Saturday, March 5- Classes continue

With the roosters' help, we were all up and walking to breakfast in plenty of time for breakfast.  Some of the houses are quite uniquely painted, others just beside them are unpainted and tiny.

We learned that Nicaragua time is not always the same as ours.  Students finally ambled in about 9:20 with 4 new students and missing 2 of yesterday's.  We let them teach the new  students first and then taught all those present the day 2 lesson.

Part of the activity was to act out the parting of the Red Sea- and Moses striking the rock to get water (Yep, water related Bible stories)   They really got into the skit  and seemed to have a great time- especially the folks who portrayed Moses and Pharaoh. I had made 3 banners (one for each church involved) on which we would put hand prints.  One saying Gracias to First Pres, Richmond, another saying Gracias to Westminster and the third for the Kukra Hill church to keep with a reminder that cleans hands = healthy bodies.  It is a messy activity, but we accomplished it with a minimum of problems.
Lunch consisted of fish, veggies, rice and fruit with a sort of pie dessert.

After lunch we cleaned up all our stuff, packed the big red duffle bag and tidied up the church for worship in the morning.  We moved our chairs and "table" out of the way.

Thanks, Dane for the pic.

Guys were still toiling away in the water building, so Pastor Aaron offered to take Kate and me on a tour of the town.  First we walked a couple of blocks to the river, which legend says is inhabited by a serpent, where some ladies were doing laundry.  This is where Pastor Aaron baptises adults.

After our walking tour we drove out to see where the government has built houses for indigenous people (Meskit indians), saw lots of plants (banana trees, coconut trees, papaya and others I've not heard of.  We went to Irene's house (she's head of the water board and also in my class) to see her deer.

She has 2 doe and 2 fawns that are quite friendly.  One of the does licked my hand.  Baseball is very popular in Nicaragua, more popular than football/soccer.  We went by a baseball field and Kate met one of Aaron's nephews in uniform.

Aaron chopped "sweet" coconuts on his property and had so many they would hardly fit in the car.

When we returned the system was all together, but there were some problems with fittings and getting it to function smoothly.  There were leaks.  I should mention at this point that 2 young men were learning the operation and maintenance of the system as well as assisting in the construction.  These 2 will be the operators and responsible for the continued functioning and upkeep of the filtration system.  Much of the health of the community rides on these young shoulders.

We went back to our room for a bit and while reading on the porch, I watched a man cut the grass with a wicked looking machete.

Supper was Nicaraguan tacos-- shreaded beef with cabbage salad, and yep, rice.

Walked back to the room, talked awhile on the porch and went to bed.
No classes tomorrow- we will be in worship at 10:30 and 6 pm.  Walter will preach (he's the youngest person who isn't a pastor).

Class begins- Friday March 4

From my door watching a rain cloud

While I'm not used to sleeping with a fan on, it felt good because of the humidity and lack of A/C.  A friendly neighborhood rooster woke me at 4, then I took the first of a week of COLD showers.  There is a tank of water for showers/bathroom faucets-- whatever temp the water in the tank is, that's the temp of the water in the pipes.  Only one knob in either place.  I was reminded of a saying Lily learned at daycare a couple of years ago-- "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit".  I learned later that a warm shower could be enjoyed in mid afternoon.

We had rain showers most every morning.  I sat on the porch and read every morning, enjoying the coolness of the rain.    One afternoon, the rain hit a hot tin roof and evaporated as fast as it hit the roof.

Breakfast was ham and eggs with of course rice and some yogurt.  The guys were anxious to have coffee of which there was none.  When they were given the option, it was instant coffee with tepid water.  The water was barely warm enough to make tea.  I do think this was a disappointment to the heavy duty coffee drinkers in the group. My guess is that our cook and our hosts do not have hot beverages for breakfast.

The water building before our improvements-- before we could come to bring the filtration system, the well and water building with electricity had to be finished and in place.  According to stories I heard, the electrician just finished wiring the building less than 2 weeks before we arrived.

Dane's pics.

Pastor Kate and I went to the church and set up for class.  We unpacked the 60 pound bag and organized the papers that had been brought for this and future classes.

Big Red- 60#'s of teaching supplies

The reason everything was so heavy was that we were instructed at clean water U to prepare for 150-200 people to take the class before we come back next year to be sure all is in working order.

Students arrived at 9-- we talked about ourselves and asked about them and their families.  We begin with Creation information and move from there to germ science and songs about germs.  We had 9 students that first day--Sugey, Lindsy, Lizbeth, Katia, Ivania, Isabel and Leonardo were all eager and anxious to learn.

 The majority of them spoke pretty understandable English, but only some could read English.  Our first health activity was using Agar in petri dishes to grow germs from their hands and from the well water.  The program is planned for our "teachers in training" to teach new students in the afternoon, but that didn't happen.  Not sure whether no one got the message, or whether no one wanted to come-- Doesn't matter- we worked around that stipulation.

The electricity went out in the neighborhood which hampered the progress of the filtration system some.  After organizing for Saturday's class, Pastor Kate and I walked back to the hotel and relaxed as well as possible without electricity.

At the appointed time we walked back for supper which consisted of casaba root,  a little meat, cabbage salad and pork rinds- followed by an interesting cake.  All our meals were served in the minister's house and most were brought to us already "plated"

Walked back to hotel using flashlight-- seems really safe to be out walking after dark-

More travel-- Thursday, March 3, 16

Thursday- March 3

In Blue Field

We got to La Costena  airport- next door to major airport, still across the street from Mercedes Best Western Hotel about 5 am- checked in at 5:30.  Since the 6 of us are flying together, they weighed all our bags  and figured the overage for all.    Went through security, which was minimal.  

The other people meeting us in Managua from Richmond, Va had a problem flying in on Delta on Wed--- their flight was delayed and they did not get to Managua til 2 am.  Customs was closed, so they couldn’t get their bags.  They went to the hotel, slept a few hours and Bill met us at La Costena to fly out with us.  Steve stayed to rescue their luggage (which included vital parts of the water filtration system we were there to install).   Another glitch occurred when we were told that 3 of our bags would not go out on the same flight we were traveling.  This airline makes the same route 2-3 times a day, so our bags would be on the later flight Steve would travel to get to Blue Fields.  We got on our small plane (about 45 passengers) and  went, we thought to Blue Field.   The plane landed  and “Corn Island” was announced.  Hmmm, we didn’t know our flight  was island hopping, but it was.  Many folks got out at Corn Island, and about as many got on and we left again.   This time when we landed it was in Blue Field.  Sure enough when the luggage was unloaded, the 3 we expected to be missing were absent, along with 2 others.  My suitcase full of teaching supplies was one of the ones we knew were to come on the next flight, but I didn’t realize that my clothing and essential papers and teaching manual  would also be missing.  The folks at the airline insisted that they would all be on the next flight (with Steve). 

Taxis are everywhere—and cheap.  Since there were 7 of us now, we had to have 2 taxis which charged 20 Cordovas per person for anywhere in the city.  One dollar equals 25-28 Cordovas depending on where you get your money changed.   The taxis took us to the Central Moravian church of Blue Field where we were met by the Bishop.  Several people were there to guide us, give us water, allow us to store our luggage, suggest places for lunch/breakfast.   Very hospitable people. I picked up an interesting children's Bible story book to look at and the Bishop gave it to me.  (He said they had boxes of them for the children).  As I read through it, days later, I discovered 2 stories in the book I'd never heard.  That's not a bad average- 2 of 101.  One had to do with a choir in battle (kinda) and the other was about lepers and Syria.  Anyway, very interesting book.

We walked to a nearby restaurant and had breakfast.  Good food, relaxing atmosphere. 

After eating we walked back to the church and waited for Steve (Bill and Harry had gone to the airport to meet him and help him with the extra bags.)   We walked around “shopping” some folks bought snacks/candy.  But mostly we just looked around. 

Thanks Dane for the picture

One particular memory is of the smell of unrefrigerated shrimp and other seafood being sold out of a sidewalk stand.  Not the most appetizing smell of the trip. 

We were finally reunited with ALL the baggage and our group now numbered 8.  We loaded up in taxis for our Panga ride (river taxi)  The cost was 115 Cordovas per person which we paid after being loaded into the boat.  I wish I could tell you more about the boat, but all I know is that 25 or so of us were crammed in, were given life jackets and I don’t think I’ve ever been on a faster boat ride.  

Thanks to D Argentini for these 2 pictures.

The motor was a Yamaha 200 and we didn’t slow down the entire 35 minute trip.  The pilot drove FULL THROTTLE the whole time.  I was on the right side and got drenched on one sleeve and pants leg. 

I discovered later that the community of Kukra Hill where we were for 6 days has NO postal service and if they need something from Blue Field it will most likely come by Panga.  In the midst of constructing the flitration system, another filter was needed.  It had to be obtained from Blue Field and was shipped on the panga.

Kukra Hill Panga dock-- Thnks Dane

Pastor Aaron Bennett picked us up at the dock and we drove to the KH Moravian church.  We saw the “water building” and all the parts that had been shipped by panga – some of the items needed had to be brought from the U.S. because they weren’t available in Nicaragua. 

After checking out the water building, we were taken to our hotel.  We’d been told this  was the nicest place in town to stay and is less than a year old.  The outside color is very restful and typical of other buildings in the town.  The inside was another matter.  I figured the rooms (all identical size) were about 8 X 8 feet square with a bathroom approx. 3 x 5 feet.  I won’t even describe the inside colors except to say that they seemed brighter than the pictures show. 

And those of you who know me, know how I feel about green.  Three of the 6 rooms were air conditioned, one of the un-airconditioned rooms was set up as a double with 2 twin beds.  I was on the end in #6 an un-airconditioned room.    What more can I say, it was a place to put our things, to sleep, to have a COLD shower, and to go for some alone time.  I am sure it was the nicest place in town to stay. 

Our meals were provided by Pastor Arron’s sister-in-law, Debbie.  She is a good cook who is expanding her restaurant and she catered all our meals.  This first night our plate contained shrimp, rice, plantains and cabbage salad.  During the week we saw LOTS of rice and lots of plantains and cabbage salad

After supper, we went for ice cream down the street.  One scoop in a cone was 15 Cordobas (about 60 cents)  

Got back to the hotel early—all of our days ended rather early—about 8  And slept—Until the roosters decided we should wake up..

March 2- Wed-- Houston, Managua and tour.

Early, early flight to Houston- kept me from sleeping well the night before, but excitement and a little terror kept me awake during the flight/s today- March 2.  I've never flown with United airlines before, but they aren't very different from other North American airlines.  They do have a clever safety message at the beginning of the flight.  Since it was so early, we were given a breakfast waffle-ish cookie as a snack.  Not sure where it originated, but its name is Stroopwaffel and was a light crisp cookie with a sweet filling.

We received one on the flight from DFW to

Houston and again from Houston to Managua.   Very uneventful flight except for having to pay way too much for my overweight second suitcase containing most of the teaching supplies.  I have already been thinking of a way to avoid such a huge charge the next time we go.  On the flight from Houston to Managua we were treated to a sight of an active volcano, Momotombo.


Our hotel was literally across the street from the airport, so we were in our rooms in no time, we freshened up and rested til time to go on our prearranged city tour of Managua. The Best Western Hotel did not have "clean" water in the bathroom as the picture indicates.

 Our tour guide Tonia and the driver Gerald were very knowledgable and helpful in answering our questions.  I know better, but I left my notebook in the room during the tour, so I later recorded only the facts and items of information that I could remember from her recitation of revolution after revolution and hurricanes and earthquakes.  This has been a truly beleaguered country/city. The driver stopped at a service station with an ATM, so some of us could purchase Cordovas (Nica money) During the tour, we saw many official buildings, parks and "trees of life", which dot the city in various colors.

Our tour ended at the Restaurante de Dona Haydee-- very typical Nicaraguan cuisine-- where we met with Belinda and Juan who work with the Living Waters network and who help to make arrangements for our systems and travel advice.  Food was interesting, had I known more about what I was ordering, I might have made a different choice, but it was tasty and different.  It was basically shreaded beef mixed with cooked cornmeal.  The best part of the meal was the "refresco" (drink) made from melon juice.  Mmmmm
Went back to the Best Western and enjoyed a good night's sleep, but it was a bit short because of our flight out early on Thursday morning.

Postponement is over

New dates for the trip--- the building to house the water filtration system has been finished and now we can make definite plans.  We leave from DFW really early on March 2, returning mid day on March 10th.

Planning for Nicaragua

I'm a part of a 6 person church group going to Kukra Hill, Nicaragua, very soon (late Feb, 2016) to install a water filtration system under the sponsorship of Living Water for the World organization.  Our installation will be in connection with the Moravian church in the community.  My part in this project will be to teach community people about hygiene and proper use of the filtered water.  I attended Clean Water Univ. in Mississippi in April, 2015, to learn how to do this and get needed materials.  (see blog posts about that adventure)  Several of you are thinking, how will you teach them in Spanish, since your Spanish is limited.   From what we have been told, this community speaks and understands English, but only reads and writes in Spanish.  That is an interesting challenge.  We will do hand out sheets in both languages, maybe front/back.

My major challenge for this project has been to collect all the "stuff" so that the 4-6 community people we teach can then, in turn, teach the entire community after we leave.  We need to take copied handouts (about 200 of each) laminated posters and other things that must be kept, several "science experiments" concerning germs.  Most everything we take will stay in the town for the "head" teachers to use to teach the rest of the community.   Most of the "stuff" is gathered and now must be inventoried and packed after we practice the lesson plans to be sure we understand how to accomplish our goals.  This weekend I copied most of the materials to be taken with us, using over 3 reams of paper (heavy).

The trip will take about a week with detailed traveling to and from.  We will fly from DFW to Houston, from Houston to Managua, Nicaragua, from Managua to Blue Fields. After arriving in Blue Field, we still aren't there, we have a bus ride and a water taxi before arriving at Kukra Hill.

I will be taking notes and making plans for blog posts while there, but will not be taking my electronics for various reasons.  Should anyone need to get a message in or out, Pastor Kate will have her lap top and will hopefully be sending and receiving messages.

I will be taking pictures and writing the blog, by day, when I return.  Should be ready for publication by early March.

flowers

As previously mentioned the hanging baskets were astonishing, lovely and made the ones on our deck look really puny.  They must hire floral artists to create and groom these examples.  They are found in front of stores, in out door restaurants, everywhere.