Holy Cow...

Well, I made it to Managua. The trip here was something else. My first plane to Houston was delayed by four hours. We actually got on the plane, sat through the safety briefing and then waited for like 30 minutes before they told us to deplane because there were thunderstorms in Houston. So, we waited in the terminal until the weather cleared enough for us to go and finally I got to Houston. The flight to Managua was delayed an hour because so many people were late coming in to Houston that they tried to get them all on the plane. So, when I arrived, I went through immigration and customs and was picked up by one of the Fabretto staff. She took me to a small hotel that looks like something out of a movie and I will be staying here while I work on developing the evaluations.

Yesterday, I met with my program coordinator and talked about what evaluations they need done then I started working on developing them. I went to lunch with some of the program staff and another volunteer who is here to plant a garden for an orphanage. Then we went to view the San Isidro Center and the attached farm project.

Let me just say the roads here are a real trip. It changes from normal pavement to cobblestone to dirt and the city changes to rural very fast. There is no way to describe the frantic pace of this place except to say Holy cow! And, I would advise anyone traveling here not to eat before going on a long ride, the bumpiness, constant swerving and dodging of other cars, horse carts, and bicyclists and/or pedestrians can make you very queasy. I won’t be eating a large lunch again before driving out of town that’s for sure.

Anyways, at San Isidro we saw the main center (middle and high school students) and two school based centers (elementary students) where the kids participate in activities. At the Farm (I am not sure if that is the correct term, but that’s what I am going with) they teach the older kids agriculture skills and how to organically farm as opposed to clear cutting the land. Nicaragua has a serious problem with clear cutting and many of its natural resources have been used up, but apparently they have a great deal of water. Unfortunately the water table is more than a 1,000 feet deep so it is very difficult for anyone to drill. No one has that type of commercial machinery and it is very expensive. So, when water becomes a precious commodity some big company will likely be able to come in and drill and Nicaragua will have a great natural resource to sell.

At the Farm they plant all kinds of fruits and vegetables including tomatoes (but this year’s crop got a virus and had to be eliminated), pineapples, bananas, plantains, lemons, limes, etc. along with other regional fruits that I have never seen or heard of. I have to tell you that although I have been working out, nothing has prepared me for hiking back up the mountain, (Fabretto owns like half a mountain which the Farm is based on) in the Nicaragua heat. I nearly had a heart attack, and I was breathing like a bull horn! So, in essence I risked my life to get some pictures for everyone to see what they do here.

In addition to planting, the Farm raises chickens that go to the food program at the Center to help keep the costs of feeding the kids down. Right now the program feeds over 150 students a day just at that one center! And, they would like to increase it to 300! After we left the Farm we went and saw the schools and the center. The kids were celebrating La Dia de La Mama (mother’s day) which is second here only to Christmas. They had music in the auditorium and had invited all their mothers. After that I returned to my hotel room where I completed a youth survey for the program so that I can start working on translating it.

Other than that today is the official mother’s day so it is a half-day and the center will be closed early. Tomorrow early we are leaving to Somoto and to tour some other sites. I will be staying in Somoto where I should have more email access. Right now I don’t have access when at my hotel so I have to write everything up and send it the next day. I have lots of pictures, but so far it is hard to load them. So here are the ones I could get loaded.

Here is Flat Stanley flat laid out on the bed after our long trip.


Here is me after 14 hours of hectic traveling (notice the bleary-eyedness and the hair, this is after my cold shower because there is no hot water!)


And, here is Flat Stanley enjoying his first Nica lunch! Check out the REAL tortilla!

And, here is the pineapple field at the Farm, these will not be ready for another year because it takes 18 months for them to get ready!


And finally, here are the chickens that they are raising on the Farm:

Leaving...

Last days home...

Well, I have been pretty busy during my last few days in Little Rock trying to get everything in order and packed into my suitcases. Here is what I did:

First, the kids at my program threw me a going away party. This is the cake. Check out the flip flops!

Then I went to Little Eric's graduation. Now there is only one more brother left in school!

I got to spend time with my nephew:



And finally, I went to the very crowded Riverfest to see LL Cool J:


Good Times!

How beautiful...

This is Grand Cañon of Somoto. I will be spending the summer at Padre Fabretto's Somoto site and traveling to other sites from there.

Travel Shoes!

Yeah, I found some travel shoes that are super comfy, super cute, and priced in my range! Check them out:



They are genuine crocs, so they are the most comfortable shoes. Check out Dillards if you want a pair. I will be wearing them all summer.

Mo and Flat Stanley

This is Mo with Flat Stanley. I tried to get a shot of Isabelle and Flat Stanley, but apparently they aren't friends since she tried to eat him. And, for everyone who remembers the broken toe incident, this is the docile dog that tripped me!

The Fear of Leaving

You know when I first got offered the chance to go to Graduate School, I was firmly settled in a career that I loved and didn't have any real idea about going to school. In fact, the school needed me to get everything together for admittance in less than a month. This seemed like an impossible feat, and I really wasn't sure I wanted to put myself through all that hassle, but the truth is that although there were a lot of reasons to go to school, I took this opportunity because of the internship. This internship is the fulfilment of not only my live's dream, but also of my abuelita Ivonne's that her grandchild, (really her favorite grandchild!), her polla bella would have the opportunity to visit her home country, Nicaragua. For me, this trip is a great opportunity not only to fulfill this dream, but a great chance to meet relatives that I haven't seen since I was a little baby, all while doing some really worthwile work that benefits the children in Nicaragua.

So, you might be asking yourself, "If she's so excited, why is this called the fear of leaving?" Well, it hit me today when my last classmate took off for their internship, that we really are going out into the world, on our own, surviving in a foreign country, and completing projects under the force of our own ability with no one else to depend on. This is a pretty scary concept considering we have spent the last two semesters (almost a year) working in some form of team or another. Even now I think this concept hasn't fully settled in my head. 3 months of aloneness! Wow. What will I do? You know, I am sure that I will figure it out, but right now, I am still kind of freaking out. So I figure I will go with that. Freaking out sounds like a plan right now. When that changes (hopefully before I leave on the plane, or at least by the time I land) I'll let you know what the next plan is, but right now, pretty much, I am sticking by the freaking out plan.

ttfn