So we left for San Juan del Sur last Thursday to celebrate the 9th anniversary of San Juan del Sur Biblioteca Movil with our friend Jane and others. So we hopped in the van with 7 of our newest friends for the 4 hour ride to SJDS. We got in Thursday afternoon and met up with Jane and 50 6th and 7th graders from Colorado who have been preparing for this trip to Nicaragua for a year. They did fundraising and planning and learned some Spanish and prepared activities that they would run for 500 kids during the library celebration. They were a cool group of 7th and 8th graders. We also enjoyed getting to chat with the teachers and principals that agreed to take 50 middle schoolers to Nicaragua for a week. We got to break bread with them and hear what they thought of Nicaragua.
On Friday afternoon Jane was preparing spaghetti and meatballs with our friend Heather and a couple of hotel staff members. They were preparing to make meatballs out of 20 lbs of ground beef. The gas oven was lit but apparently the element didn't fully ignite and when someone opened the oven door the gas that had been collecting in the stove ignited from the stove and exploded blowing people into cabinets and walls and blowing out 2 ceiling tiles above. It was only and explosion and not fire so the damage was only bumps and bruising and serious anxiety. We brought all the meat and ingredients for dinner up to Jane's house where we continued to prepare the rest of the meat, make spaghetti sauce (Jane's special recipe: one of each kind of sauce available in the store in town plus one can of crushed tomatoes), make garlic butter without a garlic press (my first time ever peeling and mincing 4 heads of garlic all in one sitting), make garlic bread and stuff 9 piñatas with candy for the celebration the next day. Then we got to eat spaghetti with the middle schoolers for dinner.
Saturday was the library celebration. There were 9 piñatas, one for every year of the library's operation, one each hour. There was traditional Nicaraguan folk dancing, about 20 different free activities for the kids (brought by the middle school students) do and take home. There was music, games and general fun. There were so many kids there who have been impacted by the library. It is such a great part of the community. They have English classes available for adults in the evening and they host numerous activities for kids before, during, and after school. I am so thankful that Jane had the vision to make a difference. The celebration was an opportunity to recognize kids and adults who are reading the most. In most houses in America kids have more books than immediate family. In Nicaragua kids have more immediate family members than books. The library gives them the opportunity to read a variety of books.
Then we went to a special dinner after all the Saturday festivities. We were tired on Saturday night. On Sunday morning we rested, it just felt right. We let the kids play at the beach as we watched them from our hotel balcony. When we called them back they came. We had dinner with our old neighbors at the local pizza joint. We went to bed early on Sunday night after packing our bags in preparation for our Costa Rican border crossing on Monday morning.
On Monday morning we went to drove down to the Costa Rican border (about 35 miles from SJDS) with someone we met in Jinotega. She is a nurse and has been down in Central American for over 20 years. She took Gus' stitches out for me, so I didn't have to. We did as much research as possible on how to get from Nicaragua to Costa Rica and Costa Rica back to Nicaragua but nothing ever goes quite as planned. We need to leave the country every 90 days. There is a lot of misinformation about how the process works and if you ask people, it doesn't always go the same. We ended up making it down and back in about 5 hours. It was stressful and I am so glad we aren't going to have to do it again before we leave as we will get a 3 month extension in Managua the next time (in February).
After our less than pleasant border crossing we had lunch in SJDS and then headed to Rivas to catch the "Chicken Bus" (apparently so named because they are likely to have passengers with live chickens riding them). The "Chicken Bus" is an old US school bus that is colorfully painted and lovingly cared for by the owner. They are very affordable. The ride from Rivas to Granada (about 1.5 hours) is 25 cordobas (about $1.25). But they pack the bus! We got on early and sat in the hot bus but that meant we had a seat. People get on the bus while it is parked selling water (in a bag, Joe bought one) juice (in a bag), chicken, tortillas and coleslaw (in a bag) and various other Nicaraguan food items. Also for sale on the bus were underwear (men's, women's and children's) socks, remote controls and bandanas. The bus left Rivas with several people standing. For about 45 minutes my shoulder was in a man's groin (I was uncomfortable but he didn't seem to notice). Bags and packages are stored on top of the bus. We saw aluminum roofing being loaded on to a bus next to us and 50 lb bags of rice or beans are normal as well as costco sized packs of toilet paper. We had a large luggage that would have cost 10 cordobas (about $.50) to store on top but Joe wanted it with us on the bus but the baggage handler told us it would be "expensive". How much? 20 cordobas. Our bag rode with us not with the rice, beans and toilet paper. So the full bus left Rivas and picked people up along the way. Needless to say we survived but I am very glad Joe has made the trip a few times solo so he knows the ins and outs of the Chicken Buses.
In Granada we met with the friends who let us stay with them for 3 nights. I finally got to meet the family that I emailed with during our fact finding stage. They have an 11 year old daughter and a 12 year old son. We went to "7:30 Men's Bible Study" which includes women and children and starts at 8:00, only in Nicaragua. It was wonderful though. All the singing was in Spanish and the Bible Study time was done in Spanish and English. I definitely felt the Holy Spirit in that place!! I wish we had something like that in Matagalpa!
Today we visited an old fort that was built in 1748. We walked about 20 minutes to get there only to find that it was closed. There was a maintenance guy working and he told us he would let us in for 5 minutes as long as we didn't climb the towers. It was really cool to see something that was built 250 years ago that is still standing. The middle structure of the fort had walls that were breaking away and you could see the original straw and mud that the bricks were made with. After the fort, we headed to the Granada cemetery which is huge and amazing. We took some cool pictures but I can't upload them yet. I hope to add them to this post.
After that we came back to the house and then went out for lunch with our friends. After lunch Joe took the kids back to the house while I went to the grocery store with our friends. As we were walking back to the house with groceries, Joe called to say that when he and the kids arrived at the house, there were 3 guys standing out front and when he was unlocking the door to the house he heard banging on the roof. When he went into the house he saw a guys foot coming down into the atrium. He yelled at him and the guy took off (along with the 3 guys in front of the house). Very scary! The kids were with him too.
So tomorrow morning we get on a bus (should be nicer than a chicken bus) to Managua. Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua and everyone we have talked to about Managua says it's not a good place to live, it's dangerous, it's scary, stay away from the bus terminals (and that's just the Nicaraguans). So I am hoping all goes well. We are going from Managua to Matagalpa.
After flying rocks, exploding ovens, stressful border crossings and attempted break ins I am hoping this last leg of our "vacation" is smooth and I look forward to sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night!!
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