7/31: Little Drops of Awesome

I am a little thankful I have graduated preschool today so 1) I could sleep a little and stay home to watch the baby while Jenifer took the older two to Gotitas (I have gotten a little more acostumbrada, accustomed, to playing with babies on this trip!), and 2) I, along with the other St. Lukers, get to play with the kids today instead of getting schooled. Our task for today is to entertain the kids of Gotitas with engaging and constructive activities and simultaneously learn about the work this school is doing in its at-risk neighborhood.

Jennifer always comes with a new gorgeous braid that her host mama did for her - Luci is admiring today's version!

We drove to Gotitas de Esperanza, "Drops of Hope," the preschool and daycare in the Carlos Nuñez community, and as Meredith went in to make sure things were ready for us, a group of kids stood at the door staring at our group of gringos while we waited in the bus for a few minutes. We began our day with some background on Gotitas, the center of care and protection for kids one to five years old that was itself born four years ago.

Here, left to right, are Don Martín, a community leader; Deysi, one of the PML board members; Meredith, our coordinator; Francisco, Meredith's delegation assistant; Jessica, Paul's host mom and my host tía, aunt; and Jessica's son Derek, as Don Martín spoke to us about the center. 

We learned Gotitas focuses especially on high-risk kids, high-risk on the streets and in their homes. There are 37 kids and 28 families at this time, and they want to have the center full of kids and work with a lot of families, but there are strict requirements to be part of the program. Gotitas is supported by an NGO, non-governmental organization, which helps hold trainings on family skills as well, and the center is very community-run and community-driven. For example, Joy's host mom is a nutritionist here, and many of the teachers are moms from the community with their children here.

This was actually built because women in the community were recognizing the need for communal childcare support, especially for at-risk kids, and many started running programs and caring for community kids in their own homes. They realized it is important to have strong community education, giving kids opportunities to learn and keeping them out of trouble. Now the moms who work here are given a small symbolic payment. They usually have their kids here, and they are not profesoras, but they are trained by the NGO that also has a network of supervisors and teachers that go around and teach at the different schools in that network.
 
This community center strives to provide structure for the kids as well as educate their parents on the importance of that kind of structure. Gotitas provides breakfast, lunch, and two snacks throughout the day and they also get the kids accustomed to napping in the afternoon. It is not traditional for kids to nap, but the latest trends are encouraging it, and it is important to get that knowledge to less well-off communities as well. My host mama herself testifies to how important of a resource Gotitas is for her family, especially as for just 30 Cordobas a month (which comes out to about $1.40) the kids get all of those meals, families receive that daycare and education, and the center pays for a person to guard the center at night.

Gotitas' next goal is to have a safe place for kids to recrearse, play, outside, so they want to build a wall so kids from Gotitas can run outside to play but still be within the safe limits of the center. They also hope to keep working with the NGO to fund more educational programs here.

Now for the fun part! This teacher, one of the moms, gets the kids ready with some handwashing. Diddier, my oldest host brother, is the one in the white shirt.

 

We divided the children and ourselves into three groups, with the youngest staying in one room and the bigger kids divided into two sections for songs and games. St. Lukers came prepared with ideas for songs and games, similar to how we began our day at the school in Talolinga, but we learned very quickly how much energy, resolve, and quick thinking we all needed to use all of the kids' insanity constructively. They may look all sweet and innocent in these pictures, but Laurie and Jennifer put it this way, "This was a serious lesson in birth control for the adolescents." Stay tuned for more reflections.

Jennifer, Laurie, and Cody leading a circle game.

Leif, Chris, and Paul got the other group of big kids playing a game we learned in the neighborhood where you walk or around in the circle until a moderator gives a signal to freeze, and then the first kid to move is out and the circle gets smaller until there is a winner! As the circle kept shrinking though, they had to think of ways to keep the other kids excited about it too. 

Kira hanging out with Don and the other girls with the littlest kids.

Joy and Don hanging out.

Luci and the new girl on her first day at Gotitas!

Meredith joins the group in the middle room, and with a stern voice she was able to regain control of a classroom that was getting a bit out of hand with kids running crazily everywhere if they did not feel like participating.

After a couple games, St. Lukers kept improvising and found London Bridge to be a good one to keep everyone moving and having fun. 

 

I moved around from room to room with my camera, and we eventually got all the kids into the main room for some curriculum-based exercises for things like balance, focus, counting, etc. Kids saw me snapping pictures and posed for me, and a few grabbed at my camera to see, and a couple I even let take some photos with it. I am fortunate my camera is pretty hardy, and small children fingerprints can always be washed off the screen. I made that call to show a couple of the older kids who I had observed as more responsible, and we were all pretty entertained!

We were all amazed by the blond ringlets on the boy to the left, and further amazed to learn that he was one of the hair pulling masterminds in the bunch. 

I think Joy bonded pretty well with this girl, she's pretty adorable too!

Seriously, the women who do this every day are amazing. They have to deal with hair pulling contests, physical force, kids wetting themselves, and toddlers crying every two seconds. Ay! We had some serious group reflection time following this experience, and I think the main thing we were amazed about was the cultural difference in terms of the concept of discipline. If you use a calmer, softer tone here, kids will not take you seriously. When trying to get a group of rambunctious four to five year-olds to stop running around the room to listen to directions and play whatever game you think they will enjoy, apparently a firmer tone is needed. Another thing we found hard was because we were a temporary presence, we did not know any of the kids' names, which made it all the more difficult if you wanted to call one out on something.

Physicality, listening, and taking others' things plays out differently than what we are used to, simply because there are differences in cultural practices and boundaries in terms of space and respect. The teachers on our program, Paul and Jennifer, definitely had some gears turning in their heads as they took in this classroom experience, and Laurie as a medical professional noted current research on the psychological effects of corporal punishment that is enacted often here. Studies have shown corporal punishment can lead to more anxiety and depression when kids get older, and the results are cross-cultural (Writer's note: I have seen how this plays out in person and make my judgement based on my experiences. This is a controversial parenting topic and I suggest you do your own research and draw your own conclusions). What was hard for her was wondering about how well that information is disseminated at this socio-economic status, especially what kids learn at home. Here it is evident that you cannot force a different type of discipline than what kids have at home, and you cannot just put a kid in "timeout" because that concept simply does not exist here. Here is where we see how Gotitas is trying to provide structure for kids to learn to follow directions, have better manners, share, respect each other, etc., and how important it is for schools and families to work together to provide the best opportunities for these children.

For me, it made me come back to issues our own country is facing with our education system and fighting for social inclusion of lower socio-economic classes. This is why after-school programs and community involvement are so crucial, why kids in our own communities need constructive time while poorer parents are working, and social programs really are for the benefit of all. The political questions of course are who is going to provide those resources and who is going to run those programs, but I am all the more grateful to those who do this for a living, in Nicaragua, and at home. A few of my friends who have also just graduated are taking a year or two before grad school, or perhaps dedicating their lives, to serving and teaching at-risk youth, and I hope they will keep finding the drive within themselves to understand their students' circumstances and be positive, encouraging forces when they need it.

Paul and I had to slip out of the group reflection time because Jessica had said she would pick us up at Gotitas at 11:40 instead of noon so we would have enough time to eat at home, but we actually ended up waiting for a while outside, talking to Deysi about the importance of socialization for children. She gets it. Anyways, my host mama instead came for us at 12:20 and brought us home for tortillas, chicken nuggets, chicken-flavored rice, gallo pinto, te de limón (lemon tea), and a tomato-cabbage salad. We had a few minutes to chill and talk as the community moved around us. We would see a few vehicles here and there, but mostly bicycles or people on foot. Jenifer commented that transportation is very difficult here because the bus is cheap and convenient, until it's not convenient. Rutas, routes, come less often on weekends and they are less dependable, and on weekdays they stop at 7 pm. If you want or need to go out at night, you'd best have money for a cab, but they are even more expensive at night. This is another prime factor in why the neighborhood is so tight-knit, as many families get to know the folks who are close, socialize with them, and feel safe.

We then wandered back out of our dynamic house on the corner to Don Martin's house so we could go to the central market! Before we would be set loose to do our own shopping though, we split into teams and were given a scavenger hunt. We were charged to find items such as "a fruit we have never seen before" and ask the stall owner what it is and how to eat it. My teammates were Don and Laurie, and together we were "Gotitas de Awesome," Little Drops of Awesome. My favorite part was talking to a little old woman in probably her eighties who was selling wooden spoons and ceramics. She told us she is here at her stall seven days a week. But she is sick, something with her heart, but she looks forward to her sister, who lives in Germany, visiting her in February. She still told us not to worry about her and bid us "Que les vaya bien" - well wishes.

 As I have mentioned in prior posts, I usually refrain from taking photos in markets because it is people's livelihoods, even though they are one of my favorite things in foreign places because they are so dynamic and show the spirit of the people. So I unfortunately do not have pictures of the market or workers, but I rather did like the brilliance of these lovely tiny chilis!

Once we completed our scavenger hunt, we were set free to roam and shop until a designated time. I had my eyes on a caramelo, a small fudge square, that I wanted to try, and when I looked up from my purchase, only Meredith was there! Whoops. Marketplaces are generally not good places to get lost in general or lost from your people. But Meredith called Francisco who was with Paul and Chris to find good hammocks, and as I was hoping to find and fall in love with a hammock too, we found them and I tagged along with the hamaca crew. Paul had already found one he liked, but he wanted to check out another place to see about their selection and prices. We went back and forth a couple times, but we both ended up feeling successful! One place we went I promised I would be back after I had seen what the other had to offer, and when we went back to the first place, they promptly lowered the price for me. Good bargaining tactic if anyone is interested. It is woven, sturdy, and beautiful blue, and I got a decent price so I am pleased. Chris also wanted shoes, and after a few styles of not exactly what he wanted, he ended up with a sweet pair of real, yes real, Nikes for a steal! 

Purchases in hand, we all boarded the microbus after all the sheep made it to our designated meeting point. We were to head back to Gotitas for a special "Noche Cultural," Cultural Night, which was supposed to start at 5 but didn't until about 5:40, and the crowd swelled as the night went on. The main act was a dance troupe from Nagarote, the birthplace of the quesillo and our stopping point between Managua and León on our second day. PML paid for their transport, and they came to perform a number of traditional folk dance routines for us, sandwiching a few by the local artist collective Xuchialt in the middle.

I sat next to Leif's host sister, Katya, who is nine, awesome, smart, and down-to-earth, and she took an interest in my camera. She said her family does not own one, but when I gave her my camera to try out a few shots, I discovered she had a pretty good eye! We put it on sports mode and took turns taking pictures of the dances throughout the night, which got trickier as the natural light faded, but it was fun to bring a new photographer on board and I encouraged her to keep taking pictures if she can.

The dances themselves all invoked cultural themes from white representing pureza, purity, to a dance about the quesillo, to a dance to one of Nicaragua's most well-known folk songs, "Hijos del Maiz," "Children of Corn." What is more fundamental to Nica society than corn? "Hijos del Maiz" rattles off a whole list of traditional foods and beverages made with corn in Nicaragua, in addition to its place in everyday life. We even got to hear that song twice that night with two different versions of dance! If you have a hankering to learn some Nicaraguan folk dance, I found a YouTube video of the song here: Hijos_del_Maiz, and lyrics here: Lyrics.

Here are a few pictures from the night: 

Following the dancers, Xuchialt had two of their musicians sing and play guitar for us..

...and then Marlon, leader of Xuchialt played and sang for us, and after his first song he called up our own Francisco (who had been an inspiring MC the whole night) to do an impromptu duet!

The final act of the night came from Lenon, our lead painting instructor, one of the calmest and most chill guys there is, and he just walked out there and started swinging fire around! We were all pretty amazed.

Lights out, and Lenon came alive!

Xuchialt concluded the night with some Pitbull music as we helped move chairs and take down the set, and Diddier took my hand on the way home. He still felt like walking silly and goofing off, to which I responded with a reminder that if he wanted to play monitos and be a crazy monkey on my back later, he may want to walk like a human en la calle, on the street, for now until we got home. 

Since Noche Cultural had gotten off to a late start, the boys were starving when we got home, so Jeni dropped me off and took the older two to get muñuelos for a snack. She got one for me to try too - it is kind of a ball of fried masa, corn flour, with air bubbles and covered in honey - that is the best I can explain it! Basically because it was covered in honey, I was going to like it. While Jenifer cooked, I played monitos with the boys and also managed to get them to focus on their pastelina, silly putty, and she came up with frijoles y crema, beans and sour cream that is not sour, and fried plantains. Satisfying as always.

Jenifer loved seeing the photos of her boys from our morning at Gotitas, and we got to talking about how that center has impacted her life. When her firstborn Diddier was two months to a year, she brought him to her university classes every single day. Imagine trying to learn in class with a baby by your side. After that, Jenifer was able to bring him to daycare at one of the moms' houses before Gotitas became a center with a physical space. She trusted that woman because that woman had also taken care of Jenifer when she was young! Not long after, Gotitas was built and it is awesome for her and her family. There is apparently another place closer that purports to have a similar mission, but she has heard that they "descuidar niños," neglect children. Jenifer said she loves Gotitas and the only thing it is missing is that wall for it to have a safe courtyard outside. 

Having a resource like Gotitas has made a difference for her education as well, especially since as soon as her youngest turns one year old, she can also enroll him there and she will be able to finish her final year of university to become a lawyer. She said she really wants to learn English as well, and she did start taking a course a while back, but it was on Sundays and sometimes she could not find anyone to watch the boys... And the maestra moved so fast that it was nearly impossible to catch up after she missed a week. What is hard for her is the pronunciation, which I can definitely understand because unlike in Spanish where there are set rules and patterns of pronunciation for vowels and consonants, in English you can not necessarily look at a word and know how to pronounce it. Improving her English is another of her aspirations that Gotitas will make easier, and she even hopes to enroll her kids in some English classes because they are bien inteligentes, very smart, and they just need more ways to learn and fill their brains. My brains were wracked today to think quickly on my feet at Gotitas, but my spirit has been filled with reflections and rewarding quality time, and our bodies were ready for rest.

7/30: Pasos Upon Pasos

Good morning, folks! I'm thankful I woke up a tiempo, on time, this morning, especially since Jenifer had fallen asleep as Douglas bounced the colicky baby. She woke up about when I did, but her boys were not up yet, begging their mom for a few more minutes of sleep. Because they were running behind, Jenifer walked me to the corner to meet Paul and Jessica so she could go home and get the kids ready for school. If Paul and I had to have host families a bit further from the central community, at least we could rely on Jenifer and Jessica to take care of us and each other!

I speed-walked (sped-walked?) with Paul and Jessica to Don Martin's house, glad that we were not late to school, learning that there is a loud beep warning to alert everyone they should be in class, and if you are a cuadra, a block, away, run! Otherwise doors close and you would not be able to get in. Jessica noted this used to be a five-minute warning when she was in school, but now it is a less-panic-inducing 15 minute warning, which is beneficial for families whose children have to walk a ways to get to school. Hopefully Jenifer not having to take me to Don Martin's herself gave her enough time to get her boys to Gotitas on time, even if they would not face the dreaded warning bell until they got to primary school.

As our group gathered, it was evident we had all been re-energized from our Sunday Family Day. Whether that meant a little extra sleep, trips to the market, relaxation on the beach, or visits to more evangelical churches than we were accustomed to, we all excitedly shared our stories. A few of our group members even complained that they wanted more days to spend solely with their family, instead of all the delegation stuff! I just wish we had more time for everything. Today would be a good mix of tourist activities, time with our families, and cultural experiences though. And as we have certainly taken many pasos, steps, already on our delegation, from our hike to Talolinga, to time in the market, to sports and walks home with our families, our pasos today would include moonbouncing, a bit of walking, and our Nicaraguan dance steps!

The first half of the day we journeyed about an hour in our microbus to Cerro Negro, literally Black Hill, an active volcano. The road was extremely bumpy, and as we got further outside of León, Meredith warned us that it would only get worse. So even though it was an early morning, it was a little rough to try and sleep. Needless to say, I enjoyed some job advice from Meredith our wonderful coordinadora, as well as staring out the window at the beautiful countryside.

Sugarcane fields.

 

This farmer is returning with his wife and oxen from collecting wood near the volcano.

This road was actually not wide enough for both the oxcart and our microbus. Somehow we squeezed around each other, and the farmers continued their journey home with our day just beginning.

Jose, our driver, did a wonderful job, given even though many people flock to this volcano as tourists, there are zero signs and the route is incredibly complicated. He stopped at a few farms along the way to make sure he was going the right way, and Meredith commented that the Nicaraguan government should really start to recognize it needs improvement in the tourism infrastructure sector. Especially when all you really need to help bring more people and revenue to Cerro Negro is a few signs posted in the volcanic ash roads. Cerro Negro even has a welcome lodge with decent bathrooms. But we made it! Once we got to the volcano itself, Meredith grabs a jug to help prepare us for the hike.

Doesn't look so bad, right?

And so the hike begins!

The hiking bunch - Laurie and Paul decided to save their knees and take a walkabout closer to sea level.

 

Tired before we really even got going, Leif?

Hair already getting whipped by the wind, Meredith, along with PML board member Ruben joining us for the day, educated us on Cerro Negro safety precautions. These included taking note of the wind and leaning into the volcano itself, being aware that the volcanic rocks are basically like pumice stones people use to slough off calluses so don't get scrapes (and umm perhaps take a couple stones home as free pumice stones!), making sure to test each rock you step on before you put your entire weight down in case it was not firmly lodged in the pile of ash.

After we had been thoroughly educated and precautioned, Ruben asked if we wanted a challenge and took off running up the volcano! This is my favorite kind of hiking, whipping up an exhilarating pace and then taking breathers. Oxygen was in shorter supply and [most of us] were dashing up potentially unstable rocks, what a rush! Word to the wise, challenge yourself, but don't be stupid. Here Jennifer, Luci, and Meredith navigate trickier passes.

 

Whoo! We made it to the top ridge and we are still smiling!

Nature forcibly rearranging Leif and Cody's hairstyles for the moment.

Meredith fighting winds from both the side of the volcano and up from the crater.

See that squiggly line down there? That is the path we began on. And the group of little multicolored dots along the path? (Click the picture to see it larger if you need to). That is Paul, Laurie, and Francisco waving to us while we trudged against the wind on the ridge!

At one point I turned around and found Luci, Jennifer, and Meredith just doubled over in a mixture of laughter and tears, trying not to fall over or panic. We all conquered some fears today!

Up here was purely volcanic sand held together by force, with the crater here sloping off to the right as we walked around it to get to the other crater.

Looking into this crater was simply spectacular.

Wind is not often something you can see. But there is proof of it here with so much biting force coming off that ridge.

Another group photo at the end of our ridge hike.

Testing how far they could lean into the wind.

We had to backtrack slightly, but we found the "running route." While some tourists opt for toboggan-like sleds to glide down, our vote was to "moonbounce," as Meredith would describe it. You just take off running, and as your momentum picks up, the mounds of volcanic ash have just enough give to trampoline you down the rest of the way.

Meredith took off first to show us how it's done, and a couple of the kids took off after her, with about ten seconds of leeway in between. I paused about halfway down to grab pictures, and it was also rather convenient that it was about that point where I had gotten so excited bounding through the sinking sand that I had let my momentum get the best of me and took a spill... And perhaps a second one later... I was hugging my bag as I ran down so I was not really ready to steady myself when I got going too fast, so I slid a few feet on my bum when I wiped out. But really, I just got some pumiced knees and a little more dusty than I anticipated, but no regrets!

The rest of the crew making their way down behind me.

Somehow, with all of the bounding through montones of volcanic ash (I love that the Spanish equivalent for saying "tons of ___" is "mountains of ___"!), I managed to get some black sand in my shoes. We all dumped out our shoes and socks, and I must admit I was proud admiring how the ash made its mark. Then again, I could not see my own face until we got back to the welcome center, but thankfully I think Jennifer pointed out the ash had turned my teeth black too so I could scrub them on our drive back to the center. That was a little gross.

We all got to wash up a bit and relax for a few minutes as we collected ourselves. Luci and Laurie found this double hammock the center had both gorgeous and comfortable, and they were hoping to make an offer to buy it, but the price proposed by the center was a bit steep. A few of us were still in the market for hammocks, so we were keeping our eyes peeled and making mental notes of prices we heard wherever we went.

Another thing that was cool about the center was they randomly had a large pen of iguanas out back! We learned the natural population of iguanas is far below where it should be, so Cerro Negro is breeding iguanas and releasing them into the wild. Cool animals.

Though we had been filled by our incredible experience of traipsing up a volcano and bouncing (and tumbling...) down, our bellies were quite empty. Meredith and Francisco had the usual stash of crackers on the bus for us, but today's lunch was a special occasion in that we got to go home to eat with our families in the middle of the day.

Unos pasos más, a few steps more, and Jenifer had lunch waiting for me at home, while Jessica had also prepared food for her and Paul that she left with Jenifer when she came to pick us up. Jenifer's house was closer than Jessica's, so it was convenient and nice to hang out together. Jessica had made Paul fish and rice and brought unaa gaseosa, a soda, while my mom made me her favorite meal: arroz a la valenciana, Valencian rice. It is a version of chicken and rice that she typically eats with bread, but since I cannot eat wheat, she got tortillas for me so I could make taquitos with the rice. All to be washed down with dragonfruit fresco!

I was thankful my house was the closer one so I could excuse myself to shower quickly because let's face it, volcano-running is awesome, but I was pretty gross. After a nice meal and a refreshing bucket bath, which was I think my first time in the daylight because I am a night showerer, Jessica and Jenifer walked Paul and me back to Don Martin's house. Joy and Chris were talking about enjoying spending time with their families, but it was hard not really being able to converse with them, so they would typically go to bed when the kids did. I remarked to Jenifer that I truly felt lucky that I can understand and speak enough that I can talk with her after the kids go to bed. The host family experience is a challenge for everybody, becoming accustomed to rituals, cultural practices, and just being in someone else's home, but language is another beast completely. You can of course communicate a great deal through body language and just commonality of being human, but communicating more on a language level really brings in another dimension to the experience. Jenifer gave me a hug and played with my hair, such a sweet host mama even though she is my age! I still cannot believe that sometimes. We all said goodbye to our families, but then we learned there was something wrong with the bus, so we hung around for a few minutes.

We peered over to see Ruben, Francisco (smiling), and Jose all working on it and giving their own assessments of what the problem was.

Two young girls saw me snap the photo of the guys working on our microbus and came over to ask if they could see the pictures I had taken. They especially wanted to see photos from our Cerro Negro climb, leaning in and pointing out who was who from our delegation. They also asked me what time we would get back and if I wanted to play with them, which was super sweet. That was one of the moments I wished my host family did not live so far from the main cluster of houses because I would have to head home with my family for dinner.

Our expert crew got the bus working well enough to at least get us to the PML office, where we arrived a little late but Jose could then take the bus into a shop to get it fixed. Carolina was ready to show us the second half to piñata-making, and Papa had left me with a decent shape for our tomato.  She showed the clown-face teams the basics of decorating theirs with different colors of tissue paper and then the tomato teams the strategy to encircle the tomato with mainly red fringe. Francisco helped cut the fringe so I could the tissue paper down inch by inch with the yucca glue and try to not let any white show through.

It was a tedious task, which most teams were devoted to, and I am not going to name any names, but a couple were more interested in getting done quickly so they could get a few minutes at the cyber down the street. Here's my tomato progress with Francisco's help!

Ruben eyes Leif and Cody's creative ninja clown.

Don and Laurie work on their final touches.

Still have the green top to put on the tomato, but here you go!

And we even finished with enough time for me to hop on the PML office computer to check emails and make sure my dad had gotten back to the U.S. alive and well. Next up: dance class! Francisco was now my partner since Dad left, so we had a grand time especially as he did the moves taking his pretend hat on and off. We finally finished all of our routine and tried to rehearse for the show, but we can't quite do it without counting along as musical elements repeat, but we had to remember choreography changes after eight counts and sometimes four counts. Our final practice would be our dress rehearsal on Thursday night, just before we would perform for our host families. Ahh!

I believe it was Jose's diagnosis of the bus issue that was spot-on, so he picked us up after our lessons and proudly drove us home.

Here are few of the girls from the community, with the two on the left being the ones who looked through my photos with me earlier.

Axel, Chris's host brother, helped us take this picture!

After the fourth and final leg between Don Martin's casa and my host family's, I apparently still had more energy to be spent because the boys were rambunctious and begged to play "monitos" until dinner. Enoc, Jenifer's cousin, came over to hang out a bit too, and Jenifer made us all repochetas, which are similar to what we would know as cheese quesadillas, except Nica tortillas are thicker and their cheese is more pungent. Plus, because they are thicker, you do not cut them into pieces but pick up the folded, melty, fried tortilla and just bite into it. She saved a couple for Douglas that inevitably got semi-munched on by her kids before he got home, but she also filled us with gallo pinto (beans and rice with spices, Nica-style), bananos fritos (fried bananas), and homemade limonada (lemonade).

While I was washing the dishes, aided by the boys and learning more about parenting, it started to sprinkle. Jenifer ran out in the middle of cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and picked up the puppies from behind the shed, one by one, to effectively make a puppy pile under the tin roof. They still have not opened their eyes yet, so we just watched in adoration as they all floundered and flopped over their siblings.

Aww.

Tonight Douglas got home a while before the boys had to go to bed, and Jenifer said, "You don't have any pictures of Douglas!" Oh, you're right! I in fact have not really talked with him much at all because he is always exhausted when he gets home from work and I want to give him time to hang out with Jenifer too, but it is nice to see him home before 9, play with his kids, and get a family photo!

After such a full day, I was pretty dead by 10 and I think Jenifer and I both fell asleep in our chairs for a second or two. But we both woke up and kept talking after our brief naps, and she asked me about steps a Nicaraguan would have to take to get a visa to the U.S. and what other kinds of documents she would need if she could come visit me someday. She first would have to recorrer dinero, save some money, to get a passport in Managua, but that would allow her also to visit her mom in Costa Rica and me whenever she could. Her mom always visits them for the month of December, but the wheels were spinning in Jenifer's head, thinking of the possibility of taking the boys to go visit Costa Rica this year instead. With other conversation topics we had I further made connections of why many poor Nicas migrate to Costa Rica for work. As the clima (climate) in the northern region of Nicaragua is más fresco (more fresh, or cooler) than the southern region, so people are able to produce more fruit and milk and make more money, so poor southern Nicas either try their hand moving north within their country or just go further south where they find more work opportunities as migrant labor in their neighbor country to the south. While Jenifer's mom falls into that second category, Jenifer herself may very well fall into the first in a couple year's time after she completes her law degree and searches for work in the more prosperous north.

After a long and fruitful day of walking, running, climbing, falling, dancing, and horseplaying, my brain is spent. ¡Buenas noches!