Nicaragua: Day Ten

Day Ten

Today was our final full day. I had a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning (and from my nap in the afternoon), but I made it and it was a successful day. We finished the dorm room painting and I did some homework (I have four out of nineteen tasks finished......whoops). At lunch, everyone surprised Zach and me with birthday cakes because my birthday was yesterday and Zach's is tomorrow (Happy 18th!). Both cakes looked quite tasty!

In the afternoon, we napped and then took care of the kids for the last time. It was really sad to see them go, but I have decided to write to them, so I don't feel quite as terrible as I could. I will most certainly miss them!

The evening has been incredibly stressful for pretty much everyone, but there's no need to go into that. Since tonight was our last supper, we decided to make a rendition of "The Last Supper." Here it is:

The Last Supper

I will leave you with a question. Is it really best to protest and not buy clothing from companies that use sweatshops? The reason I ask is because many people in Nicaragua are employed in sweatshops, and even though they work in awful conditions for very little pay/benefits, it is the only job they can attain and it supports their families. So is it best to protest, or will that just cause pain on an individual level? Think about it.

Goodbye, Nicaragua! I will miss you.

Day Eight

Well, I lost my card reader, so I can't upload any pictures to my computer, which means no photos for you at the moment. But don't worry, I'll find it eventually! I hope.

This morning I woke up to Zach, Seth, and Faran singing "happy birthday" to me as they served me breakfast in bed (thank you all!), and then I was sung to by everyone in our group during devotions. After devotions, a group of us walked to one of the schools nearby. It took about twenty-five minutes on a scary road to get to the school, but it was definitely worth it! The kids were all really excited to see us, plus we got to see how schools work around here. After our visit was over, we decided (stupidly) to take a different way back to the ranch. Two members (who shall remain unnamed...*ehem*) told us that it was only a little bit longer and that there were fewer hills, but oh, were they wrong. Total, we walked for two hours. No joke. And there were just as many hills, they were just less concentrated and of lower elevation.

I have to add that we did stop twice, once at a really nice Seven Eleven (not the American company...there are local sellers of pop and Gatorade in random locations and we call them Seven Elevens), and once at a farm worker's house. But those stops lasted no longer than 30 minutes put together.

For obvious reasons, we were exhausted.

We arrived back at the ranch just in time for lunch, and then kids came an hour early, so we hardly got a break at all. We hung out with the kids for a couple of hours and then got ready for the fiesta!

The fiesta was most definitely a success. A lot of really great music, good food, and great people. But most of all, dancing. We danced for probably two hours! Unfortunately, not many of the Nicaraguans joined us besides the kids, but we had a blast anyway!

Quite suddenly, the party ended and the music was shut off. We certainly weren't ready yet though, so about five of us limboed until we couldn't limbo any longer! I almost won...I think it was sort of a tie between Dan and me, but he probably won. He's quite limber for an old (ha) man. :p

And that was day eight!

Here is another random fact about Nicaragua:

Many of the horses here have something called "Empty Stomach Disease." This is exactly what it sounds like...their stomachs are empty because their owners can't afford to buy them the food they need. It's really sad to see sickly horses walking by on a daily basis, and I hope that something can be done to fix it. I think many of the dogs could be considered to have the same disease...they are pretty deprived as well.

Goodnight, and happy birthday to me!

Nicaragua: Days Six/Seven/Eight

Well, I got busy and tired so I neglected to post anything. I apologize for that. Here is a brief description of the last three days:

Day Six

Today we did some more farm work (scoopin the poopin) and then I did homework while everyone else painted one of the dorm rooms. Then in the afternoon, we had a really great time with the kids. A little girl named Katia gave me a purple ring (that I wear on my right ring finger now!) and we all had a fulfilling afternoon. This was definitely the best day of the entire trip (so far, anyway).

Day Seven

Today we painted one of the dorm rooms, working mostly on the trim (ick). We only did this for about an hour because we had an early lunch and then got on the bus for a two hour drive to the BEACH. We went to a place called San Juan del Sur which, unfortunately, is a touristy town. Despite what we were told about it being pretty Americanised, it really wasn't too bad! The water was wonderful and we all had a fantastic time. We got there in the early afternoon and stayed til about two hours after the sun went down.

Day Eight

Energy was low and moods weren't so great throughout the day today. The younger members of our group (myself included) slept through breakfast and devotions, but they saved food for us! Then we painted two different dorm rooms - one complete, one close to being finished, ate lunch, took naps, and then watched kids again. The kids have gotten really comfortable with us, which is great, except that they don't listen as well anymore, and they get into our boxes of stuff without permission. Oops.

After dinner and reflections, we set up a skit about stone soup that we will perform tomorrow during the fiesta. Speaking of tomorrow, it's my 20th birthday! Luckily for me, we are having a fiesta! Perfect timing.

Here are some pictures from all three days:

My Spanish name!

This is Katia!

Rachel and me playing with some play-dough.

Zach and crazy Marion.

Riley!

The beautiful Sunset!

Matthew and Aaron playing with Riley.

Welcome to San Juan del Sur!

Everyone else is being normal...Rachel looks crazy.

And to make up for it, here's a cute photo!

Faran and Aaron having a bromance.

Seth!

Rachel and me

Leah was there with us!

Nicaragua: Day Five

Day Five

So there isn't much to tell for today. Because it's Sunday, we had little responsibility on the farm, and a group of us took a walk. Our group consisted of Faran, Rachel, Amelia, Seth, Zach, Matthew, and me, and we walked approximately four miles to a town (I can't remember the name, unfortunately). In the town, we bought food from a store that we later found out is owned by Walmart (EW), so that sucked, but it's nice to have something to eat besides rice and beans!

It took us an hour to walk to town on the hilly dirt roads in the 90 degree weather, but we took a taxi back for about half of the trip, and that was only twenty cordobas a person (one U.S. dollar). We had a good time despite the heat and the really long walk. Here are some pictures!

I picked this up and made it into a hat!

Matthew and Faran walked ahead of the rest of us for pretty much the entire walk.

From inside the taxi.

Rachel and Amelia

I have no idea what this is for, but I love it!

A lot of the buildings around here look like this one.

This is what a lot of the roads look like in this area.

Dirt, dirt, dirt.

Pretty flower.

Seth!

We put Rachel's camera in this tree so we could get a photo of all of us on the road!

Someone hanging out in the town.

"One for you, and one for me." - Bright Eyes.

Nicaragua: Day Four

Day Four

I am ridiculously tired, so I will tell the story of today entirely through photos and captions.

Oh, and they can't pronounce my name down here, so they call me Dora, but I don't want to be called Dora, so I am trying to get people to call me Dorie. It's way cooler.

"Grandma, there are ants crawling ALL over Nicaragua." -Four year old Riley.

So we started the day off by scooping goat poop.

I had blisters form on my hands and pop a couple of times. It hurt. Between the five of us, we scooped a total of 28 bags, which equates to approximately 1,400lbs of poop.

You've been scooped.

This is from the other day, but I meant to put it up.

We were eating like ogres.

At least I was.

This little boy's name is Eduardo.

This one is named Marion.

They drew hopscotch with the chalk and played for a while.

Marion LOVED my camera.

This is Katerine. She and I are buddies.

Katerine and Marion.

Eduardo and Katerine. They are precious.

Seth covered Zach's glasses with play dough.

He looks so cool.

We've been playing a fair amount of Jenga lately.

I figured it was important to include it at some point.

My little friend again. She's so beautiful!

This is Fender. Obviously we weren't taking care of him by any means, but he hung out with us.

Seth blowing bubbles.

Katerine.

Big bubble! The kids blew bubbles for a really long time!

Lovely.

Seth.

Rachel.

This great guy is Faran. He is our interpreter, but also a part of our family. He came to the states and lived with Rachel's family for six months last year. Faran is the greatest!

Lastly, I will leave you with a short bit of information that I have learned while being in Nicaragua. Everyone had really high hopes for the current president, but he has let the people down in a lot of ways. The specific situation I was told of relates to electricity. Apparently the president's wife really likes Christmas lights, so she had lights put up all over the city of Managua (I believe it was Managua, but I may be incorrect) and has them lit 24/7. Because of this, the government cannot afford to keep the street lights lit at night, so the streets are less safe than they were before.