WF Nicaragua Travel

Hope everyone had safe travels this morning! Emily and I made it safely to the airport thanks to Jose and parted ways in Houston after an easy stroll through customs. I had a lot of free time today while sitting on planes so I jotted down 10 of my many favorite memories of Nicaragua (in no particular order).

1. Learning how to surf with Alfredo (Willy Wonka)

2. Surviving the lightning storm on the metal truck

3. Group bonding at El Paraiso after surviving the lightning storm on the metal truck

4. Thinking that something which cost 100 cordobas ($5) is way too expensive

5. Hearing “GILES TEAM - BATHROOM!” before every bus trip

6. Intense mafia games at night in Camp Chinandega

7. Watching Lily, Aiden, and Matthew play with (and be adored by) the Nicaraguan ninos

8. Family dinners every night that took at least 2 hours

9. Making it to the waterfall on our Ometepe hike

10. Amazing experiences and relationships with an incredible group of people!

Here’s to a great rest of the summer for everyone, I will miss y’all!

Love,

Diana

Maria and Diana here - posting a joint blog! We are both recovering from the swine flu (joke… maybe just the lizard flu) and are reminiscing about our time in Chinandega.

On Thursday of last week we had the opportunity to take a tour of the Women’s and Children’s hospital located in downtown Chinandega. This was an interesting experience as many of us are hoping to work in hospitals some day. The director of the hospital first talked to us in her office and answered our questions. We were shocked to hear that the infant mortality rate at the hospital was low, especially considering what we witnessed on the tour. There were multiple women occupying some of the beds, and in one wing the refurbishing of rooms resulted in women being placed in the hallways. Another interesting fact about the hopsital was that some of the janitors were actually prisoners who were helping out while being watched by a guard. Perhaps the most unbelievable fact the director told us was that it was unheard of to use pain medication during labor. Let’s just hope we never give birth in Nicaragua!

The past few days of sun and fun at the beach have been awesome! We are sad to leave but are looking forward to reuniting with family and friends and telling even more stories!

Love,

Diana and Maria

Hola!

As previously noted, we are back in Los Pinos, the best place ever, even though everyone in Chinandega seems to think we have been living in luxury all week (not true) with our air conditioned rooms and buses.

In an attempt not to be redundant, here are a few highlights of our week in Chinandega after the weekend excursion to Ometepe.

We typically ended our nights with an intense mafia game before sleeping with our friendly critters in a summer camp style room (squeaky bunk beds for everyone!), and in the morning embarked upon our day in the hottest city in Nicaragua. We spent a lot of time in a village called Villa Catalina where throughout the week we got to play with a bunch of rowdy kids, then teach these same kids about handwashing, and get to know many of the families living in the Villa. Half of us helped with a nutrition seminar one day while the other half rode with an ambulance. Today we watched a pinata get batted down since a nino had a birthday, as well as learn how to make pastels and empanadas.

The time we spent in the Villa was amazing as we formed relationships and learned valuable information about the lifestyles and traditions of the Nicaraguan people. The families welcomed us into their homes with open arms and were so honest and kind (and not to mention patient with my broken Spanglish).

It has been an intersting, incredible, and eye opening week and I am excited for what the next two weeks will bring!

Hasta luego, Diana