Day 6 Granada

So we finished our 3 days of private classes and both feel that we learned alot. Jennie`s teacher told her that she is now at a good intermediate level, which is a great improvement from her beginner level 3 years ago. She was able to have some great discussions with her teacher, in Spanish, this time.
This furniture moving was happenening right in front of our rented place in Granada. Love the means of transportation!!!











These dancers were in the central park in Granada.

The language school had a party. These kids were showing off their breakdancing and dancing skills. We also had delicious homemade tacos!!! The funny masked people are part of a cultural comedy act. Very entertaining!!!




Jennie went for some pampering at a spa in Granada that cost WAY less than at home!

Carita Feliz is a place where kids can hang out when they are not in school. It keeps them off the streets and out of trouble. Jennie volunteered here on her last trip. This time we stopped by to donate hairdressing supplies for the hairdressing program.

This is the former hairdressing teacher from Carita Feliz. Luz now runs her own beauty salon out of her house and is going to mentor our Nicaraguan friend, Reyna, who we are sponsering, as she trains to set up her own beauty salon.

We gave some of the donated hairdressing supplies to Luz and she was very greatful for everything.

Day 4 Granada

This morning, we both had 3 hours of Spanish class - mucho por la cabesa!
Afterwards, we went to the market and the supermarket to buy food for supper (we invited Reyna and her boys and Jennie´s Spanish teacher and his wife. This will be a good experiment in cooking in our little kitchen.
We then visited Carita Feliz, where Jennie volunteered 3 years ago. It is an organization, started by a Danish man, that works with poor people, teaching them skills they need to succeed in school or to make a living. It has made amazing progress in the 3 years and now offers its courses in bright, clean and spacious halls. We´ll be bringing lots of hairdressing supplies there tomorrow (donated by friends in Langley and White Rock) to help the hairdressing instructor teach young girls how to do that job.
We have to borrow a card reader to post pictures, so we won´t be posting them every day. You´ll have to wait until the next time!

Day 3 Granada

Hola Amigos!

It´s our third day in Nicaragua. We have reconnected with our friend Reyna and her extended family through shared meals and much talking, showing pictures, gift-giving, etc. Reyna´s kids and her nephews and nieces who we visited three years ago are growing up. The niece who is Gabrielle´s age is now married! (Don´t get any ideas, Gabrielle!) One of Reyna´s sons has graduated from primary school and is learning the trade of carpentry.

We had dinner with a nice couple who Jennie connected with a year ago via e-mail. They rebuilt a nice colonial house with a beautiful courtyard. They have started a bamboo house business - the ultimate in environmentally-friendly building materials. We toured the factory that has begun turning out kits for low-cost housing in Haiti and other places where earthquakes can be a problem.

We met three young people, from France and Spain, who are volunteering in Costa Rica for a year. We visited Granada´s market and some artisan shops. We started Spanish lessons at Casa Xalteva.

Mucho occupado!

Here are some photos to give you an idea of our surroundings.



Some street scenes in Granada.

Here´s the house we´re renting for 2 weeks.

We "had to" get a membership at a pool for the week. It´s so hot here. It really helps to cool off in the pool.



















Reyna, Manuel de Jesus, and Juan-Ramon. Jesser models the clothes we brought him.





Mercedes served up a feast in her backyard at lunchtime today. Here daughter and daughter-in-law smiled a lot. Her middle son modeled his new jacket and the newly-weds posed for their first picture as a couple.




















The bamboo house factory. The founder is at the bottom.

We've arrived in Granada, Nicaragua!!!

David kindly drove us to the airport last night. Jennie´s backpack didn´t make it through security without being totally emptied. I´d forgotten to remove my school scissors from an outside pocket and also 2 fort Langley hooks made in the blacksmiths shop! OOps! Quite embarassing. We left on time at 11:15pm and arrived in Houston at the wee hours this morning. So my ears didn´t explode with the flying, but they were uncomfortable, so I didn´t sleep a wink on either flight. I drank a ton, chewed lots of gum and put hot, wet compresses over my ears during descent. Wow, did the humidity ever hit us when we arrived! A nice Dutch man was there with a sign and drove us to our cute 2 storey place. I´ll post pictures tomorrow. We unpacked a bit but were literally dripping with sweat, so we came here to the outdoor pool and got a one week membership. The water is wonderfully refreshing. At 5pm we´ll leave to get a taxi to Rena´s house. Then at 7:30pm we´re meeting a new couple that moved here from the States and built a beautiful colonial home. Full day! I imagine we´ll crash after that! ps We have air conditioning!!!

Heading back to Nicaragua on July 25th, 2010

Leaving in less than a week. Exciting! We're looking forward to reconnecting with Nicaraguan friends that we made last time we were there. Time to start packing!

I'm back in Langley

Well it's good to be home with my family, but I already have plans to return to Nicaragua in 4 years with my daughter. Next time, we'll also visit some other Central American countries.
I met so many wonderful people in Nicaragua, loved learning about the culture, learned quite a bit of Spanish and I've been asked to be godmother to a baby that will be born in 3 weeks in Granada. What an honour! So thanks for your interest in my adventures and let me know if I can follow your adventures.

My husband, Mike, joins me for 6 days

Mike arrived last Thursday morning and I`ve hardly let him rest since!!! From the airoport, we went directly to Mombachu Volcano
to join students from my language school for an afternoon hike around the top of the volcano. Fortunately it was a clear day and the view was incredible. It helped Mike to get oriented. He kept up pretty well considering that he had only slept 2 hours on the plane the night before!After our hike we went to Granada and took his bags to my place and rested a bit before dinner. It was nice and breezy on the volcano but the heat in the city was a bit of a shock for him! After dinner we walked around town a bit, bought some cakes for a farewell party at our favourite nightclub and at 9:30pm we met everyone at Cafe Nuit for great dancing and visiting!Friday, Mike came to my last class at Casa Xalteva and he learned quite a bit of Spanish! At the break we bought some snacks to eat with my teacher Fernando, who has been great! Mike is impressed with what I`ve learned.

It was sad to say goodbye. It was like a family there. After lunch, we walked to Calita Feliz where I have been volunteering. Mike brought some hairdressing books and material generously donated by my hairdresser Karen and we took them to the woman that teaches hairdressing to young girls. She was soooo happy to get the material!!!Mike also taught the English lesson, which was fun! Then we went for a refreshing swim at the pool! After our swim we took a bag of clothes to Rena and her extended family. They really appreciated the gifts!

Saturday morning, we got on a local bus( quite a hot experience) and a shared taxi to get to the city of San Juan del Sur. We stayed in a lovely Inn and took a shuttle to the surfing beach for the whole afternoon! Beautiful beach andit was fun to watch surfing! For dinner we went to a beachfront seafood restaurant. My soup had every kind of seafood! Delicious! Coming back to Granada wehad a full afternoon and evening visiting friends for lunch and dinner. Incredible hospitality!!! They have nothing and yet both family went out of their way to feed us wonderful Nicaraguan food and entertain us with their daughters dancing and teaching us to dance. One of the two girls dancing is Gabrielle`s age and is going to write to her.The picture of us sitting outside a house is at Rena`s house. She had the table all set for us and when I went in her room there was water all over the floor. I asked her about it and found out that her roof was leaking in 2 of the 3 rooms. Her bed was soaked and there were pots everywhere to catch water. Today, Mike is out shopping with her uncle to buy the material to replace part of the roof. He went with his dictionary since neither of them speeks the others language.

These people have so little ! The place where we had lunch, her husband had malaria and his whole body was covered in a terrible rash but they had no money to buy the medication needed. We found out that $20 would help him alot so that was nice to be able to help.