As expected, this trip is flying by. Today marks one week since we arrived with just one more week to go until our departure. It feels like we have been here for just a few days. Since I last posted we have done a lot, so while I´ll try to be brief I also apologize in advance for what may be a lengthy post! I have been uploading all the pictures from my phone as we I have gotten wireless access at various restaurants or hotels, so hopefully those have shown a bit of what we are doing ...although without lengthy captions it may be hard to know exactly what we have been doing!
Friday...
Luca and I woke up at 5 am to go to high school with the older kids. Their school is about a 10-15 minute drive further up the mountain in a town called El Crucero. The town is where I took pictures of the landscape last week and is a big lookout point in all directions. I have been to El Crucero before and have picked the kids up from school in the past but have never gone in. We waited for a bus and got to school around 7 ... the day started with an assembly that is held every Monday and Friday where the principal talks and afterwards everyone sings songs. After that I went to class with Leyla ... the first one being spanish literature ... where I was chosen to go in front of the class and sing a song in spanish ... without guidance or anything ... so I basically had to do it while creating my own rhythm ... it was pretty funny and Allyson took a video that Im sure she will hold over my head and put on facebook at some point. Next was English class ... it was only 30 minutes and the teacher had them do a listening exercise where they listened to a fake news report about 5 or 6 times in english and had to write down as many words as possible ... it brought me back to my highschool spanish days where we had to fill in the blank when listening to songs in spanish.
After that Luca, Allyson and I went to an infant orphanage next door and hungout with some little toddlers for the rest of the day. Allyson and I then caught the bus back to El Canon to go with Maria Jose and Carlos to drop off Angel at his house. He spent a week at the orphanage visiting while one of the teams from Maryland was there. It was soo good to hangout with him and he is such a great little dude ... but he had to go back. His home is about an hour away and sits on what looks to be a swamp by Lake Managua ... everything was muddy ... granted it IS rainy season ... but those were no conditions to live in. I uploaded the pictures to facebook ... needless to say his house is not one that 6 kids need to be living in. Maria Jose wants Angel and his older sister to come back and live at the orphanage because the living conditions are significantly better ... but his mom wont let them because she needs them to stay home and watch their younger siblings while shes at work all day ... when we got there she wasnt home and the 5 and 9 year olds were home alone ... it really is sad. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the orphanage where we got a good nights sleep.
Saturday...
Luca and I woke up at 5 am AGAIN to meet Tony at the Huembes market to catch a bus to Rivas. We took an express bus to a University in Managua and caught a 5 minute cab from there to the market. Tony was late ... so we walked around for about an hour before he arrived and we caught the 7 am bus to Rivas. After a 2 hour ride we grabbed the next ferry across to the island of Ometepe. THe island itself is about 20 miles long and 10 miles wide ... and is home to two volcanos. There is so much to do that Tony was hesitant to take us for just 1 night ... he said he has gone for 7 days before and left not having done all he wanted to ... but im glad we went because we still did some awesome stuff. We grabbed a hotel right near the port for $25 ... $8 each ... for our own room ... the hotels there are hotels-hostels-restaurants so it was a nice setup. After we had lunch we rented motorbikes and headed for Ojo de Agua ... a natural spring about 45 minutes away. First, the bike experience was awesome ... as soon as I learned how to do the shifting I had a blast. It really gives you freedom and riding around like Che Guavera through the Jungles of an island volcano was pretty liberating. So, as Tony claims ... Ojo de Agua was mistakingly man-made. Construction workers back in the 80s were digging and hit a spring ... the water created a pool, that fed down to another pool before creating a big stream. The government turned it into a national park. If you stand in the upper pool you can feel the water coming up beneath your feet ... and the water is crystal clear. There are some fish and turtles ... and as you can see from the pictures I uploaded ... really a beautiful place. Afterwards we returned to the port city and had some pizza for dinner before playing a dice game, drinking some tonas and going to bed.
The island itself is beautiful ... someday Id like to go back and hike the smaller of the two volcanos ... which takes about 12 hours to get up .... so it would be a 2 day event. The larger of the two volcanos is for expert hikers only so I may avoid that one. We didnt do anything directly related to the volcanos but there was only so much time ... that being said they are beautiful ... as you can see from the picture I put up on facebook. The island itself is really nice and the tourism there is starting to rapidly grow. Tony said in the last 2 years since hes been there so much as changed and there are a lot of nice places to go ... its nice to know that tourism is starting to take off ... Nicaragua is very similar to neighboring Costa Rica in its wildlife and eco.tourism offerings ... but its past political instability has stunted its growth ... its finally started to catch up though and hotel and tourism management is one of the top programs of study for a lot of college students here ... and while many people dislike Daniel Ortega and his very socialist policies ... me included ... it IS hard to deny the changes that are occuring around the country ... especially the infrastructure and the stuff he is trying to do for the poor ... its a catch-22 though ... since he has already bribed his way into being allowed to run for a 2nd term ... something that was constitutionally illegal prior to his presidency. But in the 5 years I have been coming to NIcaragua ... Ortega was elected in 2006 ... the changes in infrastructure are amazing ... yes there is still rampant poverty ... and education is still lacking ... but the building blocks are starting to form that I think can pull this country out of the depths of poverty in the future ... hopefully without Ortega turning into the next Hugo Chavez ... which looks to be the case.
Sunday...
We woke up early so we could go to a nature preserve about 20 minutes away. There we embarked on an hour hike through a rainforest ... we didnt see too many animals but the sights were amazing as we climbed higher over Lake Nicaragua. At the end we ran into about 30 monkeys who were lounging high up in the trees ... and as you can see from the pictures I put on facebook they were pretty darn cute ... there were a couple really small baby monkeys playing in the trees but it was hard to get a good shot of them but they were really tiny. After we finished our hike we took a dip in the Lake and rushed back to the city to catch the 130 ferry ... or so we thought! Apparently people around Ometepe do not know the ferry schedule on Sundays ... when seemingly every mode of transportation shuts down... the ferry was actually at 1 ... and in the rush to return our bikes we missed it ... and had to wait for the 4 o clocker. Well the ferry ride is about an hour and a half and the last bus from Rivas to Managua left on the other side at 5 ... we had a problem! We hungout and watched the Barcelona v. Real Madrid soccer game and relaxed. When we reached the other side we discovered that there was in fact one more bus going ... but we didnt know who to trust! We waited at the gas station and a mini bus rolled up going to Managua ... or so they told us. We trusted them and hopped on ... despite the fact that a real bus rolled up right behind us ... but the guys wanted to stay ahead of that bus so they could get all the customers at the next stops ... so they sped off with us inside before we could really makea decision. Well, turns out the guys were going to Jinotepe ... a town about 20 miles outside Managua ... and planned to have us catch a bus there to take us further to Managua ... well turns out that second connecting bus didnt exist ... and we were stranded in Jinotepe ... so we grabbed some dinner and some drinks and thought about our decision. At 8 ... when no buses had come ... we made the decision to call a cab. It was a quick 20 minute drive ... but cost us about $23 total ... and considering the bus would have cost us just $8 ... we were kinda annoyed with the guys in the minibus who lied to us to probably get our fare and not lose us to the real bus behind them. Either way, it was definitely an adventure and we are pretty confident in our abilities to use Nicaragua transit in the future ... of course having Tony there helped!
Monday ...
So yesterday we met the team that arrived from Dulles ... a church that comes down a few times a year from South Riding area ... but this trip is with their youth group and the goal is to connect with the older kids who are their age. We asked them what schools they went to and turns out a couple just graduated from the middle school where my friend Ryan teachers. They had him as a teacher and also had his mom ... and his sister who occassionally subbed ... talk about a small world! One of their youth group leaders who is down here also went to Oakton ... though she claims well before me lol .... Luca and I also did a ton of push ups and went for a run up the mountain ... originally supposed to be about a 20 minute run ... but apparently I missed the turn to the old coffee farm and we just kept going and going and going ... expecting to hit the coffee farm ... and we never did ... finally we stopped and turned around and ran back down ... but when we got back we realized we had been gone for about 35-40 minutes ... with the first 20 minutes or so being essentially a trail run up a mountain ... it felt great afterwards but today Im feeling it a bit.
That´s a brief overview
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Post #1 Luca Peluca and Alex Derulo
Hello everyone! I finally got a chance to sit down after all the kids went to sleep and put together a quick recap on the orphanage laptop. Internet is shoddy but it seems like there is enough of a connection right now to make a post! Today was our second full day in Nicaragua and time is already flying by way too fast. A team from a church in Maryland just left so we were able to cling to their coattails and enjoy some of the activities they have been doing the past two days! First let me preface this post by saying I cant figure out how to use parenthesis so I am using ... in place of them haha.
Day 1
Luca and I flew from Dulles at 5 am on Tuesday... arriving in San Salvador at 7am local time ... we are two hours behind Eastern Standard Time. We had an hour to catch our connecting flight to Managua, but Luca noticed he was at a different gate than I was. We then realized that I was flying into Managua 5 hours before him. Poor Luca had to sit in San Salvador while I got to get to Nica early and hang with the kids. Its okay though ... he arrived around 4 pm and we still had a great day. When I got to El Canyon I had a surprise! Angel, the little boy who left the orphanage two years ago had been brought back for a week to hang out with the team at the orphanage. He ran up to me and knew my name ... it was crazy that he remembered me after 2 years ... and he´s gotten so big as you can probably tell from the picture I posted on facebook! We then went out to dinner with the team that was here ... they like to take the orphanage staff out to dinner so we went to a local Nicaraguan restaurant and had a feast. There were about 30 of us and they brought out 5 massive platters of assorted meats ... sausages, steaks, ribs, etc .. plus gallo pinto of course. We returned to El Canyon for a much needed nights sleep.
Day 2
Yesterday was a pretty slow day. Luca and I woke up late ... 8 am is late here ... and joined everyone for some homework. The team was here all day and we just hung back and tried not to be in their way. I did manage to kick some butt in 500 rummy with Daysis and one of the team members from Maryland. Luca and I went for a 1.5 mile run ... including the massive hill out of the canyon which was brutal before doing some pushups with the kids. Today Carlos came up to me and complained about how sore he was after doing 50 pushups ... hes 10 so that is a lot haha. I worked on a lot of math problems with the girls ... turns out they are really good at complex multiplication and addition ... they were multiplying problems with over 20 numbers ... I tried to challenge them! Last night Luca, Tony and I went out to a bar-restaurant with Paul ... one of the team leaders from Maryland who told us more about their church and the trips they take ... through orphan network but specifically focused on el canyon. He said he would like to start working with JMU NOF on joint fundraising efforts for specific projects at el canyon ... which would be nice to see the money raised go directly to the orphanage. Paul has been coming to El Canyon for 7 years and was able to tell me a lot of cool history about the orphanage. It was a really nice, relaxing experience to get out and have a few drinks and talk about our experiences ... plus it was nice catching up with Tony!
Day 3
Luca and I got up at 7 today so we were able to catch breakfast! Afterwards we played with the kids for a couple hours before heading to the store with Maria Jose to grab what seemed like TONS of meat and bread for the party today ... the team just left after a week and had a big bash to celebrate their time here. Margarita ... the orphanage cook is the best in the world and she and Maria Jose made some of the best steak and chicken I have every had. Probably not the most healthy but certainly the most tasty. After the market Luca and I went with Carlos ... a close friend of the orphanage ... his mom runs the finances ... to take a couple of the sick kids to the emergency room in el Crucero ... about 10 minutes away. They just had slight coughs but there is a free government clinic there and they were given cough and throat medicine. Luca waited with them and Anna, one of the team members, while I left with Carlos to pick up the older kids from their high school, which is located in el crucero. Then Carlos took me to two lookout spots where he went when he was in high school ... kind of lovers corner type of places but a little more innocent in conservative nicaragua i suppose haha. Anyway, El Crucero is on top of a mountain ... the same mountain that el canyon is about halfway up ... and it overlooks Managua. You can literally see for dozens of miles in every direction ... I took a bunch of pictures on my phone that I should be uploading to facebook as soon as I get a wireless connection somewhere!
After Crucero we came back to the orphanage. Luca and I ran 2 miles today ... to the top of the hill at the entrance and back ... 2 times. It is exactly half a mile to the top of the canyon ... so going there and back is a mile ... twice is 2 miles. For those that have been here ... you know how steep and extruciatingly long that hill is ... and we managed to not walk at all ... we are going to try and get up to 3 miles ... aka 3 round trips by the time we leave in 11 days. We tried to hang back a bit today because it was the team´s last day and we didnt want to get in the way ... knowing we will be here for another 11 days. That being said all the kids still came up to us so it was hard to hang back. All the kids are mad at Ryan for not coming ... they literally wont stop telling me how angry they are ... jokingly of course ... except for Tonia who I THINK would punch Ryan as hard as she could in his arm right now if she could! Right before dinner, on my way to the new house where we are staying ... that was built for the older boys ... I almost stepped on a tarantula. It is my first tarantula encounter in my 7 trips here and of course I ran for my camera. I will post those pictures as well. One of the older boys, Moises, captured him in a tuperware jar and released him outside the orphanage. One of the workers said if you get bit by it ... and dont get immediate help ... you likely have to get amputated in that area. The sucker was huge, so while i dont know how true that was, it certainly isnt a stretch to believe. Anyways, thats a ¨quick´ overview of our first few days. There are plenty more stories to tell and pictures to eventually share but I only have so much time right now.
Tomorrow night we are planning on going SOMEWHERE ... where exactly we dont know yet, but will likely be gone for the entire weekend traveling with Tony. First ... Luca and I are waking up at 6 am to go to school with the older kids in Crucero .. something we have never done ... so that should be a lot of fun. Leyla, Nicole, Jordan, Lujan and Jolisa are really excited for us to come. We cant wait but could probably do without the early wakeup call. After we get back, the plan is to wait for Tony to get off work and either go to his friends coffee farm in the north ... or south to Granada for the night before going on to Ometepe for Saturday and Sunday. Ometepe is one of the top eco tourist spots and is an island in Lake Nicaragua with two large volcanoes ... it takes 6 hours to hike the volcano and get to a waterfall ... and that is on the top of our list of things to do! Anyways, hopefully we will have some internet access at hotels along the way so we can post another blog and upload our pictures. Hope everyone is doing well back home! Adios!
Day 1
Luca and I flew from Dulles at 5 am on Tuesday... arriving in San Salvador at 7am local time ... we are two hours behind Eastern Standard Time. We had an hour to catch our connecting flight to Managua, but Luca noticed he was at a different gate than I was. We then realized that I was flying into Managua 5 hours before him. Poor Luca had to sit in San Salvador while I got to get to Nica early and hang with the kids. Its okay though ... he arrived around 4 pm and we still had a great day. When I got to El Canyon I had a surprise! Angel, the little boy who left the orphanage two years ago had been brought back for a week to hang out with the team at the orphanage. He ran up to me and knew my name ... it was crazy that he remembered me after 2 years ... and he´s gotten so big as you can probably tell from the picture I posted on facebook! We then went out to dinner with the team that was here ... they like to take the orphanage staff out to dinner so we went to a local Nicaraguan restaurant and had a feast. There were about 30 of us and they brought out 5 massive platters of assorted meats ... sausages, steaks, ribs, etc .. plus gallo pinto of course. We returned to El Canyon for a much needed nights sleep.
Day 2
Yesterday was a pretty slow day. Luca and I woke up late ... 8 am is late here ... and joined everyone for some homework. The team was here all day and we just hung back and tried not to be in their way. I did manage to kick some butt in 500 rummy with Daysis and one of the team members from Maryland. Luca and I went for a 1.5 mile run ... including the massive hill out of the canyon which was brutal before doing some pushups with the kids. Today Carlos came up to me and complained about how sore he was after doing 50 pushups ... hes 10 so that is a lot haha. I worked on a lot of math problems with the girls ... turns out they are really good at complex multiplication and addition ... they were multiplying problems with over 20 numbers ... I tried to challenge them! Last night Luca, Tony and I went out to a bar-restaurant with Paul ... one of the team leaders from Maryland who told us more about their church and the trips they take ... through orphan network but specifically focused on el canyon. He said he would like to start working with JMU NOF on joint fundraising efforts for specific projects at el canyon ... which would be nice to see the money raised go directly to the orphanage. Paul has been coming to El Canyon for 7 years and was able to tell me a lot of cool history about the orphanage. It was a really nice, relaxing experience to get out and have a few drinks and talk about our experiences ... plus it was nice catching up with Tony!
Day 3
Luca and I got up at 7 today so we were able to catch breakfast! Afterwards we played with the kids for a couple hours before heading to the store with Maria Jose to grab what seemed like TONS of meat and bread for the party today ... the team just left after a week and had a big bash to celebrate their time here. Margarita ... the orphanage cook is the best in the world and she and Maria Jose made some of the best steak and chicken I have every had. Probably not the most healthy but certainly the most tasty. After the market Luca and I went with Carlos ... a close friend of the orphanage ... his mom runs the finances ... to take a couple of the sick kids to the emergency room in el Crucero ... about 10 minutes away. They just had slight coughs but there is a free government clinic there and they were given cough and throat medicine. Luca waited with them and Anna, one of the team members, while I left with Carlos to pick up the older kids from their high school, which is located in el crucero. Then Carlos took me to two lookout spots where he went when he was in high school ... kind of lovers corner type of places but a little more innocent in conservative nicaragua i suppose haha. Anyway, El Crucero is on top of a mountain ... the same mountain that el canyon is about halfway up ... and it overlooks Managua. You can literally see for dozens of miles in every direction ... I took a bunch of pictures on my phone that I should be uploading to facebook as soon as I get a wireless connection somewhere!
After Crucero we came back to the orphanage. Luca and I ran 2 miles today ... to the top of the hill at the entrance and back ... 2 times. It is exactly half a mile to the top of the canyon ... so going there and back is a mile ... twice is 2 miles. For those that have been here ... you know how steep and extruciatingly long that hill is ... and we managed to not walk at all ... we are going to try and get up to 3 miles ... aka 3 round trips by the time we leave in 11 days. We tried to hang back a bit today because it was the team´s last day and we didnt want to get in the way ... knowing we will be here for another 11 days. That being said all the kids still came up to us so it was hard to hang back. All the kids are mad at Ryan for not coming ... they literally wont stop telling me how angry they are ... jokingly of course ... except for Tonia who I THINK would punch Ryan as hard as she could in his arm right now if she could! Right before dinner, on my way to the new house where we are staying ... that was built for the older boys ... I almost stepped on a tarantula. It is my first tarantula encounter in my 7 trips here and of course I ran for my camera. I will post those pictures as well. One of the older boys, Moises, captured him in a tuperware jar and released him outside the orphanage. One of the workers said if you get bit by it ... and dont get immediate help ... you likely have to get amputated in that area. The sucker was huge, so while i dont know how true that was, it certainly isnt a stretch to believe. Anyways, thats a ¨quick´ overview of our first few days. There are plenty more stories to tell and pictures to eventually share but I only have so much time right now.
Tomorrow night we are planning on going SOMEWHERE ... where exactly we dont know yet, but will likely be gone for the entire weekend traveling with Tony. First ... Luca and I are waking up at 6 am to go to school with the older kids in Crucero .. something we have never done ... so that should be a lot of fun. Leyla, Nicole, Jordan, Lujan and Jolisa are really excited for us to come. We cant wait but could probably do without the early wakeup call. After we get back, the plan is to wait for Tony to get off work and either go to his friends coffee farm in the north ... or south to Granada for the night before going on to Ometepe for Saturday and Sunday. Ometepe is one of the top eco tourist spots and is an island in Lake Nicaragua with two large volcanoes ... it takes 6 hours to hike the volcano and get to a waterfall ... and that is on the top of our list of things to do! Anyways, hopefully we will have some internet access at hotels along the way so we can post another blog and upload our pictures. Hope everyone is doing well back home! Adios!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Post #5
We've been away from Cafe Latino for a bit, but only because we've been so busy. Don't worry, we are alright, and here is post #5!
Friday:
Friday nigth we decided to hit the town and go to a club (discoteca) with Tony and Alejandra. We had a blast, got really sweaty from dancing so much, and had a late-night burger from a burger-stand that would rival Jack Brown's for Five Guys. Nicaraguans certainly know how to dance, too. Oh, and we iced Tony back to back at the club. We're bringing icing to Nicaragua one translator at a time! Before we headed out to Chaman we stopped at Tony's friend's house. His grandfather owns a large coffee farm in the northern parts of the country and Tony said next time we come we can go there and tour the processing plant. We had a few drinks at his friend's house before heading to Chaman in another torrential downpour that turned some side streets into rivers. It was an interesting trip!
Saturday:
Saturday we decided to take a day trip to San Juan del Sur. It's a small tourist spot on the Pacific Coast near Costa Rica known for its surfing waves. Tony also informed us that Nicaragua is now considered the top surfing location in all of North America, particularly because of the large waves and year-round surfing conditions. It was about a 2 hour drive, though it was without incident as we got pulled over on the way there for having 6 people in a 5 person car. We paid the $20 ticket and went on our way. We stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch and got the seafood soup, as recommended by Tony. Tony did not warn us, however, that the soup consisted of a piece of almost every ocean creature. After getting over the fact that I had half a fish sticking out of my soup bowl and an octopus tentacle floating on top, I dug in and thoroughly enjoyed (we all loved it). The soup consisted of lobster tail, crab, fish, octopus, squid and shrimp. After lunch we went to the beach and enjoyed the huge waves. They were probably about 7-8 feet and not exactly the easiest to body surf. We had a great time, though, and had a thorough workout fighting through the waves and strong current. The temperature was perfect as well, and it felt like we were taking a bath. The beach was beautiful and was located in a cove surrounded on both sides by high cliffs. On the right side, on top of a mountain, a Saint John statue overlooked the ocean. If anyone saw the article in the Washington Post a couple weeks ago, San Juan del Sur is where Mark Twain often stopped on his journeys to the Gulf of Mexico. We left aruond 7 and made it back in time to get a very good night's sleep in.
Sunday:
Sunday Luca and Ryan woke up to go to chruch while ANna and I decided to sleep in. It had been a rough day Saturday and I was in no codition to sit through 2 hours of Spanish. Afterwards, we rented a school bus and headed to Chocoyo with the kids. It's a restaurant and bar with a huge pool that we took the kids to in March. It only ended up costing us each about $35 to pay for everyone to go (39 teachers and kids). It was well worht the cost as the kids had a blast. I came away with a slight injury, however, acquired while being a base for a chicken fight. I slipped on a tile picture on the bottom of the pool and slit my toe open. It bled for a long time, but I think it's starting to heal. We taught some of the younger girls how to swim, too. After the pool we went to the orphanage, snagged dinner and hungout with the kids while it rained. The night is probably my favorite time. All the kids congregate in one area around some candles that Luca bought and we all play in the candle light. I don't think any of us notice the fact that we haven't had electricity for over a week, and it will likely be a culture shock when we return to the states and we have power. We did finally get back the watever and enjoyed some nice showers. Last night we also went to a local restaurant and bar with Maria Jose, the orphanage director and enjoyed some drinks and discussion before heading back for bed.
Today is our last full day, and this is likely our last post before our re-cap posts tomorrow, assuming we have internet access at the airport. I don't think any of us are ready to leave and I could certainly stay for another few weeks. These kids are absolutely incredible and are always so happy despite their coditions. Coming on this trip was beyond rewarding. With only 4 of us, we were able to connect so much more with the kids. We've also been able to witness first-hand what it is like to live these kids' lives. The previous trips have exposed us to a lot, but this one allowed us to LIVE their lives a bit, connect with them on a much more personal level, and learn who they are as individuals. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are going to miss these kids to death.
Today we are going to get our car cleaned out and have one last long day of playing with the kids before we have an ice cream party tonight to cap off the trip. I got permission from Maria jOse to pick Leyla and Nicole up from school. They always take the bus and Leyla asked if I could get her today since it's our last day here, and I was excited that Maria Jose agreed!
Also, we want to give a HUGE shoutout to Tony who has been absolutely incredible for us on this trip. He has shown us a great tiem here and has helped with translating when we can't quite undrstand what is being said. We're gonna miss him a ton as well, and we hope his visit to the US planned for September becomes a reality!
It has also been really great getting to know Allison. She spends 4 months of her year living at El Canyon and using her own money to take care of these kids when she's not in school. She has also been a great help with translations and helping us get adjusted to life at the orphanage. She also leaves tomorrow to head back to school at Tennessee Chatanooga so we want to wish her a safe trip!
We have a ton of picture to post on facebook, but it will probably have to wait until we get back stateside. Hopefully the ones that are already up from the first half of the trip are enough for now!
Friday:
Friday nigth we decided to hit the town and go to a club (discoteca) with Tony and Alejandra. We had a blast, got really sweaty from dancing so much, and had a late-night burger from a burger-stand that would rival Jack Brown's for Five Guys. Nicaraguans certainly know how to dance, too. Oh, and we iced Tony back to back at the club. We're bringing icing to Nicaragua one translator at a time! Before we headed out to Chaman we stopped at Tony's friend's house. His grandfather owns a large coffee farm in the northern parts of the country and Tony said next time we come we can go there and tour the processing plant. We had a few drinks at his friend's house before heading to Chaman in another torrential downpour that turned some side streets into rivers. It was an interesting trip!
Saturday:
Saturday we decided to take a day trip to San Juan del Sur. It's a small tourist spot on the Pacific Coast near Costa Rica known for its surfing waves. Tony also informed us that Nicaragua is now considered the top surfing location in all of North America, particularly because of the large waves and year-round surfing conditions. It was about a 2 hour drive, though it was without incident as we got pulled over on the way there for having 6 people in a 5 person car. We paid the $20 ticket and went on our way. We stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch and got the seafood soup, as recommended by Tony. Tony did not warn us, however, that the soup consisted of a piece of almost every ocean creature. After getting over the fact that I had half a fish sticking out of my soup bowl and an octopus tentacle floating on top, I dug in and thoroughly enjoyed (we all loved it). The soup consisted of lobster tail, crab, fish, octopus, squid and shrimp. After lunch we went to the beach and enjoyed the huge waves. They were probably about 7-8 feet and not exactly the easiest to body surf. We had a great time, though, and had a thorough workout fighting through the waves and strong current. The temperature was perfect as well, and it felt like we were taking a bath. The beach was beautiful and was located in a cove surrounded on both sides by high cliffs. On the right side, on top of a mountain, a Saint John statue overlooked the ocean. If anyone saw the article in the Washington Post a couple weeks ago, San Juan del Sur is where Mark Twain often stopped on his journeys to the Gulf of Mexico. We left aruond 7 and made it back in time to get a very good night's sleep in.
Sunday:
Sunday Luca and Ryan woke up to go to chruch while ANna and I decided to sleep in. It had been a rough day Saturday and I was in no codition to sit through 2 hours of Spanish. Afterwards, we rented a school bus and headed to Chocoyo with the kids. It's a restaurant and bar with a huge pool that we took the kids to in March. It only ended up costing us each about $35 to pay for everyone to go (39 teachers and kids). It was well worht the cost as the kids had a blast. I came away with a slight injury, however, acquired while being a base for a chicken fight. I slipped on a tile picture on the bottom of the pool and slit my toe open. It bled for a long time, but I think it's starting to heal. We taught some of the younger girls how to swim, too. After the pool we went to the orphanage, snagged dinner and hungout with the kids while it rained. The night is probably my favorite time. All the kids congregate in one area around some candles that Luca bought and we all play in the candle light. I don't think any of us notice the fact that we haven't had electricity for over a week, and it will likely be a culture shock when we return to the states and we have power. We did finally get back the watever and enjoyed some nice showers. Last night we also went to a local restaurant and bar with Maria Jose, the orphanage director and enjoyed some drinks and discussion before heading back for bed.
Today is our last full day, and this is likely our last post before our re-cap posts tomorrow, assuming we have internet access at the airport. I don't think any of us are ready to leave and I could certainly stay for another few weeks. These kids are absolutely incredible and are always so happy despite their coditions. Coming on this trip was beyond rewarding. With only 4 of us, we were able to connect so much more with the kids. We've also been able to witness first-hand what it is like to live these kids' lives. The previous trips have exposed us to a lot, but this one allowed us to LIVE their lives a bit, connect with them on a much more personal level, and learn who they are as individuals. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are going to miss these kids to death.
Today we are going to get our car cleaned out and have one last long day of playing with the kids before we have an ice cream party tonight to cap off the trip. I got permission from Maria jOse to pick Leyla and Nicole up from school. They always take the bus and Leyla asked if I could get her today since it's our last day here, and I was excited that Maria Jose agreed!
Also, we want to give a HUGE shoutout to Tony who has been absolutely incredible for us on this trip. He has shown us a great tiem here and has helped with translating when we can't quite undrstand what is being said. We're gonna miss him a ton as well, and we hope his visit to the US planned for September becomes a reality!
It has also been really great getting to know Allison. She spends 4 months of her year living at El Canyon and using her own money to take care of these kids when she's not in school. She has also been a great help with translations and helping us get adjusted to life at the orphanage. She also leaves tomorrow to head back to school at Tennessee Chatanooga so we want to wish her a safe trip!
We have a ton of picture to post on facebook, but it will probably have to wait until we get back stateside. Hopefully the ones that are already up from the first half of the trip are enough for now!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Blog post #4
Since there is still no water at the orphanage, it has become a daily routine to come to Cafe Latino (a couple minute drive) to get coffee, breakfast and use the bathroom. The cafe has free wifi, so it allows us to update the blog a little more often!
We posted pictures last night of the big rainstorm that hit El Canyon in the afternoon. Luckily, about 20 minutes after the rain stopped, the roads dried up and we were able to come to Cafe Latino to post the pictures and a video. After we left the cafe we headed into the city and grabbed Burger King combos for the 7 permanent orphanage employees. To them, a whopper combo is a treat, and, after eating a lot of rice and beans this week, it was nice for us as well. When we returned with the food, the 5 women workers joined us (and Allison, who is from Chatanooga and down here for 3 weeks living at the orphanage as well) for a very entertaining meal. The women have a great sense of humor and there was no language barrier since we understood most of it, and when we didn't Allison was there to translate (she's very fluent).
Today we got up earlier than normal, thanks to Jordan. Around 6:30 Jordan came over to our beds and thought it would be funny to wake us up by putting a scorpion on us. Little did we know, they had cut the tail off the scorpion, so even if a sting were dangerous (which it probably wouldn't have been), we were in the clear. Of course, we did not know this, and I jumped out of bed. After that, there was no going back to bed. We helped get the kids their food, walked them down to the school, and headed up here to the cafe for breakfast.
We are determined to finish painting the chinos (swingset) today. We were interrupted yesterday by the torrential rain. Tomorrow, very early, we are going to head to Ometepe and Granada for the weekend with Tony. Ometepe is about a 2 hour drive and 1.5 hour ferry ride away. It is an island in Lake Nicaragua and home to two volcanoes. We are going to go check the place out and stay at a hostel there Saturday night. Sunday we will head back and stop off again in Granada and do some more site seeing there. We should be back at the orphanage by Sunday evening, allowing for one more full day of work, and a half day, before we must report back to the United States. I can't believe we've already been here for 6 days, with only 4 remaining! We are being sure to make the most of our time here, but we could certainly use a few more days, or even weeks! Maybe next summer!
We posted pictures last night of the big rainstorm that hit El Canyon in the afternoon. Luckily, about 20 minutes after the rain stopped, the roads dried up and we were able to come to Cafe Latino to post the pictures and a video. After we left the cafe we headed into the city and grabbed Burger King combos for the 7 permanent orphanage employees. To them, a whopper combo is a treat, and, after eating a lot of rice and beans this week, it was nice for us as well. When we returned with the food, the 5 women workers joined us (and Allison, who is from Chatanooga and down here for 3 weeks living at the orphanage as well) for a very entertaining meal. The women have a great sense of humor and there was no language barrier since we understood most of it, and when we didn't Allison was there to translate (she's very fluent).
Today we got up earlier than normal, thanks to Jordan. Around 6:30 Jordan came over to our beds and thought it would be funny to wake us up by putting a scorpion on us. Little did we know, they had cut the tail off the scorpion, so even if a sting were dangerous (which it probably wouldn't have been), we were in the clear. Of course, we did not know this, and I jumped out of bed. After that, there was no going back to bed. We helped get the kids their food, walked them down to the school, and headed up here to the cafe for breakfast.
We are determined to finish painting the chinos (swingset) today. We were interrupted yesterday by the torrential rain. Tomorrow, very early, we are going to head to Ometepe and Granada for the weekend with Tony. Ometepe is about a 2 hour drive and 1.5 hour ferry ride away. It is an island in Lake Nicaragua and home to two volcanoes. We are going to go check the place out and stay at a hostel there Saturday night. Sunday we will head back and stop off again in Granada and do some more site seeing there. We should be back at the orphanage by Sunday evening, allowing for one more full day of work, and a half day, before we must report back to the United States. I can't believe we've already been here for 6 days, with only 4 remaining! We are being sure to make the most of our time here, but we could certainly use a few more days, or even weeks! Maybe next summer!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Post #3
So yesterday (Wednesday) we ended up waking up early and going to Huembes (market) with Tony as we stated in our blog. We spent about half an hour or so there and bought some small things for the kids and Anna got a ton of plates, silverware and cups for a feeding center in Nueva Vida, the refugee camp that houses about 10,000 people. It was set up in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch flooded lake Nicaragua and displaced thousands. It has become a small city at this point and there are several feeding centers throughout the community that feed the children with funds from organizations around the world. We stopped at one of the feeding centers (that Anna had worked at in March) and helped distribute the food to the kids and played a bit afterwards. Anna will say more on that topic later. I was able to buy Inception, The Expendables, Toy Story 3, Karate Kid, Iron Man 2 and Grown Ups from the market for a whopping 6 dollars. The kids will get TS3, IronMan 2 and Karate Kid, while I will keep the other, less appropriate ones for myself.
After Nueva Vida we came back to El Canyon. Ryan Luca and I played soccer with the older guys, did some pushups and ran. The kids really like working out with us haha. I´ve gotten into the habit of curling some of the littlest kids, which has really worked my biceps. THey find it funny. Anyways, we also found out there was no water. One of the tanks that supplies many of the surrounding towns broke, so we haven´t been able to shower for a couple days now. No power, no water. Honestly, we haven´t noticed all that much!
Last night a thunderstorm rolled in around 1030 as we were going to bed. It downpoured for about an hour and I have never seen it rain so hard, especially for so long. It probably rained a good 4 to 5 inches, and this morning Maria Jose told us some walls broke down by Lake Managua and flooded some communities, so the fire department is occupied and cannot bring us water (which I guess they do when water runs out, they bring it to communities)...
Anyway, today we are going to go to the Pacific coast (at least thats the plan) with the older boys in the morning, then heading to see Angel´s family in the afternoon! You never know with Nicaragua, so we´ll keep you posted soon!
Anna:
Hi! Okay, so I wanted to tell everyone a little bit more about our trip to Nueva Vida. It was QUITE an experience driving there, that´s for sure. Alex did a fantabulous job though. I didn´t even realize last time we went how crazy the roads were (plus it was also dry season, so it wasn´t all mud) but we did get there in time for the second lunch shift. In March I had kind of connected with the pastor and a lot of the kids there so it was really important for me to make it back there, if only for an hour. I got to see a couple of the babies I saw in March (one who was birthed to a 13 or 14 year old girl, and one with severe physical difficulties) and play with them. We served their tables and passed out candy. The kids were ECSTATIC to see the gringos.
In talking to the pastor (via Tony, our friend who I met when he was translating for our trip in March) he asked when I was coming back already. Ah! I haven´t even really thought about it too much. I said ¨maybe December¨ and his reply was, ¨we wait for you.¨ It was pretty powerful for me to hear and reminded me of why I´m down there.
Had a little incident with the Police last night. I´m not going to write about it here lest my Mom has a heart attack. It all turned out okay though...but I just can´t believe there is so much corruption and how lying comes so easily to people.
Anyways, that´s about it. Going back to play with the niños soon. They were so cute getting ready for school this morning, the little ones all had on matching plaid shirts. They are BEYOND adorable. It still blows my mind that so many of them come from abusive homes or have been completely abandoned. There is a lot of laughter in this orphanage and a lot of love...
More later, for sure,
Anna
Soccer with the boys
Run to top of El Canyon
No shower no prob
...Ryan...
After Nueva Vida we came back to El Canyon. Ryan Luca and I played soccer with the older guys, did some pushups and ran. The kids really like working out with us haha. I´ve gotten into the habit of curling some of the littlest kids, which has really worked my biceps. THey find it funny. Anyways, we also found out there was no water. One of the tanks that supplies many of the surrounding towns broke, so we haven´t been able to shower for a couple days now. No power, no water. Honestly, we haven´t noticed all that much!
Last night a thunderstorm rolled in around 1030 as we were going to bed. It downpoured for about an hour and I have never seen it rain so hard, especially for so long. It probably rained a good 4 to 5 inches, and this morning Maria Jose told us some walls broke down by Lake Managua and flooded some communities, so the fire department is occupied and cannot bring us water (which I guess they do when water runs out, they bring it to communities)...
Anyway, today we are going to go to the Pacific coast (at least thats the plan) with the older boys in the morning, then heading to see Angel´s family in the afternoon! You never know with Nicaragua, so we´ll keep you posted soon!
Anna:
Hi! Okay, so I wanted to tell everyone a little bit more about our trip to Nueva Vida. It was QUITE an experience driving there, that´s for sure. Alex did a fantabulous job though. I didn´t even realize last time we went how crazy the roads were (plus it was also dry season, so it wasn´t all mud) but we did get there in time for the second lunch shift. In March I had kind of connected with the pastor and a lot of the kids there so it was really important for me to make it back there, if only for an hour. I got to see a couple of the babies I saw in March (one who was birthed to a 13 or 14 year old girl, and one with severe physical difficulties) and play with them. We served their tables and passed out candy. The kids were ECSTATIC to see the gringos.
In talking to the pastor (via Tony, our friend who I met when he was translating for our trip in March) he asked when I was coming back already. Ah! I haven´t even really thought about it too much. I said ¨maybe December¨ and his reply was, ¨we wait for you.¨ It was pretty powerful for me to hear and reminded me of why I´m down there.
Had a little incident with the Police last night. I´m not going to write about it here lest my Mom has a heart attack. It all turned out okay though...but I just can´t believe there is so much corruption and how lying comes so easily to people.
Anyways, that´s about it. Going back to play with the niños soon. They were so cute getting ready for school this morning, the little ones all had on matching plaid shirts. They are BEYOND adorable. It still blows my mind that so many of them come from abusive homes or have been completely abandoned. There is a lot of laughter in this orphanage and a lot of love...
More later, for sure,
Anna
Soccer with the boys
Run to top of El Canyon
No shower no prob
...Ryan...
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Post #2!
Monday:
So after we left the coffee shop Monday we headed back to the orphanage. The rain storm never "passed over" and it continued into the night. When it rains in Nicaragua during raining season, it pours, and usually for a very long time. At night we decided to go rent "Where the Wild Things Are" for a movie night with all the kids. But, because there is STILL no power at the orphanage, we all trecked down to the school to watch it on a generator there and eat hot dogs for dinner. Well, the breaker couldn't handle a laptop (for the dvd to play) a projector and a speaker and proceeded to shut down repeatedly. After that failure, we attempetd to run two very long extension chords to a house in the neighborhood with power and watch it at the boys room. Again, fail. Everything ended perfectly though, and we ate hot dogs and the kids sang songs and ran around outside with the candles Luca had bought at the supermarket. It turned out to be a great night.
Tuesday:
We woke up early (what's new ... 7 am) and began stripping the swingswet of paint. It looked like a simple task, but it took over 4 hours to do about 75% of it. Finally, as rain started to set in (as it usually does in the afternoons) we decided to put off the painting for another day. Tony (our translator from March) had finished up with a trip he was translating on and joined us. We played a vey competitive game of 5-5 soccer, but the kids beat me, Tony, Luca and Ryan 6-5. Ryan Luca and I took a much needed shower (after almost 2 days) and headed out with Tony to to Granada.
Granada is about an hours drive south of Managua and located on the northern tip of Lake Nicaragua (one of the largest fresh-water lakes in the world). Granada is one of the oldest cities in central america and was a hub for colonists spreading Christianity in the new world. Granada is covered with churches, many having been restored, and Tony took us to one of the tallest towers so we could have a look. The pictures are on facebook, so check them out! We got up to the top just as another huge tropical thunderstorm rolled in off the Lake. We ran to our car and proceeded to the restaurant district. Granada is much more touristy than Managua, and we found a pretty nice American Sports bar. We kicked it back for a couple hours and enjoyed some Tonas and burgers and watched some baseball. Finally, around 9, we drove back. We dropped Tony off at his house and he gave us directions back to the orphanage. We made it okay, and I now consider myself a pretty good driver, and know (somewhat) where to go if I needed to go on my own (don't worry mom, I won't). Anyway, now we're off to Huembes (big market) and going to Nueva Vida for lunch (refugee camp) with Tony. We'll try to keep the posts up every other day, at least. We are planning a weekend trip to Granada / Ometepe (island volcano in Lake Nicaragua) with Tony for Friday-Sunday that should be a lot of fun! Anyways, here is Anna!
Anna:
Hi everyone! I thought I would give my female perspective on the trip so far. It's been really great. I'm staying in the girls side of the orphanage right next to the little kids room (kids under 7, about 8 of them sleep there) so waking up is VERY early! It's all made up for by walking into their rooms and having EVERYONE start screaming "Anna" and running up to hug me. It's soooo cute. While the boys are playing soccer and stripping paint, I've been able to play with the little ones and do a lot of stuff with the girls. I brought a ton of nailpolish so we do that on a daily basis. I didn't bring any nailpolish remover though so we all have about 6 layers of paint on our nails. I also brought sidewalk chalk so we had a great time "beautifying" the sidewalks yesterday. I also went to English class with Freddy, the English teacher, so the kids had a chance to practice with me. The UVa. trip leader from March, Christina, surprised us by visiting a couple of nights ago, so it was nice to see another familiar face! She had just led a trip for ONet last week. While we were at the movies, the guy in front of us in line buying tickets had actually gone to EMU in Harrisonburg! It really is a small world.
We're in a huge rush right now to get to the market, so I'm going to have to keep it short. Sorry these thoughts are probably all completely disorganized. So much to share! Keep us in your thoughts, we need it! :)
Ryan here. I think its time we change this blogname to cornerdeAlejandro (alex). We werent sure he'd ever pass over control of the blog, haha just kidding. Anyways, we've had an awesome trip so far. I'm sure Alex has done a solid recap of everything, but one of my favorite experiences so far has been sleeping in the boys room. It's your typical version of an orphanage bedroom, with two sides of bunk beds all lined up. Every morning, all the boys are up extremely early doing chores and they always wake us up. One of my favorite boys, Juan, or Juancito as i call him, who is hopefully getting adopted soon by a couple in Maryland, wakes me up every morning before he goes to school. Buneos Dios Ryan... Adios Ryan, he says. He's 8 years old, and he is the man. Anyways, we are off now so I must wrap up. Talk to you all soon, and keep reading. Adios
So after we left the coffee shop Monday we headed back to the orphanage. The rain storm never "passed over" and it continued into the night. When it rains in Nicaragua during raining season, it pours, and usually for a very long time. At night we decided to go rent "Where the Wild Things Are" for a movie night with all the kids. But, because there is STILL no power at the orphanage, we all trecked down to the school to watch it on a generator there and eat hot dogs for dinner. Well, the breaker couldn't handle a laptop (for the dvd to play) a projector and a speaker and proceeded to shut down repeatedly. After that failure, we attempetd to run two very long extension chords to a house in the neighborhood with power and watch it at the boys room. Again, fail. Everything ended perfectly though, and we ate hot dogs and the kids sang songs and ran around outside with the candles Luca had bought at the supermarket. It turned out to be a great night.
Tuesday:
We woke up early (what's new ... 7 am) and began stripping the swingswet of paint. It looked like a simple task, but it took over 4 hours to do about 75% of it. Finally, as rain started to set in (as it usually does in the afternoons) we decided to put off the painting for another day. Tony (our translator from March) had finished up with a trip he was translating on and joined us. We played a vey competitive game of 5-5 soccer, but the kids beat me, Tony, Luca and Ryan 6-5. Ryan Luca and I took a much needed shower (after almost 2 days) and headed out with Tony to to Granada.
Granada is about an hours drive south of Managua and located on the northern tip of Lake Nicaragua (one of the largest fresh-water lakes in the world). Granada is one of the oldest cities in central america and was a hub for colonists spreading Christianity in the new world. Granada is covered with churches, many having been restored, and Tony took us to one of the tallest towers so we could have a look. The pictures are on facebook, so check them out! We got up to the top just as another huge tropical thunderstorm rolled in off the Lake. We ran to our car and proceeded to the restaurant district. Granada is much more touristy than Managua, and we found a pretty nice American Sports bar. We kicked it back for a couple hours and enjoyed some Tonas and burgers and watched some baseball. Finally, around 9, we drove back. We dropped Tony off at his house and he gave us directions back to the orphanage. We made it okay, and I now consider myself a pretty good driver, and know (somewhat) where to go if I needed to go on my own (don't worry mom, I won't). Anyway, now we're off to Huembes (big market) and going to Nueva Vida for lunch (refugee camp) with Tony. We'll try to keep the posts up every other day, at least. We are planning a weekend trip to Granada / Ometepe (island volcano in Lake Nicaragua) with Tony for Friday-Sunday that should be a lot of fun! Anyways, here is Anna!
Anna:
Hi everyone! I thought I would give my female perspective on the trip so far. It's been really great. I'm staying in the girls side of the orphanage right next to the little kids room (kids under 7, about 8 of them sleep there) so waking up is VERY early! It's all made up for by walking into their rooms and having EVERYONE start screaming "Anna" and running up to hug me. It's soooo cute. While the boys are playing soccer and stripping paint, I've been able to play with the little ones and do a lot of stuff with the girls. I brought a ton of nailpolish so we do that on a daily basis. I didn't bring any nailpolish remover though so we all have about 6 layers of paint on our nails. I also brought sidewalk chalk so we had a great time "beautifying" the sidewalks yesterday. I also went to English class with Freddy, the English teacher, so the kids had a chance to practice with me. The UVa. trip leader from March, Christina, surprised us by visiting a couple of nights ago, so it was nice to see another familiar face! She had just led a trip for ONet last week. While we were at the movies, the guy in front of us in line buying tickets had actually gone to EMU in Harrisonburg! It really is a small world.
We're in a huge rush right now to get to the market, so I'm going to have to keep it short. Sorry these thoughts are probably all completely disorganized. So much to share! Keep us in your thoughts, we need it! :)
Ryan here. I think its time we change this blogname to cornerdeAlejandro (alex). We werent sure he'd ever pass over control of the blog, haha just kidding. Anyways, we've had an awesome trip so far. I'm sure Alex has done a solid recap of everything, but one of my favorite experiences so far has been sleeping in the boys room. It's your typical version of an orphanage bedroom, with two sides of bunk beds all lined up. Every morning, all the boys are up extremely early doing chores and they always wake us up. One of my favorite boys, Juan, or Juancito as i call him, who is hopefully getting adopted soon by a couple in Maryland, wakes me up every morning before he goes to school. Buneos Dios Ryan... Adios Ryan, he says. He's 8 years old, and he is the man. Anyways, we are off now so I must wrap up. Talk to you all soon, and keep reading. Adios
Monday, August 16, 2010
First Post!
Okay, we we arrived safely, but promptly found out that there is no electricity in the village in which the orphanage is located. There was either a really big storm that blew out a transformer or the locals didn't pay their bills ... we've gotten both stories ... but apparently the power should be back sometime early this week!
Day 1: Saturday, August 14
We landed at noon on Saturday and were met with a "Nicaragua always wins" situation right off the bat. The Alamo rental service that I reserved a car from did not have any cars for us to rent when we arrived. They helped us find one at another company that had an economy car that we wanted, but none of us were 25, and apparently the "25 to rent a car" law applies to Nicaragua as well. Luckily, Carlos, one of the teachers at the orphanage volunteered to sign off, and away we went!
Maria Jose, Carlos and Alejandra took us to a nice place for lunch where we had some authentic chalupas and fajitas. Maria Jose then surprised us with the suggestion of going to the beach. Since my card is the one we put down for the rental car, I had the honor of taking the wheel of our awesome Toyota Yaris manual drive car. After about an hour and a half of rolling through the city and into the country toward the coast with the windows down and raggaetone blasting, we arrived on the Pacific coast aruond 5 pm. We had just enough time to get in the water and enjoy the (very large and very rough) Pacific water before watching the sunset. Remember, Nicaragua is central time, but doesn't have daylight savings, so it gets dark around 6:30. Afterwards we drove back to the orphanage and got in around 9:30 in time to go to bed. It was an awesome way to start the trip!
Day 2: Sunday, August 15:
We woke up at 7 am, which was actually sleeping in since we are staying in the big room with 13 of the older boys. They wake up at 6 am on the weekends and 5 am on school days. Needless to say, our sleeping patterns are going to be shaken up a bit. Luckily, because Nicaragua is currently 2 hours behind east coast time (6 am here is 8 am east coast), we should have a nice little routine in place when we get back to the east coast.
We went to church (which lasted 2 hours) until about noon. After church we played some sports with the older boys. The 3 gringo boys + one awesome 8 year old NIcaraguan kid beat the older Nicaraguan boys 5-4. Afterwards, Ryan and I (Alex) took some of the older boys with us on a run. The first half was all up hill and it was pretty brutal, and by the end only one boy, a 9 year old named Carlos, remained. Needless to say, he is ready to join us tonight on round 2 of our running adventures. It is pretty cool running through a tropical jungle with a thunder rumbling in the distance. After the run, another car came and Ryan, Luca, Anna, another girl from the states named Allison (who is staying here for 3 weeks) took some of the smallest kids (6 kids, 1 girl (haley) and 5 boys) under the age of 5 to Pizza Hut for dinner and then went to see Karate Kid! By the way, great movie! It was in English with spanish subtitles. Oh, and the tickets cost $3.50, and this is probably the best movie theater in the cuontry and rivals Tysons Corner or any of your top movie theaters in the US. We might have to make a trip back! On the way out of the movies we randomley ran into Antonio and KJ who were having a late dinner at a restaurant nearby. It was completely random and great to see them. Keep in mind, Nicaragua is small, but it's still country of 13+ million, so randomley seeing them was incredible. KJ is returning to the states tomorrow after 5 weeks as an intern working with groups coming with Orphan Network before heading back to JMU in a week, while Tony will be joining us tonight (Monday night) when he finishes his translations.
So far this trip has been amazing. We've only been here for 2 days and already know every kids name at the orphanage, and because there are just 4 of us (opposed to the 40 that we usually come with on the spring break trip), all the kids know us now and we've had so much more one-on-one time. After we leave the coffee shop we will be going back to the orphanage, going for another run, and proceeding to go out to Granada for a night of celebration. Granada is one of the oldest cities in Central America and about an hours drive south from Managua. We will be going with Tony, Maria Jose and possibly Alejandra and enjoying the city's ongoing independence celebration!
Personally, I must say that driving stick shift through the streets and countryside of Nicaragua has been one of the coolest experiences I've had in a long time. Hopefully we will have more posts coming tomorrow, but we thought we would give a quick summary while we had a chance! For everyone from the past spring break trip, all the kids keep asking how you guys are. They all say hello!
More to come soon! As I'm typing this, a very awesome looking tropical thunderstorm is rolling in. Once the rain subseeds we will head back to the orphanage (a 10 minute drive). Until the next time, we will continue to be safe!
Day 1: Saturday, August 14
We landed at noon on Saturday and were met with a "Nicaragua always wins" situation right off the bat. The Alamo rental service that I reserved a car from did not have any cars for us to rent when we arrived. They helped us find one at another company that had an economy car that we wanted, but none of us were 25, and apparently the "25 to rent a car" law applies to Nicaragua as well. Luckily, Carlos, one of the teachers at the orphanage volunteered to sign off, and away we went!
Maria Jose, Carlos and Alejandra took us to a nice place for lunch where we had some authentic chalupas and fajitas. Maria Jose then surprised us with the suggestion of going to the beach. Since my card is the one we put down for the rental car, I had the honor of taking the wheel of our awesome Toyota Yaris manual drive car. After about an hour and a half of rolling through the city and into the country toward the coast with the windows down and raggaetone blasting, we arrived on the Pacific coast aruond 5 pm. We had just enough time to get in the water and enjoy the (very large and very rough) Pacific water before watching the sunset. Remember, Nicaragua is central time, but doesn't have daylight savings, so it gets dark around 6:30. Afterwards we drove back to the orphanage and got in around 9:30 in time to go to bed. It was an awesome way to start the trip!
Day 2: Sunday, August 15:
We woke up at 7 am, which was actually sleeping in since we are staying in the big room with 13 of the older boys. They wake up at 6 am on the weekends and 5 am on school days. Needless to say, our sleeping patterns are going to be shaken up a bit. Luckily, because Nicaragua is currently 2 hours behind east coast time (6 am here is 8 am east coast), we should have a nice little routine in place when we get back to the east coast.
We went to church (which lasted 2 hours) until about noon. After church we played some sports with the older boys. The 3 gringo boys + one awesome 8 year old NIcaraguan kid beat the older Nicaraguan boys 5-4. Afterwards, Ryan and I (Alex) took some of the older boys with us on a run. The first half was all up hill and it was pretty brutal, and by the end only one boy, a 9 year old named Carlos, remained. Needless to say, he is ready to join us tonight on round 2 of our running adventures. It is pretty cool running through a tropical jungle with a thunder rumbling in the distance. After the run, another car came and Ryan, Luca, Anna, another girl from the states named Allison (who is staying here for 3 weeks) took some of the smallest kids (6 kids, 1 girl (haley) and 5 boys) under the age of 5 to Pizza Hut for dinner and then went to see Karate Kid! By the way, great movie! It was in English with spanish subtitles. Oh, and the tickets cost $3.50, and this is probably the best movie theater in the cuontry and rivals Tysons Corner or any of your top movie theaters in the US. We might have to make a trip back! On the way out of the movies we randomley ran into Antonio and KJ who were having a late dinner at a restaurant nearby. It was completely random and great to see them. Keep in mind, Nicaragua is small, but it's still country of 13+ million, so randomley seeing them was incredible. KJ is returning to the states tomorrow after 5 weeks as an intern working with groups coming with Orphan Network before heading back to JMU in a week, while Tony will be joining us tonight (Monday night) when he finishes his translations.
So far this trip has been amazing. We've only been here for 2 days and already know every kids name at the orphanage, and because there are just 4 of us (opposed to the 40 that we usually come with on the spring break trip), all the kids know us now and we've had so much more one-on-one time. After we leave the coffee shop we will be going back to the orphanage, going for another run, and proceeding to go out to Granada for a night of celebration. Granada is one of the oldest cities in Central America and about an hours drive south from Managua. We will be going with Tony, Maria Jose and possibly Alejandra and enjoying the city's ongoing independence celebration!
Personally, I must say that driving stick shift through the streets and countryside of Nicaragua has been one of the coolest experiences I've had in a long time. Hopefully we will have more posts coming tomorrow, but we thought we would give a quick summary while we had a chance! For everyone from the past spring break trip, all the kids keep asking how you guys are. They all say hello!
More to come soon! As I'm typing this, a very awesome looking tropical thunderstorm is rolling in. Once the rain subseeds we will head back to the orphanage (a 10 minute drive). Until the next time, we will continue to be safe!
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