Buses and other vehicles

Elizabeth's version on bus rides. This weekend we went to Leon on what we thought was an expresso bus. At the bus terminal we saw 30 some odd people come on the bus and try to sell stuff to us. Mostly food, pirated movies which we don't think is illegal in Nicaragua but we don't know. Also we saw flashlights for sale and stuff like that. It was really like a mall that was coming to you.



What we thought was an expresso bus stopped alot and when I say alot I mean alot. On our ride we saw lots of loose cattle and volcanoes.






In Leon we saw some interesting vehicles. Here are some examples:












On the way back we tried to get on an expresso van but there were none going to Managua left. So we tried to find an expresso bus but there were none of those left either. Then a chicken bus came which mom was lined up for. Then everyone rushed and ran onto the bus, so much for the line. Dad told us to get in through the back of the bus.

In Canada you would have to buy a ticket but in Nicaragua you don't. Once the bus is moving a person comes through the crowd and gets the money from you. It is very cheap here to ride a bus. Chicken bus's are old school bus's not real bus's like we have back home. Some of them would not be allowed on the roads.

Dad tried to clarify that we were going to a certain stop in Managua. The person there said we were but really he was just saying yes and nodding his head. We got off at a different stop than we thought we were suppose to. Thankfully an amigo Miguel our taxi driver was available to come and get his son Miguelito to pick us up. A family helped us call and explain where we were.

San Juan del Sur-school, family, bus ride

We all graduated from language school but we're not sure with how much additional Spanish. Hopefully it will click and we can help each other out. We are grateful for the patient teachers and hope for more patient informal teachers along the way.

Our host family consisted of Susanna the mother and head of the family. Her son William his wife and two children. Along with two other girls who live with the family. We never did figure out their relationship to the family.

Glenda a family friend would put up a stand each night selling, were not exactly sure, refresca (drinks) and some sort of fried plantain with a topping that resembled coleslaw. We didn't try it.

Good bye to San Juan del Sur and all the people we have met there. Our language school was in the second storey of the directors house. Right next to the Pali which is a local grocery store.

Our bus ride to Managua was an adventure. We caught the wrong blue bus direc to Managua. Ours stopped about 15 times and for the first 20 minutes we were standing squished in to a very full bus. We saw the nicer two colour blue bus whiz past us with a bathroom on board. Which Elizabeth would have loved because she had to pee 5 minutes into our two hour trip. In the end we got seats, and it only cost us about $3 per person.

Managua

Managua has been an adjustment with our transition here. Much less freedom and many more warnings regarding safety. Nehemiah Centre is lovely and secure but strange to see armed security guards on the compound.



Tesoros is celebrating Santo Domingo at the school with parties all week. This is fun, confusing and a little hard to know where to help. The parents are very nice and smile and try to communicate with us but our lack of Spanish gets in the way. Michelle the director there has been great with helping. Next week she is away to South America. Another volunteer Derek has better Spanish so he can help us translate.

The boys are working on a metal ramp for use with the horses. Jeremiah is putting his welding skills to use.

We can't walk very far for safety reasons so we need to hire a mototaxi or a taxi to get to places. We fit all 5 of us in the back of this little mototaxi. By Nicaraguan standards that is not impressive. We stumbled on to the end of the horse parade on Aug.10 for the Santo Domingo celebrations. We watched from our restaurant. On our return home we saw about 30 people load into the back of a truck. They were stopped but only to check for insurance and then off they went. People hanging off the sides holding onto the railings.

Miguel the taxi driver we have is excellent and very accomodating. He is most understanding of our lack of Spanish. We didn't think our language teachers had a lot of english but by comparison we realize how much they did. Certainly more than our little Spanish.

Last night we went out for dinner and spent the most so far not realizing we were talking American dollars on the menu not cordobas. Our salads cost us $10 each. We went to the movies and saw a movie in English with Spanish subtitles. Elizabeth said it didn't feel like we were in Nicaragua last night.

Please pray for this part of our journey. Safety, a sense of security for the kids and knowing that what ever part we play makes a difference.

Village living outside of San Juan del sur

These are the smart people of the village right here. they know that it is freakishly hot so they go down into the river to wash their clothes instead of sweating their butts off doing some labor intensive work.


Sarah was happy to pose for us. Probably happy that she isn't mowing the lawn with a knife (machate) instead, or thats what I would be thinking

This is ''the lady on the hill'' as I call her because I forgot her name. It is very hot, on a hill, no electricity, and no running water, let's not forget the sweaty hike up the hill it takes to get there and that is how they have to bring everything in. She had 10 children by the time she was 28 years old.

That's her hut/house (I have no idea what to call it) where she cooks and she has another one that I'm not sure what she uses it for. It had like zero ventalation and was really smokey. No trees around for shade either so extremely hot.

That is mom pretending she would be even remotely competent with nothing but a makeshift stove and whatever they had to cook (probably rice and beans)

That is a families house, no nothing just something to call home. Our shed in the backyard is bigger than many of the houses. This is the worst poverty we have seen.

Submission by Emma.

catching up and surfing

Well I think all the sun and beaches are catching up to us. Myself, Jeremiah and Doug have all had a some intestional issues. Glad that I packed Imodium.

Friday night we went to a nice hotel in the hills for happy hour, ordered frozen chocolate milk(different than a milk shake but delicious) and swam in chlorine. You long for chlorine after so much salt water.

Despite feeling less than stellar we went to the beach for the surfing lessons we booked. I opted to be the photographer for the day. Everyone got up at some point but lets just say surfing is harder than the pro's make it look.

spanish school, zip lining and more

The sign across the way is a nice way to find where our homestay is. For those of you who know my sense of direction that is obviously a good thing. You see all kinds of wagons with horses and oxen. Motorcycles with the driver wearing a helmet which could be a baseball helmet. Passengers never seem to wear helmets unless they are from somewhere else.

Today in language school we learned how to say what our profession is. "Mi es professora da yoga" but yoga sounds like joga. So at break time the instructors did "joga" a little with me. More to come. I gave my instructor homework to look up some words for me with yoga.

This afternoon we went zip lining and although fun went by very quickly. Beautiful "bonita" views of San Juan Del Sur. Elizabeth was too light to do the ziplining herself so she rode with one of the guides.







We have done lots of walking and exploring of the town. I'm still trying to get used to all the men checking Emma out. Our tall blonde hair blue eyed beauty certainly stands out. We have also learned that with your bank card you can only use an ATM not the bank teller and can only take out so much a day. To "pagar" emphasis on the ah sound is to pay to pagar emphasis on an a sound is to punch someone. Pronunciation is muey importante. So tomorrow we hope to take out enough to finally pay our language school. In Canada we would not pick up someone from the airport, have them take two days of language school and a homestay with all their meals. Book a ziplining canopy tour and not be paid yet. Nicaraguans so far are friendly and very gracious. Although they do think our familia is full of tramposas which translates to "cheaters". We all like to cheat with our notes in Spanish class.

Not all beaches are created equal.

Day 2 in the back of a truck on route to the Playa with our classmate Sarah. No seat belts of course.

Kids taking a break from the big waves at Remanso beach.

Doug helping Elizabeth surf a log.

After the morning of language school we were rewarded with a delicious lunch and a ride out to a local beach, Remanso

beach is renowed for surfing. It was very rocky and for us not surfing a little challenging with the big waves. We still took in the scenary avoided high tide waves crashing onto our towels, and almost sweeping away a camera case and glasses. It was amazing to watch the surfers navigate the waves. Tonight after dinner we walked along the beach in San Juan del Sur itself. It is a gentler beach with the waves and a beautiful sandy beach line. Next time we will know.

Horns and High beams

We have arrived safely in San Juan del Sur with a loco ride from Managua. We were greeted by someone from Tesoros to pick up supplies. Two people from the language school and many children trying to sell grass shaped beautifully into flowers. They give them to you and then ask to be paid, or in Jeremiah's case to trade for his hat. No sales were made.

When we got into the vehicle we noticed we were one seatbelt short and very full with all our bags. So our journey began going very fast and avoiding bikes, motorcycles, and assorted vehicles loaded with everything including a horse. Our concerns about seatbelts were quickly overshadowed by the stroller with the baby inside in the back of a truck. We learned on our ride that horns and high beams are used liberally to watch for oncoming bikes, pedestrians and slower motorcycles with no lights. We were very grateful to stop part way to get something to eat and have a break from our rapido ride.

In the restaurant we used our very little Spanish to order en salada and some polo sandwiches. Some girls were celebrating a birthday and took pictures while giggling at Jeremiah.

We arrived at our familia casa very tired and full of images from our ride down. There is much to process. We went to bed 8:30 Nicaragua time. We had been up since 5:30am Canada time and flying, driving all day. It was 10:30pm Canadian time. On the ceilings in our rooms are fans that circulate and make sleeping easier. The temperature is pretty comparable to what we have in Canada with a little less humidity and more rain.

loaves and fishes and Dukoral shots

So for the yoga fundraiser at Parkwood I had in mind 100 people so that we could raise $1000 (100 people X $10 a person). Prayed about this and left it with God. Well I didn't have 100 physical people on the lawn but many made donations that were not in attendace. So I will call them honorary attendees. Despite having just under 30 people in attendance physically we raised $980.

It reminded me of the accounts of what Jesus did with loaves and fishes supplying enough for everyone in Luke Chapter 9 and there being extra left over. We have enough in our world for everyone it's about distribution and inequity. Trying to turn in my fish and bread when it is asked of me. I'm thinking $20 or more is still out there somewhere.



The other scripture that came to mind was from Revelation 3:15-17(NIV)
"I know your deeds,that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say,‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." This scripture because of the context of that although in North America we have wealth we are poor in many ways. Those in Nicaragua may not be wealthy by North American standards but are richer in other ways. Our cultures are different but not less valueable than the other. There are ways we can be interdependent and learn and share with each other.

The other reason this scripture came to mind is that when Elizabeth had her Dukoral shot she literally spit it from her mouth. All caught on video thanks to modern technology and less than compassionate siblings.

Majority Church

Last Thursday we had our orientation with CRWM (Christian Reformed World Missions). Lots to think about and still doing reading to get prepared. Spanish is not being acquired as quickly as I had hoped. Once in Nicaragua the exposure will increase the amount we learn to speak by necessity/necesito alone.

One book I'm reading is, Serving with Eyes Wide Open-doing short term missions with cultural intelligence by David A. Livermore. He talks about the majority church. A "typical" Christian may not fit the profile you first think of. The vast majority are *young *nonwhite *poor *theologically conservative and female.

"The western church is not the trendsetting center of Christianity" to quote David. None of the 50 largest churches in the world are found in North America. On average 35,000 conversions occur in Latin America daily. Todays estimates are over 480 million Christians in Latin America alone.

So again we are reminded to go with the idea of soaking in what God is doing in Nicaragua and learning from these experiences. Gaining understanding, encouragement and being challenged by those in the majority.

Just stuff

On Saturday we had a yard sale to fundraise for our trip. We made just over $260 selling mostly toys and stuff that won't be missed. I might regret selling the leggo (I hesitated on that one) but for the most part no polly pockets means way less clean up. Plus Doug admitted to having previously vacuumed up shoes. No wonder they could never find a match.

This got me thinking how does that money relate to a person living in Nicaragua? According to the congressional records from August 2010 the average monthly wage in Nicaragua for 2009 was $298.70. What takes someone a month to make in Nicaragua we almost made in a yard sale.

Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America. I know that all the money we raise will make a real difference. Our next fundraiser is July 10 at 2pm-3pm at Parkwood Estate. An hour of yoga with a minimum $10 donation all proceeds to the people of Nicaragua. If coming please bring a mat and park at the O'Neil school or Lakeridge Health Oshawa.

In the meantime our house is clearer of stuff that we no longer need and won't miss.

Tickets booked

With much back and forth and figuring out we have our tickets booked for Nicaragua. Leaving the beginning of August, and return from Nicaragua at the end of the month (spend a few days in Chicago) back to Canada a few days before school starts. Now I know why they start selling school supplies in July.

We will take off from Toronto in the morning and arrive in Managua the capital city of Nicaragua 11 hours later. From the airport we are getting picked up and driven to the language school we will be attending. It is a 2 hour drive south and the sun will still be up so we should get our first look at the country if we are still awake.


Thanks to those watching the house and dog while we are away. Meeko and the rest of us appreciate it.

Below is a site we have done lots of exploring on.

http://www.nicaragua.com/

Skype- Nicaragua

I just Skyped Nicaragua and talked with the Director of Tesoros de Dios about our volunteer time there. Doug's mad shelf building skills will come to good use. They want a portable sound system (some fundraising for that item). The staff would like me to teach yoga classes on the lunch break. Helping with the kids and interacting with their families. Found out our first day there is a holiday of sorts around a festival. Drunk horses and drunk men in a parade described as a "cultural experience". We may skip the parade.

Nic of time

Restarting our blog which we haven't used in a few years to talk about our upcoming trip to Nicaragua. We plan to be gone for the month of August. A family adventure, exploring Nicaragua and the beautiful people that live there. Learn a little Spanish and maybe a little surfing. We will do some volunteering with www.tesorosdedios.org .

Lake side on Sunday

The water was warm but the air was cool. We still enjoyed some time on the boat. Along with spotting a water snake, after getting out of the water.