Business as usual

When we last posted, we were in Matagalpa with Ali and his awesome family. We bought them some Christmas goodies and would love to go back sometime soon!

We then made our way back to San Juan del Sur for 10 days over Christmas. We met a cool couple from Vancouver and went out for supper with them on Christmas Eve. They are interested in buying some land in Nicaragua and we had a good conversation about starting a business of our own in Central America some time. After, we enjoyed a interesting fireworks display outside the cathedral in the middle of town. Basically it was a bunch of kids and a few adults helping to light some huge fireworks, and the spectators could stand as close as they wanted. One big one blew up on the ground before it had a chance to shoot into the sky...it was awesome! For all of December, in Managua there are rows of kiosks along some of the main roads completely full of firecrackers and fireworks. After Christmas, New Years or their various Catholic celebrations, the streets are covered in exploded paper from the night of festivities. It's the place to be!

After tanning and surfing, we went to Managua to visit Wilbur (Corwin's son). We ate some fried chicken, went to see his home in a dangerous area of town, bought his family some groceries and enjoyed being able to speak English with him. We wanted to watch his soccer practice, but he said it wasn't a safe area for us to be. It was a short visit but Danee was glad to meet him (it kind of felt like I was meeting a celebrity!) and Grant was happy to see him again after a couple years.

From there we went to El Salvador and spent a week on the beach at Playa El Zonte. We stayed at an awesome hostal and only managed to get a little bit of surfing in. We sunned ourselves by the pool and on the beach, checked out some bat caves on the beach and one day were interviewed for an El Salvador tourism tv show. We had just crawled out of our room after napping and went into the kitchen to make some "gourmet" grilled cheese and hot dogs. A camera crew was there and asked if they could film us, although we probably looked like the greasiest hotel guests EVER (and Danee's blond hair turned a lovely shade of green because of the chemicals in the pool). So they filmed the green, greasy, hungry hippies making and eating some junk food. Good publicity. We thought we were relieved of our duties, but as we were attempting to escape to the beach, they asked if they could interview us...in Spanish. We told them we could only say a few words but that was good enough for them. After a few jumbled sentences, they decided to write out a script for us and we just read it into the camera. We actually got to see it on tv a few days later and laughed throughout the whole segment. They are going to try and send us a copy of the tv show on a cd in a couple months. We are now famous.

In San Salvador, we feasted on a Little Caesars large hot'n ready for $4.50 and went to a new movie at a big theatre for $6- an awesome cheap date. We also passed 3 Tony Romas restraunts in one day. Weird. We then took a extremely over air-conditioned bus to Guatemala City. When we got off the bus, it was even colder: about 10 degrees. We went to San Jacinto, Chiquimula, to the Songs of Joy kids home. We stayed for a week, playing with the kids and doing some cleaning. We cleaned some classrooms in the school and cleaned and completely organized the supply room. Never before have we seen so many pencils at one time. They had the largest Rubbermade container (with wheels) packed full of pencils and two more slightly smaller containers filled with pencils. Grant shared a huge lemon with some of the boys. It was the size of a grapefruit.

We are now in Antigua, Guatemala and are going to the market to do a little fruit and veggie and cowboy hat shopping!

Surfs, Visits and "teta"

We ended up having a fun time in San Juan del Sur. The second hostel we stayed at was a little run-down, but it was good enough for 2 tired beach bums. We tried surfing, but our boards were too long for the very large waves (we got slaughtered!). We asked the rental guy if 7ft would be ideal, but he gave us 7'7 boards when basically everyone out surfing was using a 5 or 6ft board! We still managed to ride a few waves in but we'll know for next time. Food is very cheap in Nicaragua. A big plate of delicious fries at a restraunt right on the beach costs $2.50 and beer that night was $0.75.

We travelled to Managua and stayed in a great hostel while we visited our sponsor kids with Compassion. The first day we met our little boy Norwing and his family. He lives with his mom and sister and his dad left when he was less than one year old. At first he was shy, but by the end of the day he was talking to us and was eager to show us around his home and wanted to know when we would come back. His mom doesn't work much but she sometimes does laundry for a little money. It is really hard to find a job. We took Norwing, his mom and their pastor out for lunch and bought the family some rice, beans, oil and bag of marbles for Norwing. Grant and Norwing played a few games, but Norwing won every time.

Norwing's mother was very excited that we could come. She would cry when she spoke because she was so happy that we were supporting their family and was thanking God that He was taking care of them. Within the few hours we were there, we could tell she was a very loving mother and only wanted what was best for her kids. She bragged about little Norwing for quite some time but it was all true! This little boy is only 5 years old but he is an EXTREMELY bright kid! His mother also informed us that he is in love with every girl that he meets- a ladies man at the age of 5!

In the area Norwing lives in, there are about 120 children that go to the Compassion Project. At the "project" they learn bible stories and memorize verses, they have birthday parties, they get Christmas gifts and receive a backpack with school supplies every January that they are in school, the kids have various evaluations, the Compassion staff visit the houses of the children, and they get medical check-ups.

The next day, we went to visit Maria and her family. Her grandma takes care of Maria and her 11-month-old brother during the day. Maria also has 2 older sisters, a mom and a step dad. Her step dad is a taxi driver and on average makes $3 a day (and supports 7 people on that salary). Maria loves to draw and colour and is very good at it. Maria and her sister sang for us, although Maria was very shy. They have a tiny house made out of some sheet metal and black plastic (it's like vapour barrier). Maria is only 4 years old so she isn't in school yet. We took them to Tip Top for lunch, a fast food restraunt that has fried chicken and a indoor play structure. We climbed around with Maria and her sister and had fun getting stuck on the sweaty slide. We also bought their family some rice, beans, oil, deoderant for the mom and some baby shampoo. In the area Maria lives in, there are about 250 children that are involved with the Compassion project, but not all are sponsored. There are still many kids in the area that need to be sponsored.

At both visits, we were very encouraged to continue our sponsorship. The Compassion worker that took us to both visits said that there are only about 50 sponsor visits a year. She also told us that many sponsors have pulled out due to the recession in the US. The children that lose their sponsor continue to visit the project in their area and the staff try and get them a sponsor as soon as they can. Especially during our visit to Maria's home, it seems like our support is so insignificant because it is only $1 a day. But the kids are very excited just to get letters from their sponsors and if anything we can just pray for them!

On Friday, we left for Matagalpa to visit Grant's friend Ali (named after Muhammed Ali because his grampa liked him). He is an awesome guy who loves music and loves Jesus. His dad is a pastor at their church and his mom makes delicious Nicaraguan food (and gives us lots of it). They are a wonderful family!! Ali has a great sense of humour even though he isn't completely bilingual. On Saturday, there was an ourtreach ministry for about 1000 old people. Some pastors from Puerto Rico are supporting a home to be built for old men and women who don't have families or any way to take care of themselves. (We also have a personal invite to Puerto Rico whenever we want! Yay more travels!) Everyone was served food and watered down Fanta and the old people dragged home a large care-package full of food, treats and toiletries. We had seats with the Special Guests at the front facing everyone and were introduced to the whole crowd. Later in the day, we went into town and bought an English/Spanish dictionary and took Ali out for pizza. Grant and Ali went over the important vocabulary that all guys need to know. Danee calls it the "matrimonio" vocabulary.

This last week, people have been very helpful and expecially in Matagalpa people have been extremely friendly and welcoming! We are treated like royalty at this home!

More adventures

We made it to Nicaragua, after 2 buses and 3 hours at the border. Exiting Costa Rica is the most retarded thing to ever do. There are only a few dudes working at the offices, and even though we waited in line for hours, when we got to the customs building, another 50-100 people got off some buses and pushed in beside us. Everyone in line was pissed!!! There are no signs anywhere of where to go or what you need for the customs officials. None of the border police speak english. We found a tour guide and asked if we needed customs forms and he said "oh, nobody gave you one?!" That was 10 minutes before we went through customs. We walked over to the Nicaragua side where the entry customs official charged us $5 more than he should have (we found out later) then got on "the only bus" for $20 to drive to Rivas. The bus was actually really nice- comfortable seats and a/c. In Rivas, we were planning on taking a bus to San Juan del Sur but again there were "no more buses" even though it was only 3 in the afternoon and the bus from Rivas to SJdS is only 45mins. The taxi driver offered us a ride for $50, but quickly dropped his price to $10...shifty little buggers. Despite the OBVIOUS dishonesty, we took the taxi anyways and found a place to stay for the night. It was $14 with no fan, no a/c, no garbage in the room, shared bathrooms and a little kitchen to use at night. Tonight we are going to another place with a/c, t.v. for $20 a night, we'll see if it is any better.

So we've entered the country of dishonesty...especially when the first 3 people you meet try to rip you off (and succeed at it). Not impressed.

But the past week has been fun. We went to Manuel Antonio for 2 nights and walked around and swam at the national park there. The monkeys and racoons are the biggest threat at the beach because they will steal your bags (almost happened to us!). It was incredibly humid but the ocean was refreshing and lots of fun to swim in! From there we went to Liberia and stayed the night (unfortunately in a very buggy hostel that lost our reservation) because we didn't think we would make the drive in one day. Early the next morning, we bused to Playa Tamarindo and stayed for 2 nights. We were the only people at the hostel we stayed at which wasn't bad-off the main road, a/c and a kitchen. We tried surfing the one day but the waves were inconsistent and would break really close to the beach. Not ideal conditions. We had some delicious, cheap tamales for breakfast and for supper shared a plate of fries, bean dip and a plate of some fried appetizers for only $10! Great deal, we were so full after!

Tomorrow we hope to bus out to a surf beach because although San Juan del Sur is a "surf town," you still have to bus 30-120 minutes away to get to any good waves. We thought we would come here for Christmas, but every hostel we ask doesn't know what the prices are 3 weeks in advance. Quality service. Apparently prices double, but who really knows! Every day is a new advneture...

The Send Off

So from here is basically where we start our travelling section of the trip.  We said 'bye' to the moms and kids at Casa Luz on Saturday night after baking and decorating some sugar cookies (they ate them, the ones for the hotel staff are to be made later). We managed to paint a good portion of the entrance way at Casa Luz last week and it looks much better. The staff moved into their new offices (unfortunately we forgot to take some finished pictures) and the little daughter of our neighbour in the appartment below us couldn't stop crying when we were leaving Saturday night. It's sad for the kids when people are always coming and going from their lives.

Yesterday we went on an amazing tour to a coffee farm, a volcano and waterfall gardens. At Doka, the coffee plantation, we had breakfast and a very informative tour. We also learned the meaning of the hotel name, Grano de Oro. "Grains of Gold" is what they called the unroasted coffee beans that they shipped to Europe in the 1800's. Many of the beans were red and ripe because it is the beginning of the coffee harvesting season.

From there we went to Parque National Volcan Poas and walked up to view the sufuric acid lagoon in the volcano. The second lagoon was not visible due to the clouds. We tasted some coffee liquor then travelled to La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

The drive up was spectacular: cala lilies growing on the side of the road, lush, green pasture land and gigantic hydrangea growing in abundance (different shades of pink, purple, blue, green and white!!). When toured around La Paz, we saw tropical birds, butterflies, monkeys, Costa Rican wild cats, hummingbirds, snakes and frogs, all within a beautiful garden setting. We had a buffet lunch and walked to 2 waterfalls. There was an earthquake in the area last January which ruined some of the paths and one of the waterfalls (there used to be 5 waterfalls to see). It was a very fun day!

Today we are heading south to Manuel Antonio, another national park on the coast. After a few days we will go north to Playa Tamarindo then into Nicaragua! We fully enjoyed our time at Casa Luz and were a little sad to go, but we are also excited to relax a little after working 6 days a week for 4 weeks!

One More Week at Casa Luz

After surviving our short illness, we were able to finish the offices and install all the new cabinets in the girls' living areas. They were very excited to get the cabinets and were eager to organize all their things. The cabinets make the rooms look a lot cleaner and less crowded. We also had time this week to paint the classroom.

Since we worked from Monday to today (Sunday) we are taking tomorrow off to go into San Jose and hang out. For the rest of the week, we'll clean up the offices and help the staff move in to their new area and we will start (and hopefully finish) renovating the front sitting area of Casa Luz. On Saturday, we will help the girls bake (and maybe decorate) some Chirstmas cookies for the hotel staff party in December. We don't really have a plan after that, we'll see what happens!

SICK!

Yes it's true and unfortunate...Grant's 10 hours and Danee's 6 hours of constant bucket&toilet use. The water had been off since Saturday and eventually came back on last night (Thursday). We were getting all our water from a big water truck that came to the community, which probably wasn't the cleanest. Apparently some of the kids were kinda sick too (one girl had a high fever), but we were sick in our appartment from Wednesday until this morning (still have some funky stomach stuff but not as bad as before!!). We probably lost a combined total of 20 pounds in 1/2 a day. Today we are putting together some shelving units for the moms to store some of their clothes and linens in. Just thought we'd update you on the sickness, which hopefully we won't have to endure in every country!!

Rice and Beans

The Cooke`s weren`t kidding when they said "hope you like rice and beans, they have it like every meal."  We`ve been eating rice and beans here for almost a week and figure by the time we leave Casa Luz, we will each have eaten about 84 helpings of the lovely stuff (not including the days Grant goes for seconds). The food is actually really good and we don`t see ourselves getting sick of it any time soon. The wonderful cook Fanny also mentioned that she wants a man "exactly" like Grant because he cleared the dishes off the table.

We are starting to understand and remember a few words in Spanish. Mainly the girls just talk to us and we figure out about half of the conversation. They are all very patient with us, which is nice!

We are staying in an appartment across the street from Casa Luz that was built for when the girls no longer need the 24 hour care from Casa Luz. There are 4 appartments at the moment, which can hold 8 families. They are then able to cook their own meals and must have a job because they pay for the utilities. Two days ago, one of the moms still at Casa Luz had a job interview at Taco Bell. Grant said if she gets the job we`ll eat there every day.  Then of course, we will have to move here...

At the moment, there are 2 families living in one of the appartment suites, a coule staff members in one suite and the daycare in one suite.  There are plans to build a large daycare at the front of the property which will give more space to include more children from the community. There is also enough land to build 2 more appartment buildings. The completed appartment building is a huge motivation for these girls because they see themselves living independently in the future. 

An important part of their rehabilitation is working with a psychiatrist all week. They are taught how to be good mothers and how to discipline their kids. This week they started giving smaller portions to the moms and offer a dance/excercise class on Saturdays because the moms were putting on too much weight.  There are 2 staff members ("house moms") that are with the families all the time. They work 7 days a week, then get 7 days off.  The girls also have their own school where the teacher comes to them. The highest education one mom has is grade nine and some have come without any education. It is obvious that the staff really care about the well being and the future of these moms! It is the best rehabilitation program we have ever seen.

This week we were converting the old daycare inside Casa Luz into offices for the director and psychiatrist. We took out the kitchen cabinets and sinks, touched up the walls with "pasta" (basically dry wall mud for concrete that doesn't sand off) and painted the walls with an irrisistable Salmon Pink. It looks more like a spunky palliative care room for old ladies. Tomorrow we will paint the other office light green. It looks like there will be lots of work for us to do while we are here. The classroom needs to be painted, some cabinets need to be assembled and installed, ceiling fans need to be installed, the soil infront of the daycare needs weeding and flower planting and there is always more patching and painting that could be done.

Many of the moms are outgoing and ask us if we want to go for a walk with them or ask if they can help us paint. They bring salsa l'izano to us for our rice and beans (a tasty cumin-mustard-like sauce). There is one mom that we haven't seen smile yet, but it's probably hard for her, being 15 years old and having 2 kids.

It's time for merienda (an afternoon snack). We will try and take some pictures and upload them soon!
Adios!