Empaquetadora de Sal

Hopefully you all watched our video that we posted a couple weeks ago, if not, watch it now!

http://www.indiegogo.com/water-for-el-tamarindo

We successfully raised $1800. That's $200 more than our goal. Go team! Then we got even more good news, a member of one of the volunteer's family wanted to MATCH our goal. Match. So we have $3400 to get as many needy people clean water as possible! That's approximately 100-120 filters.

Our fantastic project leads, Julia Darley and Marcie Prince, got to work. They organized a general community meeting where they solicited help in inviting all 400 families in the community to one of two workshops. One on Wednesday afternoon. And one Friday morning.

We got support from the local nurse, and she agreed to teach the workshop about water-born illnesses and proper water purification. Then at these workshops, the people would fill out a survey and then receive their voucher for a water filter. We're ordering the filters Monday and handing them out Wednesday!

Together with the community members from the general meeting we passed out fliers to as many people as we could and we put posters up on nearly every corner.

Then on Wednesday we had a grand total of 22 people at our meeting.

Salome, the leader of Mpowering People, our partner, is in the blue polo towards the left. The nurse is in the white shirt and black skirt, standing in front of everyone.

This kid played with us before the meeting. We played various varieties of catch with a plastic bag filled with sand and rocks. Life doesn't need to be complicated.

The poster says "Agua Segura" or Safe Water.

This is one of the volunteers from the General meeting helping this woman fill out her survey.

 We had fun trying to get a good picture of this boy smiling!

Enter Parental Authority, Stage Left.

 Overall, the meeting went well. But we were a little disappointed with the turn-out. But we still had Friday!

The grand total of people at our Friday meeting: 2.

But, we decided to commandeer a meeting of preschool parents, which boosted our numbers up to 16!

Workshop, Take 2!

This is a little boy, whose family will be receiving a filter next Wednesday!

But still. We have enough money for 100-120 filters. And we have not even 40 families who even want them? It didn't seem right. There is definitely a need, and we have a solution! We were confused, disappointed, and frustrated.

And then a teacher approached us. She said that some community members had asked her if someone else could fill out the survey for them, because they couldn't attend either meeting. It's really important for us that they come to one of these meetings, that way, not only do they get a filter, but extra education on water purification. So we asked why they couldn't go. Her answer was, it's salt packaging season.

The majority of the people in Tamarindo work packaging salt. But only when it's in season. When there's no salt, there's no work. So, when there is salt, it's crucial that they go to work every day they can. Not only so they can hopefully save some money, but also because if they miss one day of work, they lose their job. They often work from 9 in the morning until late in the evening, Monday through Saturday. And so none of the salt packaging workers had been able to attend either meeting.

But would they have, if they had the opportunity? We had no idea. And so, we visited one packaging place with Salome. Luckily, their boss wasn't around so we were able to at least talk to them while they continued packaging salt.

And they were all interested... So we continued with our presentation: Take 3!

I had an awesome video, but it's not letting me upload it- so yay for screen shots!

And then they all  wanted to fill out the surveys. But they couldn't stop working or else they would get behind. So Salome went around and individually helped them fill our their surveys. And Julia and I watched them package more and more salt... and we got more and more worried that we might be making them fall behind. So we decided to help.

We're pretty sure that our help just put them more behind. They know what they're doing. But we were able to chat, joke, and laugh with them. If the only reason I came to Nicaragua was to put a smile on faces of the workers in a tinsy salt packaging plant for one day- then this trip was worth it.

Plus, now I can package salt like a boss....


And we've planned another workshop/survey session for this coming Sunday. That way, all of the salt workers can come, and we won't get put behind schedule and we can still get the whole community their filters by Wednesday. And the workers' boss stopped by... and she wants a filter to keep in the packaging plant for the workers to use.

:)

Make the foreigners pay $2 to get in, cover their faces with mud, and parade them through our town...

"Natural Springs" That's what Jorge told us. Jorge is our Nicaraguan friend that drives us to a good number of our projects. And last weekend, he wanted to just hang out with us, and visit some "natural springs" near León.


So, we agreed. And Saturday afternoon we were all ready. Swimsuits on and towels in our arms we climbed into the back of Jorge's pickup truck. We drove for about 30 mins, enjoying the natural Nicaraguan fauna and flora pictured below:

When we got out, we were surrounded by a bunch of kids from the community, shoving clay pots and candle holders in our faces saying, "Doña, for you!" We politely refused, knowing that later they would expect payment. Then we grudgingly paid the entrance fee (FORTY-FIVE CORDOBA! That's like... $2.... Ok, I guess it wasn't that bad). The kids followed us all the way down the path until we got to the natural springs. Right before the springs were in view, one of the kids warned me, "que no pases dónde no voy yo, hay agua muy caliente, very hot, de cien grados o más" or in other [English] words, "don't go where I don't go, there's really hot water, very hot, 100 degrees or more."

100 degrees Celsius... That's boiling... What kind of natural spring is this?!

Sure enough, and we rounded the corner, we were not greeted with what we had imagined, namely, a tropical paradise with turquoise water and preferably even some colorful little fishes. Instead, we saw a large area of dirt, about the size of two soccer fields. And spread out throughout this area were little steaming ponds of boiling mud.

And so our little group of gringos wandered around all these little boiling mud holes in our bathing suits, towels in our arms, feeling like the stupidest foreigners in the entire world.

This is a video of our situation, taken by Charlie "el chino"

In this picture, Megan's facial expression captures our emotions: (Megan is wearing purple and the ever-helpful Jorge is the Nicaraguan on the right)

Boiling mud, with the Volcano Santa Clara in the background.

  But it was still really cool, even the ground was super duper hot. And there were a bunch of these boiling mud ponds, so we wandered around them for awhile. One of the kids stuck a stick in and pulled out a giant glob of mud. He waited for it to cool down and then told us to put it on our faces. We chuckled and said no thanks. Then he said, "pero va a ponerle más be-you-teee-ful" or "but it will make you more beautiful." Eventually we caved, and let the 10 year old little boy put mud masks on us.

So we were getting ready to leave, thinking it was a rip off for 46 cordoba, when we realized that we had no way to wash off our faces. One of the other kids told me that there was a river "just over there" that we could wash off in. So we headed down the path...

For the following twenty minutes of walking, we taught the kids how to say "Are we there yet?" in English. We followed this path through the forest/jungle, through their town, and followed a dry riverbed for another little while. The kids swarmed around us running ahead to hide in the bushes and then try to scare us, and lagging behind to pick up some more pebbles for their slingshots.

Walking through their town was quite the experience. All eyes were on us. It was then that it occurred to us that these kids really had a nice set-up going on. Make the foreigners pay $2 to get in, cover their faces with mud, and parade them through our town...

Eventually we got to a giant cliff. Great. Make the foreigners pay $2 to get in, cover their faces with mud, and parade them through our town, and push them off a cliff.


But then the kids get us to take a closer look, and it wasn't a real cliff, it's just would be like a 95 degree, 100m ascent climbing from rock to rock. And down below there was a little pond and a river flowing from it.  Yay! Water! Yay! A half a dozen cows, bathing in our precious water...

But the children began scrambling down the face of the cliff thing. We told them we didn't want to go down, there were cows in the water. They insisted, so we followed. Remember that we all (except Marcie...) still had our faces covered in mud.

They explained that there was more water higher up that the cows weren't in... And there was. Hidden from our lookout at the top of the cliff, there were a couple of other pools of water. 


But where did this water come from? I'll tell you. It comes straight from the cliff thing. Oh ya, and the whole town happens to be at the base of the Volcano Santa Clara. So, the water that comes out of this cliff thing from heaven is warm. That's right folks. Warm water. And I had not felt warm water in over two months. 


So we were able to make use of our swim suits and towels, and of course, all the kids stripped down to their  underwear and jumped right in with us.

It was during this experience that I shared a mango with a Nicaraguan boy, who was wearing nothing but underwear, who shot said mango down from the tree with his slingshot, and I ate it while swimming in a natural hot spring in Nicaragua.

The team.

The team + The Nicaraguan kids that led us to this paradise.

And of course, there were some water fights:

Team Chela + Chino beat Team Nicaraguan boys.

Also, the boys dance in their underwear. But only to "Sexy and I know it"

And as we drove away, the sun was setting around the base of Santa Clara Volcano.

My life rocks.

How to: Celebrate the 4th of July in Nicaragua

A quick guide to celebrating our country's Independence Day in León, Nicaragua.

Step 1: Wake up at the normal time (around 6-630).
Step 2: Remember that today is the Fourth of July
Step 3: Plan your outfit for the day around the colors of red white and blue, and wish your American friends a happy Independence Day!
Step 4: Continue on with you day... paint the pediatric unit of a local hospital... meet with contractors about building a classroom for a rural school... go to the market... etc.
Step 5: At about 500 in the evening, remember again that it is the Fourth of July.
Step 6: Quickly throw together some decorations and slice some watermelon as a surprise for your English class
Step 7: Come home and make burgers and hot dogs.
Step 8: Eat said burgers and hot dogs.
Step 9: Ask your neighbors how to ignite the dozen three-foot long fireworks that you bought from a sketchy pyrotechnic shop downtown...
Step 10: Light the fireworks in the middle of the street in front of your house.
Step 11: Sing the national anthem. Not only will this put you in a patriotic mood, but it will get everyone in the mood for music, which will lead to a dance party and salsa lessons with your neighbors.
Step 12: This step can be done in the United States just as well as it can be done in Nicaragua. Remember all the privileged that you have by living or being born in the US. Visit http://www.indiegogo.com/water-for-el-tamarindo and donate to our team's campaign to help this rural community get clean water!
Step 13: Pack for your weekend trip to Ometepe Island!

I'm Adopting

Okay, fine. Not really. But I want to. And I would adopt Mikel, this little boy that we work with at our Barriletes project. He has THE most adorable voice. He's perfect. So if you hear anything on the news about  a while girl in Leon kidnapping a child to try and bring him back to the US... it's probably me...

Also, last week we went and visited some families for our chicken coop project. I don't remember if I already explained how that works, but even if I did, my last blog post was a good two weeks ago (yikes!). So the plan is, we survey the community and pick ten of the neediest families. Then we give them tres gallinas y un gallo (3 hens and 1 rooster). Then, when they have baby chicks, they have to give 3 different pairs of one male and one female to the next 3 families on the list. We hope that this will A: Supplement the nutrition of these families with eggs and chicken. B: Supplement the income of these families by providing them with eggs they can sell. And C: Strengthen community relations and foster an environment of teamwork where the community can help lift itself out of poverty.

So here's pictures with the kids from the first family we surveyed. Rachel and I played that hanky panky bullfrog song hand slappy game with them. And yes, that is their home in the background.

And these are the kids from another family. Angelo, the two year old in the center, even helped me find my orejas (ears), my pies (feet), and my nariz (nose).

So what am I really doing?

Alrighty! Time to give my readers a quick run-down of all the projects that we're working on right now. I was going to try and include pictures, but that just takes so long that I'll just do a pure picture post next time!

English classes:
We teach beginning, intermediate, and advanced English classes. Beginning is by far our biggest class (around 50 people) so after I lecture for the first 20 mins or so, they divide into smaller groups of 12-15 with individual teachers and then I wander around asking any questions that they have that they don't know how to ask in English. This happens Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights for an hour. Sometimes it can be really frustrating, and sometimes I find myself teaching English with a Spanish accent, but it's also really awesome when we see our students out around town and they can yell, "Good afternoon!" to us.

Nuns:
Alright, I'll confess... I haven't been back to see those kids since Mother's day. But it's been super busy! Our plan is still to give some drug/tobacco awareness lessons and also give them some books to read for fun, not for school.

Soilets:
I think I've mentioned this before on the blog. But a soilet is basically a latinre, only unlike a latrine, it doesn't fill up. It's specifically engineered so that there's a little chamber filled with worms that eat all the human waste and turn it into dirt. So we're building one for a school in the community of Los Alpes. The only problem is that it's kind of complicated, and the instructions we have were written for engineers. But, we are still moving forward, and we think we'll be done sometime next week.

Hospital:
We're painting/patching up holes the pediatric wing of a local hospital. It's already painted, but it's painted really nasty colors and a lot of the paint has chipped off and there are holes in the walls, and where they have tile on the walls the tile is super dirty. So we started painting in one room today, and our plan is to knock out a room per week, and eventually they'll have a freshly painted 4th floor Pediatric wing!

Soccer Tournament:
We are running a little soccer tournament for two local communities: La Ceiba vs. El Tamarindo. The idea is that the kids can sign up to play in this tournament, but in order to play in the game, they have to attend a couple workshops on self-esteem, sex ed, domestic violence, etc. The preliminaries in La Ceiba start on Tuesday! The parents are a lot more competitive about this than we imagined. Our idea was just a couple little scrimmages, but they want us to measure out the field to official regulations. Are you serious? I just walked past three of them playing in the street with a bottle half filled with dirt for a ball. We will be fine if our field is a few feet shorter than international rules. Either way, we're excited! Oh! And the project is called G.O.L which stands for Ganar Otros Logros, which means something along the lines of "winning other achievements" because we'll be talking about not only success in soccer, but success in life. Deep, huh?

Tamarindo H2O:
Tamarindo, right on the edge of the river. A salt manufacturing rural town of Nicaragua... With no clean water source. They have two rivers, one that comes from the ocean, so it's way salty, and another "sweet water" river that is contaminated by the feces of the town upstream. They also have a well... but their so close to the ocean that the well water is also salty. So most people have to buy water every day from a giant truck that comes. It expensive, oh ya, and the inside of the truck is contaminated. Everyone who can't afford the water (about 20% of the population according to the local nurse) has to drink the salty well water. We're going to be holding a fundraiser to buy water filters for the families who can't afford to buy the contaminated truck water.

Orphanage:
There's a little orphanage-thing here in Leon that's run by a lady from Tennesse. They're all going through major medical problems or suffer from mental disabilities. The lady tries to do as much rehab with them as she can. We're going to try something called communication boards that worked pretty well for a team in El Salvador last year. It's basically a piece of paper with words written on it, but they found out that some of the kids that they thought were completely unaware of what was happening around them were not only able to understand, but they could also read and could point to words that they wanted to say.

Business Classes:
A guy from our team is going to start teaching basic business classes! And that's basically all I know about that project so far...

Ceiba school:
I saved this project for last, because it's the project that's stressing me out the most. The ninth grade of a rural school in La Ceiba meets outside because they don't have a classroom. So we're going to build them one. And to reduce costs and teach about recycling, we're going to build it out of plastic bottles. Ya. Its a really cool plan, actually. I'm still researching it, but basically you compact as much inorganic trash as you can into a bunch of plastic bottles. Then you take your cement frame, put chicken wire on either side, and fill the middle with all your bottles. Then you plaster cement over it and viola! A wall. So ya, the students at Ceiba are starting to gather all the trash and plastic bottles that they can find (there's a lot here in Nicaragua..)

So ya, that's a quick run down of all the projects that our team of 10 people is working on! So we stay pretty busy!

Spiders and Snakes and Scorpions (and pigs and chickens and goats and roosters and puppies and cows and piglets and butterflies and horses and inchworms and llamas AND lions and tigers... but no bears)! Oh. My.

Well my friends, this weekend has been quite the adventure!

Our plan was to take a bus for a bit, and then horseback ride the rest of the way to our cook's husbands finca or farm/ranch thing. Then we were going to stay the night and help milk the cows and stuff in the morning. We were all pretty excited as we packed our bags full of the weekend essentials. I didn't bring a backpack with me, so instead I got out my mini dufflebag and I just wore it like a backpack. (Yes, dad, the little blue one that you tried to talk me out of bringing because I wouldn't need it).

So we woke up around 530 Saturday morning and we met Frank at his house around 600. Before we left we told our neighbor, Miriam, where we were going. She insisted that I take a hat. So I borrowed her black cowboy hat that has "Espana" written on it. She also promised us that she would watch our house for us. Then we hopped on a bus and we were off! Except I was so tired! 530 is early. So a couple times I woke up with my head laying on the shoulder of a random Nica woman sitting next to me... I would apologize really quick and then she would laugh at me, and then I'd be dozing off again in a few minutes. So around 830 is when we got off this bus. So it ended up being a little bit longer than a two hour bus ride, and we are in the middle of nowhere. There is literally the road, trees, and two little snack shacks. And so then Frank starts talking around with the people and it turns out that we can't get the horses to ride up to his finca, we have to walk. Which is cool, I totally love hiking and the scenery was gorgeous. Everything was SO green. It was all so beautiful that I really couldn't bring myself to take a picture of it because I knew the picture wouldn't do it justice. Basically we hiked through a forest/jungle that looked like it was straight from a National Geographic magazine. Tons of canopies The butterflies were EVERYWHERE and they were huge.

So it took us 2 hours to hike the 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) all the way to the ranch. Along the way we passed by three young boys. Two of them carried sling shots and the third had a machete tied around his waist. I asked Frank how old he thought the boy was. Frank said probably 9 or 10. All I know is that that particular nine year old is already more BA than I could ever hope to be... So when we got there we found ourselves instantly surrounded by a swarm of chickens, puppies, and piglets. And Frank's cousins who live on the ranch sat quietly in their doorway and waved to us. We're not quite sure if they knew we were coming or not, and we're also not sure if we're the first white people they've ever seen, or at least talked to.

Our first activity was eating lunch. Tortillas, beans, rice, and goat cheese. A very typical lunch here. And when I say very typical, I mean that's exactly what they eat every single day for lunch.

Just outside of their house they have a little covering thing that they built themselves. It's probably 20 yards from the trees where they tie their horses, and 30 or so yards from where they keep their pigs, goats, and cows. It's supported by six beams made of logs and then the roof is sheets of tin. So our next activity was to hang up our hammocks where we would sleep that night, but pretty soon into that the Nicaraguans had to step in, un-do every knot we had tied, and show us how it should have been done. So pretty soon we had all our hammocks set up, and they noticed that a couple of them were right along the edge of their little shade structure thingy, and its the rainy season. So the men break out their machete's and start adding onto their awning. Within a couple hours they had doubled its size. Just for us. These people literally went out of their way to build a roof over our heads, and we were complete strangers. It was a really touching act of kindness.

But then we didn't know what to do next... I offered to help a 13 or so year old girl while she was cleaning, her one word response was "no." ("No" actually means "no" in English as well, just in case none of you were aware). So we lounged around on our hammocks for a little while, and then a 9 year old girl named Giselda wanted to show us some llamas. A little side not about Giselda: her mouth is very full of spit, she stutters, and she speaks Spanish very fast. Those three elements combine into making her nearly impossible to understand. But we know that she wanted us to go with her. So we followed her up this steep little hill to the prettiest view I've probably ever seen in my life. We could barely make out a herd of llamas on a far away hill, and we just sat and enjoyed the view while trying to decipher what Giselda was telling us. She told us the exact boundaries of her dad's land... she told us about the neighbor who was abusive to his wife and then when the police came he stabbed one of them so now he's in jail...  she pointed out her school in the distance... apparently, they run home from school, but on their way to school they walk as slow as they can... she told us about the witch who cures people's sicknesses... she told us about how they had to build the fence right in front of us because some old lady fell down into the valley below and died... and she told us lots of other things that I didn't understand.

Eventually we went back to the house and it was time to pick out the chickens for our dinner. So they grabbed some chicken feed and poured it out in a line. Then all the chickens ran to eat, and with the feed being poured out into a line, the chickens conveniently formed a nice little line. While they were eating the Nicaraguans argued about which ones they wanted, and when they decided, they just snuck up behind them and grab them by the legs. They then took them into the kitchen and slaughtered them. And that was that.

So then they didn't let us help make dinner, so we just chatted in our hammocks while the sun started to go down. By the time we ate dinner it was completely dark. And there's no electricity except for one light bulb for their entire house, and flashlights. This actually worked to our advantage. Because we ate dinner in the dim light we couldn't really see what we were eating. And it was delicious! We could recognize the rice and the potatoes, and we knew the meat was chicken... but I'm pretty sure they didn't gut them all the way out. I got an A in Anatomy my senior year of high school, and I realize that doesn't make me an expert, but I'm fairly certain that there was still a liver and possibly a pancreas in my chicken. But, like I said, it was really dim, so that was great.

The family waited until after we were done eating to start eating, we felt so bad. But we're assuming that that's just a part of their culture or something. We chatted with them while we were eating, and they were waiting for us to eat, and apparently their family has been living on that finca since our cook's husband's uncle's great grandpa bought the land. So basically like 4 generations... I think. So while they ate we got ready for bed. Except most of us  decided to just sleep in the clothes we wore that day. And two of the girls came back from the latrine/bathroom, with reports of a scorpion being inside. They had photographic evidence, so I decided I was going to hold it. Scorpion sting or bladder infection? Defiantly the latter.

So we all crawled into our our hammocks, and Frank pointed out the silence. All you could hear was the river, the crickets, and the occasional cow or chicken. My hammock was the closest to the edge of the awning, so I was even able to see the stars. Then a puppy wandered nearby, and I scooped him up into my hammock with me. I translated some pillow talk between Frank and some other volunteers, and then Frank played some bachata music on his iPod. Sitting there, in the middle of rural Nicaragua, in a hammock, looking at the stars, listening to bachata, with a puppy falling asleep on my tummy, I was probably the most content I have ever felt in my entire life. I thought to myself, "This is probably going to be the best night of my life."

It totally wasn't.

We asked Frank what kind of nocturnal animals lived in this area, and he said there wasn't any thing that would hurt us. And that if their was, the dogs would protect us. So it wasn't really comforting to hear the dogs start barking like crazy every half hour or so. But eventually they quieted down. Then we heard shuffling on the roof of the awning, and Julia asked Frank what it was. He pulled out his flashlight and shined in on the roof from his hammock. He said it was probably just chickens, and then he let his flashlight wander a bit on the ceiling above us. Then his flashlight found a spider. This was not any spider. I feel like peoplel expect me to exaggerate the size of this spider, so I have to double exaggerate just so you guys understand how huge this thing was. It was easily the size of Rhode Island.... Ok, that was a bit much. But for real, no exaggeration, if it were to spread out its legs it would be a little bit bigger than a dinner plate. It could have easily eaten our faces off. But Frank's flashlight only paused for a second and he said, "no hace nada" or "he won't do anything." So I knew he wouldn't do anything... but I was too scared to ask what it could do.

Eventually we all drifted off, including Peluche the puppy (but I do remember thinking to myself, "if I get tics or fleas, I know exactly which puppy is responsible). Peluche would run in his sleep and then somehow his paws would always find my nose and then he would stop. And Peluche is not exactly a clean puppy haha. After a couple of hours though Peluche was done sleeping with me and he jumped out of my hammock. It was at this point that I realized a couple of things. 1. Puppies are warm. 2. It was cold outside... way colder than I have ever been in Nicaragua. 3. I did not plan accordingly for this cold. I had on long pants, but I was wearing short sleeves and didn't bring any warmer clothes with me. 4. The fetal position is pretty good for warmth. It is not so great for your back.

Needless to say, it was a very long night, for everyone. I was so happy when I woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing. Morning at last! I sat up and opened my eyes... And tried to open my eyes again. And tried again. And then I realized my eyes had been open, but it was still pitch-black outside. Apparently, roosters also crow when the the moon rises... and they continue to crow for the rest of the night.

Around probably 4 in the morning I woke up and a few of the other volunteers were awake as well. We agreed that it was the longest, worst night of our lives. Then we checked a watch and found out that it was only 2.

Did you guys know that you can totally get motion sick from sleeping in a hammock that won't stop rocking? You totally can. And it sucks.

After another hour or so (we checked the watch again around 3), I finally drifted off again. And the next time I woke up it was because Peluche was nipping at my foot through my hammock, and then he started wrestling his older brother right underneath my hammock. And then a few minutes later one of the sisters herded the families dozen or so goats right past my hammock and out to the pasture. It was 530 and their whole family was up and about. We watched them milk the cows and feed the chickens. They were fairly insistent that as their guests we should not lift a finger. So we packed up our hammocks and got ready to go.

But one of our team members who wasn't feeling well the night before was very sick this morning. She was definitely not going to be able to make the two hour trek out to the bus stop. We could wait for a truck, but it wouldn't come until around 3. So while Frank's aunt was making some herbal tea to help Rachel, Giselda grabbed Julia and I and she wanted to show us something. So we consented and we ended up hiking  up another hill, and then she told us about the little store that her friends family has...she showed us the river that they sometimes wash up in... she told us how the people there say that lions and tigers live in this jungle/forest... she told us that she's never seen them, but the people say that their there... she showed us her family garden... we met her friends from school... she showed us every plant and which ones you can't eat and which ones you could... and she explained that the people here don't like the bigger bananas because they have the bigger seeds, but we tried one and it was THE MOST delicious piece of fruit I have EVER had in my entire life.

Then by the time we got back the girl was almost ready to try and start walking back. We were almost ready to try and head out when one of the family members came up the road, wielding a machete and dragging something with a vine...

It was at this point that I wished I did not speak Spanish. I wish I didn't understand Giselda when she ran out of the house to go look at the vine-drug thing yelling, "Look! Look! He caught a rattlesnake!"

For those of you who even know me fairly well, you are probably aware that I have a phobia of snakes. So, as I do every time I see a snake, I started hyperventilating and crying. Full blown panic attack. Giselda tried to comfort me by telling me in Spanish that it was dead, don't worry. But it didn't matter. I hadn't even seen it, really. There was a bench blocking it. But I had heard Giselda announce it was a rattlesnake and I lost it. One of the other volunteers made me lay down and focus on breathing, while Megan, the other Country Director, explained that I've had some bad experiences with snakes. So the man drug it of to who knows where and eventually I calmed down. The good part was that it was probably one of the smallest snake panic attacks I've had. The bad part was that the snake was already dead, and I didn't even see it.

So there we were, a bunch of Americans, lounging in our hammocks day and night. One of us throwing up right and left. Another one having a panic attack. We were a hot mess. They brought out some fresh milk for us. We're pretty sure it was goats milk, but it had been sweetened by something, and it was hot. It was delicious.

Then we were informed that it was sweetened with coffee. So I drank coffee, on the Sabbath. Megan says we're all going to hell and she's going to tell our bishop on us... So we threatened to murder her right there like the chickens we ate for dinner. She dropped the subject.

The girl who was sick and half of the team started walking while we waited for some oranges that Frank wanted to take back. They were gone for 45 mins and we caught up to them in 20. We were traveling at a pace that would take us 4 or 5 hours to get to the bus stop. And then a miracle happened! A guy with a small pickup truck drove by and was willing to give us a ride to the bus stop. He was seriously an answer to many prayers.

Then after the 2 hour bus ride back, we were finally home. We barely had our front gate open when Miram, our neighbor, rushed out her front door. When she saw us she was like, "I knew I heard someone open that gate! My cute little children are all home early!" That lady is 50x more effective than any watchdog I've ever heard of.

So basically, that was our weekend adventure at the finca.... Of course, they invited us to come again any time...

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to write a blog post about the service and the projects we're actually doing, not about our weekend getaways, but for now I am absolutely exhausted.

Here's us and Giselda, I'll post more pictures when I get them from the other volunteers!

I am no longer a HELP International volunteer.

That's right, I'm not a HELP volunteer. I was supposed to be down here volunteering for two months, but now my plans have changed.

A week ago, Arturo, our Program/Country Director, asked if he could talk with me for a minute. And he told me that he was impressed with my abilities to speak Spanish, and to be a leader, and blahblahblah. I was just waiting for him to say, "But, you actually suck. So we're sending you home."

BUT.... it never came.

Instead, he offered me the open position of Country Director over Nicaragua.

Every country has two Country Directors. They're in charge of keeping track of all the volunteers, recording all the finances, reviewing project proposals, communicating with partner NGOs, etc. Megan and Abe were our two Country Directors, until Abe was offered another job. So Arturo came down to help start the summer off, but in about a week he's leaving to go do some project evaluation in El Salvador and then a team evaluation in Belize. So the HELP office has been looking for a second Nicaragua Country Director. And now, that's me!

So now I'm staying in Nicaragua until the end of August. I don't get paid while I'm in country, but when I get back to the US, I'll have part-time employment with HELP until December. During that time Megan and I will be working together on project evaluation and the Nicaragua year-end report.

Basically, I'm WAY excited. And also way humbled (I know, it's hard to believe... but even I have the occasional humbling experience). But seriously, all the other Country Directors are working on their Masters in Development, or they've been president of other NGOs, or they've been traveling internationally their whole lives. I'm two semesters into the Undergrad International Relations program, I used to be a cashier, and this trip was the first time I've ever left the United States.

It was a tough decision to make. I love and miss everyone in the United States, but I'm also in love with Leon and development work. So I will be here until August, helping people, improving my Spanish, and (hopefully) getting an awesome tan.

I'm way grateful for this super awesome opportunity and I hope that my efforts as Country Director will have an even bigger positive impact on the people of Nicaragua than my efforts as a volunteer.