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...