Volunteer visits

Well, we are back home in our training site. It is really good to be back with our ¨families¨. The bus ride was extremely long. My bus broke down three times on the way there and took 12 hours instead of 8.5. The first time the radiator pooped out and they dumped us on the side of the panamerican highway and left. We (I was with one other volunteer and a whole bunch of Nica´s) waited for about 1.5 hours until the next bus came. Consequently the already full bus was extroadinarily full and im not sure how it pulled us up the mountain. Seriously, I kept thinking I was in the movie, ¨Jewel of the Nile¨when their bus breaks down in columbia and they slide through the jungle, except that everything is so increadibley dry right now that the dust coveres the trees around the road and it comes in the window and sticks to your face and clothes. The radiator on that bus went kaput for a while too, but they fixed it. Then after we had dropped off the other volunteer and it was getting dark, we got a flat tire and had to change it on the mountain side. Korys bus almost slid off the mountain on the way there, but they made it. Last year during rainy season they consolidated all the volunteers in managua because of the rain. They dont want us to be stuck in our towns if there is an emergency, and the roads get terrible and wash out. As it was, we forded two rivers.

My volunteer was very helpful and very nice. We did three presentations (charlas) in the school to 5th and 6th graders about self esteem. We also did a charla at the Casa Materna about breastfeeding. If you dont know, in Nicaragua, because of the high infant and maternal mortality rate and because of the rural locations people live in, they have instituted the Casa Materna. This is a place where pregnant women go when they have two or three weeks left in their pregnancy. They wait around here and are monitored if there are complications and they deliver at the hospital or Health center when they are ready. They have nothing to do there, so we made cookies with them too. There were three women there. One 36 year old lady was on here 9th child and appeared to be like 60 years old!

We also worked on a poster at the Casa de Adolescentes for ¨back to school¨ which talked about the importance of studying at a university. The volunteer I visited also had the local carpenter make her a wooden penis for condom demonstrations. He took the liberty of making it very realistic. It was funny. Also he had a monkey in his yard on a leash. It was soooo cute, but sooo sad. The site I visited was high up in the mountains and therefore was pretty green and cold compared to other places in Nicaragua.

Kory was in the next town over and also had a really good experience. WE got to ride home together luckily.

Today was our site fair. Which was a presentation of all the different sites that are available to us. We will be getting our assignments on the 28th of this month. Today we had to write our top 3 choices and why we thought we wanted them. This was hard. For us we really thought that a cool climate is very very important. Next was projects that included, nutrition, gardens, latrine prejects, cooking, a casa materna, working with youth and soy projects. Next was the proximity of a morman church, next availablity of vegetables and lastley we didnt really want to be in a big sight, but not too far away from a big city. We are a bit frustrated because none of this actually matters. They pretty much have an idea where the two married couples are going but they wont tell us before they others. So. We will see. Pray it will be a site we can be happy in.

This kory and his youth group
A random Nicaragua scene in El Crucero
This is heathers house with a bunch of volunteers sitting on the porch.