Finally Home!

I have finally made it back home!  It was a wonderful trip, but I am glad to be back.  I was missing some Heather something fierce. I am already looking forward to gathering another group for next year!  It was just such an amazing experience!  These are the type of trips that you won't be able to forget.  The people you meet, and the experiences you have, will stay with you for a lifetime!  These trips are also a learning experience.  You really learn about all there is going on in the world.  The pilgrimage was an eye - opening experience for me.  It is neat to see people fanatical about their religion in a good way.  They love it and are doing a good thing with it.  IT also made me wonder about a socialist government that doesn't help with schools as much as you would think.  I always wonder about what the people think when it is supposed to be more equal, but there is obviously a discrepancy between rich and poor.  There is also so much more to be done.  Jonathan and I talked about the importance of people going on trips like these.  Not only for those that are new to it and experience the tragedy involved with schools that cannot provide for the children, but for those that already know to take others with them to help them understand and want to do something to better the world.  There is a lot that needs to be done to change attitudes and understandings, but one person can still make a HUGE difference.  I have not only helped kids get school supplies, but I have introduced more people to the needs of others.  If they pay that forward and introduce more, who will introduce more...  it can really be huge!!  It is like the saying:  Be the change you want to see.  I want the world to work together to help people, so that is what I will do.

The Last Day

The last day of the trip is a free day for us.  We are spent it going to the beach and then driving to Managua.  The beach was pretty neat.  It was just a little cove with a cute beach town and markets.  It was about an hour and a half ride in the minibus.  It is a touristy area that really caters to everybody.  Most of the vendors speak English, so it is easy to figure things out.  We were a little freaked out by a girl (6 -8 yrs old) dancing on a stage.  It wasn’t that she was dancing on the stage, but how she was dancing was kind of scary.  We are sure she has a future as a stripper…  We played pool for about an hour, walked around, jumped in the cold ocean, had some drinks, all the good stuff in beach life!  Then it was time to drive to Managua.  The interesting thing on this road trip was that there is a pilgrimage going on. 

People make covered wagons and either walk beside or ride in the wagon.  They are making a trek that takes an hour and a half by vehicle.  It is expected to take them about 2 weeks.  They are going to a saint for a miracle.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember the saint…  It made me think of a modern day Canterbury Tales.  They are very devoted to it though.  I am pretty impressed.  The police accompany them for safety and to direct traffic.  It slowed our drive down quite a bit. 

We stopped at a really cute cabin for dinner.  We had a couple bats flying around, so it really made me feel like I had left the country (you haven’t gone to South America if you don’t have a bat flying around your kitchen at least once)!  We finally got to the Managua Best Western.  It was a really nice hotel, but it was a maze and made it hard to get around.  It took me a little while, but I finally got it figured out.  We just chilled at the pool, had some drinks, and watched the bats dip in the pool.  It was a good end to a wonderful trip.

A Day Late

So, as you noticed, I was late getting yesterday's post up...  Here it is:

Today was a full day of escuelas.  We handed out 200 backpacks in 3 different schools!  It was a lot of fun, and very interesting to see how the kids acted differently at each school.  We all felt it was easier to communicate.  I think that was because they used more gestures, plus they had a bit more English training.  We still had a lot fun at all the schools.  The first one we played soccer in the small field during their break. The kids there didn’t all get backpacks.  The students were determined based on need.  One of the boys came into his class and was crying since he didn’t get a backpack.  He started having more fun when I started showing him how to take pictures with my camera.  

We had to head out to the next school, and we had one of the Nicaraguan volunteers, Carla, in our jeep.  Apparently she was one of the top students at the schools, and now she goes to a university.  She is a great example for not only all the students, but the girls especially.  They have an example of what can be accomplished. She goes to classes on the weekend, and then gets a stipend to volunteer during the week.  That is how she gets her schooling paid for.  More systems like that might do a lot for the US students that are trying to make it through school.  Granted, their schooling is a lot less expensive, making it easier for funding.  I do remember Obama talking about a tax rebate or a grant for students that do a certain amount of volunteer work.  It seems to have not been followed through, for now…  The second school seemed a bit more organized, but they were closer to town.  Proximity to an urban area helps get the school noticed and gets them help.  I am sure it also gets teachers easier.  The kids here were really sweet.  We played on the swings and just goofed off.  

We met one boy named David.  He was a very bright kid and very nice.  He is a member of a bicycle club.  He is sitting around waiting for a scholarship to go to High School.  The cost is $230 a year, but that is something that he cannot afford.  He basically has to apply and just wait.  He does help a lot around the school, and the students look up to him.  I think that is great for them to have such a good role model there.  The third school was nice.  It had the most students.  Quite a few of them could speak phrases in English.  I am always amazed at these young kids that are speaking several languages.  We played a type of tag game there.  They really seemed to respond well to us.  They even asked us to wait a bit until they got their work done so we could play more.  When it was time to leave, they were asking whether we were coming back tomorrow.   

Seeing all these kids makes me wonder how a kid from the US would fair in this type of world.  It is so different from the schools that they are used to.  I think about Lana (my girlfriend’s 7yr old daughter) being around these kids.  I am sure she would be playing with them, but would she recognize the differences?  Would she be able to understand why they live and go to school like they do?  I think more kids in the US need to know about the difficulties and differences in other places.  Their eyes would be open to so much more.  I think that they would be very willing to do more for the people in less developed countries if they were to experience it at a young age.  Kids are so much more willing to help, especially other kids.  It would be good to get them to experience what is out here.  The Give A Kid A Backpack organization does a bit of that with having kids in the US write letters when they send in donations.  Those letters are stuffed into random backpacks and the kids can find them and read them.  It is a good way for kids to be involved a little bit, but I would like to see my kids (when I have them) a little more involved.  I would like to take them to countries like this to see what other kids live like.  I think that it would be beneficial for both groups of children.  The hope for me is that my kids would grow up with a drive to help others, and change the world, even if only a small portion.

I will put photos in here later, and the next one will also be posted later.  I haven't had internet or power, so I couldn't get it all done...  I WILL HAVE IT SOON!!!!   btw,  I am coming home in the morning... I am sooo excited to see Heather again!

An Eye-opening day

Today was another busy day!  We left at 9a and got back to the hotel at 7p! We went back to La Esperanza to finish packing the backpacks with the few supplies that we didn’t have last time.  We even got some help from some of their volunteers.  One was from Massachusetts, and the others are from ALL over!  We got those bags all packed and sorted, and then it was off to the Lagoon de Apoyo for some rest and relaxation!  It was a pretty decent sized lake formed in a crater.  The water was pretty warm too!  The resort that we ate at had a pool as well, but it was pretty nasty.  We decided to stick to the lake.  By the time we got back to La Esperanza, I felt my sunburn… ouch! It was bound to happen anyway.  We then went with a couple of people from Holland that are running a for profit/non profit organization.  It is Hotel con Corazon (hotel with heart).  All the profit from the hotel goes to running a couple schools.  They are schools that are out in the rural areas on Nicaragua.  

It was amazing to see the shacks that these people were in.  Most of the outhouses I have seen are better then them.  There would be whole families living in shacks the size of my bedroom.  The walls were slabs of wood that weren’t even joined together.  I wasn’t prepared for how poor they were in this area. It made me think of how much we quantify our life in the US by what we own.  These people have nearly nothing and still have a life.  A life that they are happy in.  They don’t need to have the latest phone or computer.  They don’t need to have designer clothes.  They are content with what they have.  I do wonder if any of the kids ever wonder how they can escape where they live.  US kids are always trying to move out of their hometown.  I just wonder if our Southern counterparts think the same way?  Do they want to change their status? I really don’t know.  One of the kids at the market yesterday talked about going to Brazil.  Maybe they do try for more after all.  Maybe with what we give them they can achieve those goals.  There are hardships with getting these kids to school.  Parents aren’t always huge supporters.  Some of the organizations are trying to get parents behind the students to help increase retention and help the kids want to learn.  That I think is the main obstacle in these countries.  Parents may not see a need for an education, and that attitude is seen by the children, and why should they when it just means so much more work for them.  They would have to do this work anyway, why add more?  That might also keep them from desiring more in life.  They may be too busy to think about it. If the school is able to get the parents backing, then the success of the child is going to be better.  The same goes for the US children.  Kids without parental assistance usually have a harder time then those that have “nagging” parents.  Maybe parents are a good thing!

A Very, Very, Very full day!

We woke up a bit earlier today to check out the local market.  It was what I expected as far as markets go, but I was surprised by the vehicle traffic.  Not only that, but how close the drivers get to pedestrians.  It is mainly because of the limited room.  Several times I found myself walking right next to a vehicle, almost brushing against it.  I had no other place to go though.  We had fun at the market.  Amos changed pants right on the street behind a piece of cloth.  James had a 60 year old lady lament about not being young so she could date him.  All good fun!  We went to do backpacks around 10:30a. 

We arrived at the office to stuff 318 backpacks, where they informed us that schools are closed for that afternoon.  The word had just come down that morning around 9a.  There is some sort of government issue that is making schools be closed tomorrow, that has now effected today.  She told us that it is very common to have situations like this occur.  Even the break between semesters can be changed up to a couple days beforehand.  I can just imagine the chaos and anger that would happen if that was the case in the USA.  Even snow days can become pretty hot topics.  My hometown school district will not call snow days period.  If you live in a bus route area, and the bus cannot come, then you are excused.  This came about because they were expecting a big storm, and at 6a that day it had been pretty nasty.  The storm ended up blowing over and it was a glorious 60 degree day with the sun shining.  Parents were livid since they still had to work, but their kids were off.  To me that just goes to show how much people rely on schools as babysitters in the US.  Granted we want to know that our kids are safe, but doesn’t that lead to a dependency on others?  If we can’t leave our kids alone, are we making it so that they don’t know how to function alone?  These kids function well, and they are really quite responsible.  I wonder if our kids could be like that?  Can our parents be like that and let their kids have more free reign?  Would it open up the possibilities of more kidnappings and other assorted negative things that we try to keep our kids from? 

We ended up stuffing all 318 backpacks in about an hour.  They expected it to take us around 2 – 2.5 hours.  We are sooo good!!!  lol   We get to finish up tomorrow since some supplies were not delivered yet.  That led to a nice sandwich for lunch at a beautiful little cafe, and some free time to take a nap.  The heat is sucking out my energy.  We are dealing with heat in the upper 90’s with humidity.  Apparently this is actually the hot time of year here.  We have been told that March and April are the worst for heat… YAY!  We took a little time to chill in the pool and cool down.  While there, another guest came up with his son to swim.  Turns out they are from Kingwood too!  It is such a small world!  In the evening we went to the craft market.  That was pretty interesting.  We were followed by a group of young boys trying to sell us grass origami and honey.  They were pretty helpful in finding items with the merchants.  It was definitely a tourist market though, since they spoke really good English and all the merchants would tell you dollars unless you asked the price in cordobas.  We followed that up with an evening hike in the Masaya National Park.  

It is an old volcano that erupted 238 years ago on March 16^th… that’s right, today was the 238^th anniversary!!!  Then we went down to a couple bat caves.  We went into one, and then stood at the entrance of another.  When we were standing at the entrance, we actually got to see a Boa hang from the ceiling and catch a bat for dinner!  It was sweet!  Then we turned off our flashlights and let the bats swarm out of the cave around us.  It was very awesome!  We ended the night with some live music and the best desert ever: Mango Bread with Ice cream and Chocolate Syrup!!!  YUMMY!!!

A great, long, full day!

We got to sleep in a bit today.  I didn’t have to wake up until 8:30a! yay!  I had more fruit and eggs for breakfast.  The others tease me, but I am sooo happy to have fresh fruit again!  It doesn’t really bother me either.  They have decided to help me find some bananas!  We went on a boat tour of Lake Nicaragua. There were some really nice houses on the islands.  One I really liked was the Pelas family.  They are the family that seems to own EVERYTHING in Nicaragua.  They are the ones behind the famous Flor de Cańa Ron (rum). They also own banks and other major parts of the economic infrastructure.  There was another Nicaraguan family that had a multimillion dollar home where they apparently only go twice a month.  The rest of the time, the groundskeepers had full reign. 

It was interesting to see the huge houses and then poor individuals fishing for their food.  The guide talked about how 40% of the population lives below the EXTREME poverty line.  That was quite interesting to me, especially after seeing all the wealth in those homes.  The divide between rich and poor must be quite large.   We came back to the hotel and went out for a lunch.  I had a shredded beef with some really good grilled plantains.  I was surprised at how good they were!  I had so many fried/dried plantains in Ecuador that I don’t really like to eat them.  These ones were really good!  We came back and I napped really really quick before heading to our first school.  The first school was on the outskirts of Granada, it serviced both the urban and rural kids.  They have a setup where the primary kids come in the morning, and then the secondary kids come in the afternoon.  There are only 5 staff members there.  They get around that by having the secondary kids tutor the primary kids.  It makes it more of a community oriented school where they learn and then give back almost immediately.  Neesa told us that most families in the area live on about $1.25 a day.  I was floored.  It gave more weight to how I viewed the cost of food in the tourist areas.  Our guide that morning had pointed out that locals tend to not eat in the tourist areas. I can see why, since 1.5L water is around a dollar.  She also talked about how the need to make school a priority isn’t really a concept here, but that a lot of students enter and then drop.  She had said that over 50% drop before secondary school, although their retention rate for the last year was 97%.  She was very happy about that, and made us know that it took a lot of work for them.  We then set off for a rural school.  It was a very rough dirty ride out to this school.  The students and families were there waiting for us when we arrived.  We were able to play a lot with these kids after giving them backpacks.  The first school, they were kind of paraded through a little room where we gave them backpacks, but this one was just a big open room with plenty of freedom.  We even went outside and played a bit. 

I am always in awe when I see kids like these.  They have so little that even they have to work on top of going to school, yet they are so happy.  I wonder about the kids I know back home.  Does having all that we have available to them make them less happy, or is it more that they have a steady feeling on content that makes them upset if it diminishes in any way.  I haven’t decided about the kids here.  Are they always happy, or is it mainly that they have attention when volunteers come around that they are so ecstatic?  I want to think that they are always happy, but I think that just might be because I don’t want to think of these kids any differently then as they were when I was playing with them.  They have to have a tough life.  Neesa was talking about them going to work and working 3-4 hours BEFORE school.  Doing all their school work, doing their homework, and then possibly working for another couple hours.  Their life is tough, so do they struggle with feeling content, or is ignorance truly bliss?

March 14th

Today was sweet!!!!  We went hiking around an empty volcano crater.  There were some really neat things to see.  Unfortunately there was some inversion going on that kept the valley in a haze and it wasn’t the best to see everything.  It was still a beautiful scene.  There was even a fault that you could walk through that had split during a major earthquake.  We had a lake pointed out that had formed during other earthquakes.  We got to see the second largest lake in South America (so they say).  It’s approximately 8,500 square kilometers.  They also say that there are Bull Sharks in the lake in certain areas.  Then we went on to a canopy tour of the area of Volcan Mombacho. It was so awesome!!!  There were 11 different cabled zip lines that we went across.  James was the first to try it other then regular by doing a superman pose, but I was the first to do it upside down!! Go me!!!  lol 

Then I did Superman, and then another upside down.  It was really neat!!  We then came back to the hotel and rested before walking to the bank and the market.  We walked around the market briefly before hitting the bank to get some Córdoba’s.   We came back to the market square to browse a bit, and checked the cathedral in the area.  It was a pretty neat cathedral, but it seemed rather new, even though it was done in 1915.  There were some pretty sights in there.  After that, we stopped at the liquor store to buy some of the renowned ron (rum) that they make here.  We bought a couple small bottles, and some coke for later that night.  We spent a bit of time after that just chilling out and relaxing.  For dinner we went to a John Lennon "Imagine" Restraunt & Bar. It was a pretty cool place.  The owner was from New Mexico, and grew all his own vegetables!  I had though last night's steak was pricey, but this joint was WOW! My steak was C$380!!!  of course, it was a Black Pepper encrusted Filet Mignon ... yummy!!!  We do wonder how people can afford things here.  The prices are still a bit less then in the states, but they seem very high for such a poor country.  There definitely are a few people begging and asking for money.  It is hard to say no to the children...  Early turn in tonight after a wonderful day. More to come tomorrow!!!

First Night in Nicaragua

Flight was delayed, increasing the anticipation. Luckily a couple drinks at the sky bar helped to relax me a bit..  The flight was really a non event, except the HORRIBLE hamburgers.  They said beef, but we all have our doubts…  Even with the delay, we were only about 30 min late getting in.  Customs was definitely nothing as to what I was expecting.  Just hand in the paper, pay $5, and get a stamp.  Welcome to Nicaragua!  We are all so excited, and Rosanna is really nice, should be a good trip!  The hotel was pretty neat with a beautiful courtyard that is almost like a mini jungle right outside our door!  We walked around and saw some things.  There was a boxing match on TV, and the WHOLE town seemed to be watching in the streets on large screens.  We had a nice meal,  I had a C$175 steak woot!  Then it was back to the room to rest up for tomorrow!

The Day has come!!!

Today is the day to leave!  I am sooo super excited!!!  I am a bit nervous as well.  I feel a little responsible for everybody since I pretty much begged them to all go...  lol  Anyway, lots of packing to do!  More to come later!!