Nicaragua

Buenos dias familia y amigos!

I am back from the campo (the countryside) in Nicaragua. I had such a beautiful experience there. First we had a few day in the capital Managua where we visited historical parks and spoke with a man in the National Assembly. We ate bastante comida (a lot of food) at various restaurants. Next we did a week of homestays all over Nicaragua. I went to a campo town called Wapy. There were no paved roads for about an hour and a half to get to the town. They only had electricity from 5-10pm and no running water. So I took bucket showers all week with freezing water. My family consisted of a mother and her son and daughter. The daughter, Karla, is 6 years old so we instantly became friends, especially when I gave her the pretty hair clips I brought for her. Attached is a picture of her and I. The other photo is of me and the other students that stayed in Wapy. Other groups went to the north of Nicaragua and others to both coastal sides.

During this week we did many fun things. For a service project we painted the Sunday school room with a bright turquoise color, we got to swim in the near by river with all of our clothes on, normally this is a river for bathing and washing clothes, we visited a farm, which was a hike and we would volar la lengua, which means talking. For most of the day we would sit in patio chairs and just talking about various subjects. I really enjoyed this because I got to build a nice relationship with this family. I have many funny stories to share but I will choose just one for this email. I had become sick last Sunday, I had to force my self to vomit, I had horrible stomach pains and the doctor had to come visit me, which only cost 5 dollars by the way, and it was just a bad day. The doctor determined that it was an amoeba in my intestines, so he put me on some pills. So two days later I started to feel almost 100%, and my host mom asked me "are you afraid at all to eat our food now?" and if you know my humorous personality you will understand the way I responded. I said "No I am not scared, I love animals in my stomach!" And the room just fell silent and their faces dropped. :) Then I said oh it was a joke, I am feeling better and then just shoved more food in my mouth. So it was a memorable experience in Wapy.

After the homestays we made our way to Granada a city outside of Managua. It is a colonial city with great old churches and next to a huge lake. We did not get much time here, but I hope to visit again. We stayed at a wonderful hostel that had a pool and real showers. I loved not having to work to make my self clean. Next we traveled back to Managua for a final dinner in Nicaragua. We went to this restaurant called Ola Verde (Green Wave) and it was all food made from organic local farmers. The restaurant was a dream come true after a week of salty and carbo type foods. Oh yeah speaking of foods for lunch one day in Wapy my host mom served me cow brains and we are told to eat everything and yes I did eat them. I stuff a portion in my tortilla with rices and beans and chewed fast! It was literally a whole cow brain in broth! But back to the organic restaurant, we had spinach chicken wraps and a wonderful tomato bisque soup. The owner is a North American and her mission in life is to educate Nicaraguans about organic farming and healthy cooking. This place was just what we needed after our homestays. We took a bus to and from countries, it is a 12 hour ride, so I slept a lot and chatted with friends.

Now back in San Jose for school I have a big paper due Monday on Latin American Cinema. Please pray for me as I go through this. Then tomorrow my Dad is coming to visit for 2 weeks, so I am very excited to show him around. The next portion of my semester will be in our concentrations. I chose Language and Literature. For this part we travel to Panama on March 12th, so soon I know!

Alright, I hope letter this finds everyone wonderful!! I will be back in 2 months! Love you all!

Claire Scholl
EagleVision News Team-- Latin American Correspondent
www.biola.edu/eaglevision