Day 28 Evening: A Beautiful Goodbye

Tonight was the final night of the conference. When we arrived in Panama we learned that tonight would be a white party... we had not packed for this. EEK! Christi and I tried to shop a bit for with little luck, so we made do with what we had. I did pick up this $6 black and white dress that worked out perfectly. Most clothing shipments go through the canal, so clothes are much cheaper here because they don't have the shipping cost to the US.

 

Our last night. I keep trying to think of the words, but I don't have them. Love is all I can think of. One of our hosts greeted me and said mi amorcita, my little love. Everyone we met has been so filled with love. Even the words they use about hosting us... they say they recieve us, like we are a gift to them. At the district conference we have gotten to see almost everyone we have met along the way. I'm not much of a cryer... but I keep tearing up every time I greet someone or leave someone.

It is no secret that we have had a lack of sleep this trip. And I am a person that needs sleep to be a functional human being. However, on this trip, I have had at max 6 hours of sleep per night... and that is a very generous estimate. The other part of this trip that is very difficult is being on point at all times with zero alone or rest time. I can not explain the exhaustion.

I literally just took a two minute nap. Seriously. We grab sleep everywhere.

With all of that said... we suck energy from our hosts and new friends. In every city we meet someone new that gives us such a boost. We want to talk to them, to learn from them, to laugh with them.

Hugging everyone goodbye was very hard. I honestly don't think I can ever say what their love, generosity, and kindness has meant to all of us. We have been humbled to the max.

To anyone reading this blog who has hosted us, driven us, spent an afternoon, a morning, an evening with us, eaten with us, laughed with us, talked with us, loved us...THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. We love you so much. You have no idea how much your life impacted us. We appreciate you taking the time out of your life to receive us. There are many times we did not speak the same language, but your kindness and love transcended any language barrier. Your smile gave me energy when I was too weak to talk. Your hug made me warm. And I think most importantly, you let me know I safe and at home. There are many wonderful aspects to this journey (the GSE), but you are the best. I love you all so much.

My wishes for you:

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind always be at your back,

May the sun shine upon your face,

May the rain fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Santa Ana, San Salvador, San Miguel, Chinandega, León, Managua, Jinotepe, Granada, San José, Cartago, Heredia, Panama City:

Liliana, Eli, Henry, Mario, Olga, Eduardo, Juan Carlos, Tony, Maybell, Meli, Niki, Sandra, Enrique, Manuel, Antonio, Jesus, Felicidad, Alejandro, Saskia, Julio, Jessica, Fernando, Francisco, Gladys, Ariella, Roberto, Roberto, y Roberto, Neny, Tito, Ramon, Lydia, Eduardo, Chuck, Alvaro, Humberto, Cristina, Jorge, and anyone I missed who we met along the way.

I will miss you. I will love you. And with all my being, I hope we will meet again.

 

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Day 15: I'm Caliente Like a Mother

Our plans to jump on the tica bus at 6a were changed to 1p so we had the morning to mosey a little by ourselves. We felt a like animals let out of their cage for the first time. We could make our own decisions! Walk where we wanted to walk! What to do? What to do? Well, we took a quick walk, had a shoe shine and then went back to the hostel for some much needed rest.

Although the hostel is quite beautiful, it also traps heat like a sauna. The rooms were about $40 a night and air conditioning was an extra $30. We thought we had slept without it before, so we would be fine. We were wrong. Christi and I slept with our door shut and windows shut because there were no screens. I thought we might die. At around 2a we both realized neither had slept and we had a 6a wake up.

The next morning, we found out everyone was in our same boat. Jimmy and Paul kept their door and window open (all rooms opened to this little atrium and we had met the other few people staying at the hostel). Jimmy spent the majority of his night sleeping with a leg in the pool. It was miserable at best.

As terrible of a night the hostel gave us, it redeemed itself in the morning with this gorgeous view during our rest. This is literally right outside our doors.

I loved The Backpackers Inn and would definitely stay here again... but I would pay for the air.

At noon we went to the bus station and waited for our bus' 1p arrival... that was only 24 minutes late.

Crossing the border into Costa Rica

We just crossed into Costa Rica and should have about a 9 or 10p arrival in San Jose. And week 3 begins.

 

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Day 14: Hello Mudda, Hello Fudda

Here I am at Camp Granada.

As soon as we drove into the town I immediately knew I wanted to spend more time in this city. Granada is much like León. It is built colonial style with tons of amazing architecture. The city is also very cultural and boasts tons of museums, art galleries, shops, and restaurants. We saw many North Americans in the city as tourism is picking up a ton here. It's a backpackers delight.

We stopped in first at Tio Antonio's. Antonio is a transplant from Spain. He has a very interesting and creative project in Granada.

Antonio has a program of sorts that benefits the deaf, mute and blind. On one side of the building, they make hammocks, including this huge one. On Sunday they were finishing a hammock for the Pope himself.

Cat hammocks

The other side of the building is a cafe called Smiles Cafe (Cafe de las Sonrisas). The student in the program who are deaf are the servers and the cooks. Antonio really stresses teaching life skills to the students and showing them not to think they have to result in a life of begging but can take care of themselves. You can read more about Tio Antonio's here (http://www.tioantonio.org/).

Hammock for the pope

We then took a tour of the city. It was fairly quiet since it was a Sunday. Every street was unique. There is tons and tons of detail in every piece of architecture.

Hammock for the pope

Every city has a plaza (square) near a church. We made our way around this one and did a little shopping as well as sightseeing in local galleries.

And the pic I got in trouble taking. Oopsie.

The saddest part of the city is the trash. And we have seen this problem in almost every city.There is trash everywhere. In Granada we heard there were 29 trash cans. 29 for a city of 150,000. You just don't see them. And it's not only the city, it's also the lakes and streams. I am ready to start adopting streets and sending teams to clean them. There is just not a culture of even thinking about tomorrow, let alone how throwing down one piece of trash is resulting in mucking up the city.

And the pic I got in trouble taking. Oopsie.

After the tour of the city, we had a late lunch at Antonio's and dropped off our luggage at our hostel for the evening.

And the pic I got in trouble taking. Oopsie.

Our hostel

A much welcomed view

Little critter in our room

Our host had arranged for a boat ride around Lake Nicaragua. This lake is huge. To give you an idea, Nicaragua is comparable to Missouri as far as size is concerned. Lake Nicaragua is the southernmost lake.

Walk the plank matey

Walk the plank matey

Christi was not happy I was stopping to take this pic

Jimmy catching some sleep while he could

Monkey Island

We were able to go home and freshen up and met Antonio out for dinner for antipasto and pizza in the restaurant district. I was so very thankful of this considering Sarah and Alissa had sent me a pic of Bambino's minutes before this and I was missing my fave spring Sunday tradition.

Our time in Nicaragua has been a different kind of exhausting than El Salvador. In Nicaragua we traveled almost everyday and met with four host families (five if you include the owner of our hotel who treated us like family). Everyday for the past four days we have toured a new city, met with new clubs and people. It was mentally exhausting trying to keep the days straight and completely live out of a suitcase and not get settled anywhere.

With that being said, it has been an incredible opportunity to see much of the western part of the country and meet so many people. Each city was drastically different. The people in each city each had their unique flavor. I know I keep saying it, but I can not express how welcomed and loved we feel in each city. Our hosts are so kind to accept us into their lives like family. In my mind I am already planning a trip back to Nicaragua. I feel like I just got a small taste of something so sweet.

 

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Day 13: Jinotepe

Our tour of Nicaragua continued on Saturday with a day in Jinotepe. Jinotepe is up in a mountain and considerably cooler than the rest of the country. Our first stop was a quarry owned by a couple of the Rotary members. They mined rock that was compressed volcanic ash. And boy was it dusty.

The mines and machinery were very impressive. The owners have an amazing vision and really understand the economic impact of their business. Instead of using more machines to load and stack the slabs (which are available), they create employment by continuing to use people.

The owners also replenish the land back to it's natural state by replanting trees. They hire only women for all of the packaging of soil and planting of seedlings.

Following the mine, we went to a facility opened by a couple from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The facility housed girls who had been sexually abused and were taken out of their homes. It was another hard tour. Rotary was helping with the project, as were mission groups. During this particular day, a group was there from Mississippi helping with some renovations and the board of the project was visiting from Tulsa. The owners of the facility definitely had amazing hearts. The buildings reminded me a lot of Boys and Girls Town. They had a school for those not able to go to public school and even had adult education courses for older girls who had not had an education. The girls' ages ranged from very young to young adults. They even had some small children and babies there who were children of some of the girls who had been impregnated by their abuser. Those situations are hard to see no matter where you are. It was good to see such a progressive and much needed center to help these girls. I think this facility really hit us all very hard. There are places everywhere that need assistance but I think we really saw not only the need for this one but really felt they had a strong mission and plan.

Another city, another cathedral. This one had amazing woodwork on the inside. A wedding was getting ready to take place so we just briefly walked around the building.

We were able to walk around the city a bit and go to local markets. We then went to a member's house for dinner and our presentation. It was nice to get to be a bit more casual for this meeting. Our host club gifted us with Rotary Jenotepe baseball caps.

Our host in Jinotepe was Letzbia. She is a super interesting lady who spent over 30 years in the US. Her daughter and family currently live in San Francisco and we will actually be there at the same time later this summer. Letzbia is a Nicaraguan who was married to an Italian man. Now that is a blend of a woman! Her house in Nicaragua was gorgeous and filled with art and artifacts from her travels.

And for those following my feet saga, I woke up today and they were completely back to normal. I think two nights in air conditioning helped considerable. Not only did we have air conditioning for two nights, but in Jinotepe we had hot water! Most of the time hot water is not necessary and a cold shower is often welcomed after a hot day... but, oh to the em gee did a hot shower feel good.

All of my weird skin rashes are healed up, as are Paul's wicked mosquito bites... just in time for Costa Rica.

 

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