Nicaragua

Sara and I have to continue our entry concerning our second visit to Managua with a detailed description and thank you to the Sisters of the Mother of the Good Shepherd.
First, a video of Tatian on the slide at their school...

They are a part of the Franciscan family who lead lives of prayer and work primarily teaching in schools. Sister Maritza is a great friend of ours who we have visited now in three countries(Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Spain). She is also the one responsible for nursing Sara back to health when she got malaria as a volunteer in Nicaragua back in 1999.
The sisters graciously put us up for the first several days of our second Managua stint while we were waiting for Jeronima and Tatiana to arrive. They had a little apartment for visiting friends and families that they let us use.. They took great care of us even providing coffee in the morning, food when we were around, and Nestle Quick if I needed a pick-me-up. We were lucky to be able to join them on a few occasions for prayer as well as seeing the “Corn Festival” of the preschool kids. In the festival the parents sold food to raise money and they had a competition for Chief and Queen of corn. See the elaborate outfits below made solely out of CORN! The festival encourages the kids to know more about the facets of their cultural that revolve around corn. Corn drinks, corn recipes, and all types of sayings around corn.

Sister took us to visit the live volcano at Masaya as well as her hometown, Buaco. The volcano was amazing; it had just rained so the steam was pouring out of the active volcano. Buaco was a beautiful small town set in the hills north of Managua. They are most famous for their dairy products and meat. Sister’s family gave us an amazing welcome and cooked us a delicious chicken lunch after mass. We met her sister, nieces, nephew, some cousins, and visited again with her mom.

We also were lucky to be with the sisters while one of them was professing her final vows. The community had a mass with a beautiful choir. They had a meal provided by families afterward as well as traditional dancing and singing as a part of the celebration.
Sara and I are planning to bring the newest Floreth, whenever she comes along, back to preschool for the Corn Festival. Sister told us we would be welcome to enroll!!

Thanks again to the Sister’s of the Mother of the Good Shepherd.

Back to Managua…..miles traveled……300.
During our time in Bluefields, we visited our Godchild, Jeronima, on several occasions. She had a baby, Tatiana, 2 ½ years ago. At the time, Jeronima was only 17 and Tati was born at 7 months via cesarean because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. As a result of premature birth, Tati was born at 1 ½ pounds and with heart and lung problems. Jeronima was told that her baby probably would not make it through the night. She did make it through the night and has been back and forth to the doctor her whole little life. The good news is that she is thriving and doing better than the doctors thought she would. She doesn’t say but a few words: mommy, daddy and pig. She doesn’t seem to respond to external stimuli as much as other kids her age, however, even in our month there we noticed improvement.
While in Bluefields we took advantage of going with Tati to a physical therapy appointment and her pediatrician appointment to get a better handle of how she is doing and what more can be done for her. In terms of physical therapy she is doing fantastic. Before she did not walk and when she did, only on her tip toes. Now she loves to walk and run and although still somewhat on her tip toes, she is learning to use her whole foot. Her mom bought her a great pair of squeaky shoes that make sound when her heels make contact with the ground, which is wonderful reinforcement for Tatiana.

At the pediatrician visit, the doctor explained that little Tati really needs further examination that
Bluefields cannot provide due to lack of proper equipment. He told us that he wanted her to go to Managua to the Pipitos Institute in Managua, where they provide care for children with special needs at little or no cost to the family. The major cost would be transportation to and from the capitol city. We discussed the possibility and the decided to accompany Jeronima and Tati to Managua because we had to go there anyway en route to Guatemala. We knew if we took the time to do this, we would lose our time to explore El Salvador and Guatemala (we had already ditched the idea of going to Honduras at this time due to the political situation). Mike and I both were sure that it was more important to get Tatiana going on for further examinations. She would get eye, ears, and EEG tests. The doctor needs to know what part of Tati’s brain was most affected so they can figure out the best way to help her maximize her development during these critical years.


While we were there the doctors discovered that her hearing was fine. They also ran the EEG, but the results wouldn’t be ready for a couple of weeks. The eye exam revealed that Tatiana was almost completely blind in one eye, but the other appeared to have developed normally. While in Managua, we introduced Jeronima and Tatiana to our friend, Sister Maritza. We also showed Jeronima some of the sights in Managua.

We also took them to McDonalds (of all places) and to go on some store rides, which Tati loved.

We even took Tatiana to the playground. She loved the swing, teeter totter, and most of all the slide. She cried when we had to leave the playground.

On Sunday, we bought our tickets for the 17 hour bus ride to Guatemala City on the King Quality bus line. It would depart at 3:30am. Finally on that afternoon, we took Jeronima and Tatiana to the airport for their return flight home. We begged the airport personnel to let us go into the waiting room with them, but they wouldn’t bend the rules for us. With repeated hugs between all parties and Jeronima finally went through the security check point. She will have to return in a few weeks with her mother to complete the battery of exams and get the results from Tati’s EEG. From that point, hopefully she will have a treatment plan for Tati to work on in Bluefields with only occasional follow up in the capitol.
It was with heavy hearts that Sara and I walked slowly away from the airport. From the airport we went to convent to share in a sister's vow celebration. As we went back to our hotel we bedded down to try and get a little bit of rest before our bus trip that would cover four countries. Next Episode: Good times with the Sisters!

Corn Island Miles traveled 100.

Sara had previously made on visit to Corn Island, but I had never been there. Wendy and Janitza also decided that they would make the trip with us. We were all very excited. The adventure began with the transportation. There was initially to be a ferry to Corn Island that must be caught from Bluff( on the coast) on Friday which would necessitate a Thursday boat trip to Bluff. Later we heard that the ferry might come to Bluefields on Friday. Finally, it turned out that the boat came to Bluefields on Friday, completely filled with cargo, left Friday without passengers, and was to return Sunday for passengers.

Since our time was short and the boat still appeared unreliable we decided to take the radical step of flying there and back. The flight is only 18 minutes and would leave us with three days to enjoy Corn Island. On landing in Corn Island we took a taxi to our hotel to check in and began to explore. We went to the Fisherman’s Cave for breakfast. Outside the patio was the shore of Brig Bay. The view was beautiful and there were two small artificial pools that held a variety of colorful and enormous fish. Especially impressive was the giant, silver, six foot barracuda. We also found a shop that offered snorkel trips with a glass bottom boat for non-snorkelers to observe the coral as well. After breakfast, we hit the beach for the first time by our hotel. Neither Wendy or Janitza could swim, so we had mini-swimming lessons to try to see if they would be able/want to snorkel. After wearing ourselves out in the delightful water we rinsed off and went in search of pizza. Along the way we arranged for a 9:30 glass bottom excursion to two wrecks and the nearest reef.

At the Nautilus restaurant we found pizza on offer as well as Carribean Curry excited our curiousity. The Hawaiian pizza that came had a crust tough as nails. It actually made our jaws tired chewing it. The Caribbean Curry on the other hand was excellent. We finished up our dining experience with a game of Clue on the veranda of the Nautilus. Mike made the final correct accusation (Mr. Green, Lead Pipe, in the kitchen) and won the game. Outside of our rooms we enjoyed a beautiful sea breeze before going to bed.

The next day after breakfast we headed out to meet up with our guide. His name was Eduardo, and he helped get Janitza, Sara, and I equipped. We watched sea grass, and small bunches of coral through the bottom of the boat in the swirling blue water. Upon reaching the nearby reef, Eduardo led sara and I over the side. We were struck by the deep blue of the water and the huge mounds of coral jutting from the sea floor. Various schools of multi-colored fish darted around us. After a little urging, and watching through the glass of the boat, Janitza decided that she wanted to give snorkeling a try.

We put on her fins and adjusted her mask and overboard she went. Eduardo and I held her hands as we guided her around the reef and above the wildly darting sea life. Wendy watched us from above and studied the coral from the safe- and semi dry perch on the boat. Some of the coral growths were the size of houses. We moved to a nearby area where there were two wrecks. One was a modern era wreck, and the other was a Spanish Galleon from the 15th century. The modern era boat showed its metal ribs with its 30 feet long anchor nearly reaching from the sea floor to the surface. Various sea plants nestled in and around all of this area for protection and gave shelter to a myriad of sea animals.

The next day we took a speedboat ride over to Little Corn Island. On little Corn Island, there were no roads and no cars. Most of the island was covered with palm trees and jungle growth. Beautiful beaches ringed the island. We visited a few of the beaches and spent a little time looking for sea life near the shore with little success. Finally, it was time for us to catch the speedboat back for our last night at the Beach View Inn. Early the next morning we were at the airport to fly back to Bluefields. Janitza went home with pocketfuls of souvenirs from the beach for decorating!

We awoke to the buzz of the minihotel and the busy street outside. After a delightful breakfast of gallo pinto, cheese, eggs, and coffee, we went to say hello to Karla and Giovanny at their store. The greetings were as warm as ever despite the pleasantly cool temperatures of “winter” in Bluefields.

At lunch time, we returned to their house and parked our bags. We ate a delicious lunch courtesy of Hilma and began the enjoyable task of catching up with our friends and letting their children become comfortable with having us around. We told them how excited we were for the big upcoming event “the Marcha” or the Independence day parade. In this parade, all the important officials of the town and the schools put on their best shows. Huge troupes of “palionas”- baton twirlers, and drummers are the main attraction while brightly costumed students and trophy carriers make intermittent appearances. This would happen on the 14th with final performances on the 15th.

Sara and I made a list of the people that we needed to visit. At the top of the list were Karla’s family and Wendy’s family. Also a priority were our sponsor children, Shary and Jeronima(whose birthday coincides with our anniversary). Next, Jordan and Jose, two of Sara’s favorite ex students. There were in second grade back in the day, but now are in their freshman years. One of Mike’s favorites was Don Augustin, a member of the church choir and top notch guitar performer joined the list. Finally, we needed to stop by Dona Asucena, the mother of a friend we would be visiting in Guatamala.

Some of these friendships are more than 10 years old, and so our friends are willing to share with us the richness as well as the difficulty of living in Bluefields. Nicaraguas culture is rich in poetry, music, friendship, dancing, nature, and food while the difficulties of health problems, crime, drugs, corruption, juvenile delinquency, unsafe drinking water, unemployment, and lack of resources touch everyone’s lives.

Below are some pictures of our visits with friends…………hope you enjoy them.

Meeting up with Don Agustin........we sang many traditional Nicaraguan songs!

Enjoying dinner out with Wendy, Janitza, and husband Marc.

Hanging out with Janitza and cousin Mahatma

They did my hair!

Mike doing homework with Janitza

Visiting with Jeronima's family

Our original God-daughter, Jeronima.

Mike with our grand-god-daughter, Tatiana.

Tatiana practicing her therapy.

Fermin and crew with their livestock.

All the family's babies!!

Meeting Jeronima's new niece

Jeronima's parents and sibs house!

Karla's family at the parade..

Words don't do the parade justice.

Palionas- baton twirlers in costume.

Nicaragua's pride poses with symbols and costume.

Carlos Adolfo- Karla's nephew...is taller than the rest.

Jose's sister's foud us. (Jose is another ex student of Sara's.)

Would you call this a crowd?

Our best friends and hosts!
Johan

Johan and Mike with fish from Mark.

Johan plays cars.

Budding artist, Guiseppe.

Dona Fatima and Dylan, newest nephew of Karla--son of Yvannia.

Karla and Dylan.

Oh, we love all our friends and miss them already!!

Bluefields, Nicaragua…..miles traveled……300.

Mission –Survive sleep deprivation to arrive in Bluefields to spend time with our friends.
For those of you who don’t know, Sara completed a couple of years of service in Bluefields with the CapCorp. It is also the capital of the South Atlantic Autonomous Region seated on the coast. There is no road that reaches Bluefields from the capital of Managua, which makes this trip interesting.
WOW. Our trip to Bluefields began with a very expensive night taxi ride to the remote bus station “El Mayoreo.” We had made this trip before two years ago, when the highway had been newly repaired in the ever present re-tooled school bus which serves as the main transportation in most of Central America. We were surprised that when we bought our tickets we had seat numbers. While we waited we were treated to watch “Ice Age” in Spanish. It helped pass the time while the toddlers and dogs ran around the bus station screaming and doing gymnastics on the chairs.
Finally we went to board, at first we were pleasantly surprised to see that the seats reclined and appeared semi-comfortable not like the usual school bus seats. We were sadly mistaken. Our seats were over the wheel and left approximately one inch for Sara’s legs after the person reclined back onto her. She first tried to sit Indian style with her legs on the seat then we only began to hope desperately that we could switch to a new seat.
Finally, after we pulled out of the station we scrambled to a different vacant area. The breeze from the window cooled us down. It was not too long however until Sara began to freeze. Then when the bus stopped we roasted, and everyone would lower their windows. Finally, we would move again and would all start to freeze, so everyone would wake up and close their windows again. We didn’t sleep much, and when we did it was interrupted alternately by bouts of sweating, freezing, loud snoring of fellow passengers, or swerving around parts of the road that in the last two years had deteriorated or disappeared completely.

Finally, after seven brutal hours (at 4am) the bus pulled into Rama where we catch the speed boats. The speed boats don’t leave until 6:30am. The bus departure times have not changed in the last four years since the highway trimmed off two hours from the journey. So we sat for two miserable hours on the cramped bus trying to catch a few pathetic winks between mosquito attacks and back cramps.
Finally, it was time to board our speed boat. We joyously put on our life vests and pulled away from the dock. The pleasant breeze on the river provided a nice change as we followed the smooth curves of the river toward the sea. At 8:30 we pulled into the dock totally exhausted. We stumbled a few hundred meters toward downtown and got a small room with a fan at a place called “the Minihotel.” We were so tired that we had a little breakfast and promptly fell back asleep for five hours.
We spent a little time that afternoon reacquainting ourselves with the town. We had one of the local brew.. “Tona” and bumped into an old friend of Sara’s, Yader Garcia. To end our first day, we had a light dinner and went to sleep early to gain energy to greet our friends the next day.