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!