Saturday Night´s Alright

Buenos Dias Amigos!
(Good morning friends!)

Everyday that I am in Nicaragua I tell myself ¨okay, I can´t possibly sweat more than today¨, and yet the next day I am still dripping by the buckets! Today was no exception, as the high was 42, humidex excluded. Yet another beautiful day in Nicaragua.

Today, the team was not once treated to the oh-so-common Nicaraguan favourite of gallo pinto (beans and rice). This morning we woke up to a hearty breakfast of old fashioned corn flakes, milk and toast, mmm.

When our team got to the worksite, we went into the director of the health clinic´s office to present the medipacks and dental pack. It was really a neat thing to watch, and although we had to translate everything from Spanish to English and visa versa, the thankfulness and joy on the faces of the staff needed no translation at all. It is such blessing that our community can come together and support this worthwhile cause, I wish that all of you could have seen their faces when they recieved the medicine, to show you what an impact your support has had on these peoples lives. Although, I think there were upwards of 50 photos taken during the presentation, plus a video, so we can try our best to reinact it.

A small portion of the team then went to El Viejo´s sister clinic to present another 2 medipacks. I was told that this clinic was much newer and in much bettter shape then the one in El Viejo. It also included a re-nutrition centre that aided in the process of reversing the affects of malnurishment in children. The children, depending on their state, would stay on a three to four month nourishment plan at the clinic, and then be released.

Back at the worksite we... well we worked! There is always lots to do on the site, and the team really came together today and put in a solid few hours. Did I ever tell you the unique way Nicaraguans have of mixing concrete and mortor? BY HAND! I did my first mix today and holy cow is that difficult! I now have huge respect for Peter Struthers who must have mixed half a dozen batches in the hot sun today!

Our painting team is also continuing along the hallways in the clinic, and is really considering that maybe they should have picked a different hallway, as the one they are painting has over 13 doors to paint! They will be getting bulletin boards for the walls which will replace the clinic´s old tactic of placing up posters, which was to just glue em´on, one over the other.

Today a lunch of hamburgers and french fries was served poolside at one of the hotels. An Elton John CD was playing over the speakers which helped me to determine who was born in the sixties, and who was born before then.

After lunch we did some touring of El ViejoND Chinandega. We went to two Catholic churches, one which was built during colonization by the Spanish in the 1500´s, and another one built post colonization in the late 1800´s. Both were beautiful and intricate in their designs, with stunning murals and statues of biblical figures.

We also did a little bit of shopping in the town square, but most of it was local markets, which were still cool to see. The team also stopped at an Eskimo store. In Nicaragua, Eskimo (pronouned es-kee-mo) is the number one choice of ice cream. It is now also my number one choice of food in this heat. In one store, I had to save one of our team members (who´s name will not be mentioned) from a horrible mistake of confusing a mumu with something stylish. Glad we got that one figured out Charlene.

The team then headed back to the hotels to get jazzed up for dinner. We were having pizza at the other hotel, but being Saturday night, they were having a dance for the locals. So, after a delicious dinner of Nicaraguan pizza, we decided to burn off those calories by `shaking it´. The locals don´t ususally come until later in the night so we had the whole floor to ourselves, disco ball, strobe lights, and all. They played everything from Bob Marley, to Village People, to Spanish songs that we danced to anyway (or tried to). I have to admit when the locals did start to file in, they were taken aback by our North American style of dance (i.e. lots of rigid, crazy movements, that usually invlove lots of arm flailing and very little rhythm). I think that the Nicaraguans were thankful when we left.

Another late night tonight, but that´s ok, because Ted is doing our church service tomorrow, so we convinced him of another hours sleep.

Well, that´s it for now!

Jamie Boley

p.s. All grammatical and spelling mistakes can be deferred to Ann Fahrun.