fruit juice.

By late afternoon, the equipment at our first site was about 75% finished. We were then surprised with a gathering by city officials and they presented the U.S. volunteers with a beautiful rose and a certificate. The certificate was an acknowledgment of the city's appreciation for the "noble and kind deed you have offered to our people, in this case the donation of a pleasure ground for children". Also on the certificate was a quotation from Jose Marti, Cuba's National Hero. "Taking into account that the heart is the house for the memories, the monuments are the houses for the heroes." It was an amazing moment!

After the ceremony, a small group of volunteers were taken back to the hotel and the rest stayed an extra couple of hours and continued to work. In the early evening, the remaining volunteers returned to the hotel. Our full first day of construction had gone extremely well and the first playground site was almost complete!