Hello again! This week started out as relaxing to the point of insanity, Monday and Tuesday we basically did nothing. Wednesday we started up Spanish classes again and I went to Los Pipitos, the school, in the afternoon. I don't really understand this place yet, as there seems to sometimes be only one group of students there at a time.... and on that day it was five teenage boys who were all deaf. I can't even begin to explain the communication barriers there, and for some odd reason I ended up making Christmas cards with them... fun, I guess, but a little strange.
Thursday we had Spanish all morning and then the plan was for Leo and me to go to Fundacion Proyecto Mesias, which is the orphanage where I'll be working in October and November. We had some vague directions, so we took the bus to El Rosario and tried to ask from there. No one had the slightest idea what we were talking about, but they pretended they did and told us to go BACK to Jinotepe and take another bus. Since we had plenty of time, we took a cab back to Jinotepe and went to the bus station to ask there. The bus drivers there also pretended they knew where we were going and gave us instructions, so we got on a bus and then realized that they were going to charge us 25 cordobas (a little over a dollar, or equivalent to a desination that is about three hours away or more) and were trying to rip us off. Around that time Leo also realized that his work cell phone had been stolen in the cab, so we got off the bus, chased a few cab drivers around before realizing that was hopeless, and went back to the house. On the way back we encountered a pickup truck with a guy in an enormous Homer Simpson costume standing in the back, dancing.
It was a very weird day.
So today we were determined to make it to the orphanage, and after a very long, frustrating and boring Spanish class, we ate lunch and I put on my one nice shirt and we started off again. We took the bus to El Rosario another time and this time walked into the village and started asking around. As we walked further away from the Pan-American highway and into more remote areas people became more and more familiar with what we were looking for. We probably asked about seventeen people for directions and followed what they said and walked, and walked, and walked and walked down dirt roads through coffee plantations and past banana and coconut trees. We'd been instructed to walk down the road at "Los Cocos" which means the coconut trees... well Los Cocos is actually just a turnoff of another dirt road that has no coconuts anywhere near it, whatsoever. We walked for about two hours in a very rural area before we finally got to the orphanage. It's a beautiful place, with two big buildings and a few smaller ones, as well as big trees and a playground. It was such a relief to make it there finally. There are no signs for anything in Nicaragua, and the only way you can find things is trusting whoever you ask for directions!
We had a meeting with one of the administrators, Patricia, and while Leo talked to her about the orphanage another staff member gave me a tour. There are 29 kids there right now, and from what I can tell they are ages 1-12. There are a few with very severe physical disabilites, and others requiring special education who actually go to school at Los Pipitos during the day, so I probably won't ever see them when I'm there. I didn't get a chance to talk to many of the kids except for a group of two-year-old boys with whom I had quite an extensive conversation, but all of the kids I saw were very smiley and sooooo cute!
I'm really excited to start helping out there - I start on October 5th, so in about two weeks. Some very good news is that I get a free ride there every morning with a group of women who work at the orphanage and live in Jinotepe, and then they all get a taxi from the orphanage back to Jinotepe in the afternoon, so I can go with them and that is 10 cordobas (50 cents). So I am not going to get a bike, I just have to be at Los Pipitos at 7 am every morning to go with them... which is about a half hour walk from my house = leaving the house at 6:30 every morning. Yikes!! Well, it will be worth it.
Hard to believe that I have been here for two weeks and it is already the weekend again, time goes faster as I get more adjusted. I have already found my favorite hangout spot in Jinotepe, Momentos, which is a smoothie/snack/cafe place with DELICIOUS treats, and it's in a really cute alley so you can hang out there at this big tables outside and drink your smoothie or cappuccino or whatever. I am also very excited to sample some more of the amazing restaurants in the town over the next two months. On Sunday we are planning to go to a nearby nature reserve to hike and swim in a waterfall! So I'll definitely be writing about that soon.
I finally had my first wipeout while running... unfortunately, in this city if you fall on your face while running there is not an ounce of hope that no one saw you! so embarrassing! I have some pretty impressive bruises and a very sore arm. Not fun, but I'll learn to pick up my feet more I guess! I'm just glad there were no major injuries involved.
Well, I'm off to take a shower to wash off all the dirt and sweat from hiking on dirt roads all afternoon! It has started getting cooler here in the evenings, at least I think it has, so that's really nice.
Until next time!