Another Day in the Sun

It has been about a week since my last post, but about a month´s worth of events have been played over. There is so much to share that I fear I won´t be able to share it all.But I promised to talk about a few things, and then some.

Soccer. Every day at 5 the community kids (and older) get together to play soccer. I´ve played with them a few times now, and it has been a blast. The rules are very basic, and there are way too many men on the field. But it´s all great fun, and I have really enjoyed it... I can hold my own in soccer. I love yelling in Spanish, because it´s just more fun that way.

As I´ve mentioned, there is a large town about 20 minutes bus ride north of Sabana Grande, called Ocotal. It has hardware stores, grocery stores, restaurants, and internet cafes, among other things. This is where we will go to do most of our shopping for food and materials, as well as to use the internet. Today, however, I am in a town called Esteli, which is a 2 hour bus ride south of Sabana Grande. Esteli is much larger, and offers a much greater variety. Here I am purchasing a few materials for the solar autoclave that I can´t get in Ocotal, as well as drawing out money, because no ATMs in Ocotal take Mastercard.

Ocotal was the first city ever to undergo aerial bombardment, courtesy of the United States Marine Corps.

The project is moving along wonderfully. CJ, who I´ve mentioned is one of the non-UD volunteers here, has been here with his wife, Jenny, since last July, and is here until this July. He has, quite literally, written the manual on solar cookers, and so is the ultimate expert on them. I have recruited him to help me with a modified solar cooker which can be used for my solar autoclave. He needs a few more pictures and details for his manual as well, so it is mutually beneficial.

We have ordered the necessary word needed for the construction, and it will be here by Friday morning. On Friday, we will work with the village carpenter, Marcio, to cut them down to size and fabricate the wood as otherwise necessary. Marcio is an exquisite carpenter, and makes gorgeous beds, dressers, cabinets, tables, ect. He runs the most profitable business at Sabana Grande.

I am excited to have their help. I am also excited that the project is finally moving ahead here in Nicaragua, after 8 months of planning. Today, as I have mentioned, I am in Esteli gathering the funds necessary for the carpentry work, as well as a few materials that are inacessible elsewhere, mainly window locks wich will be used for the door of the autoclave. This also leaves tommorrow and Thursday to get everything else necessary from Ocotal, and have everything prepared for Friday´s construction. I´m excited!

Even though it is the rainy season, it really has not rained too much yet. Patience, though.

Once again I need to express my affection for Scarlett, because she has been a great niece. She has me hold her hand when we go adventuring, and we play UNO together, as well as watched Ratatouille (my favorite animated film ever) in Spanish together with Roberto, the brilliant Scottish live-in. I have taught her how to play Egyptian Ratscrew, as well as Hangman, which is great for learning the alphabet and other words. (We play in Spanish of course). She taught me how to play Speed, even though I already knew how to play. Also, every day I take home children´s books from the library at the Solar Center, and we read them together. She reads a page, and then I read one, and then she corrects me. Every now and then, we will get something in English, which Roberto and I will have her read. Her English is very heavy, and she doesn´t understand, but she is getting better with the sounds and pronunciations.

Large groups of us did go adventuring. Saturday we all went out on a hike along a river, stepping along the stones, trying not to fall in. At the end of the rainbow was a waterfall, which fed into a very large swimming hole, into which a few locals and some other crazies (ahem Pete) did not hesitate to jump into. I watched for awhile, thinking that I knew exactly what fed into the swimming from the stream overhead. However, I can´t resist cliff diving and just general merriment, so I eventually swam too. Rather, I dove (head-first, mind you), then swam for a few seconds, them climbed right out and rinsed off. Matteo (Matt) fell ill that night. He was apparently under the weather, but swimming in the cess pool - read: swimming hole - was certainly the straw that broke the camels back.

We also hiked up a very large mountain. It was spectacular, the view. And very dangerous. Unfortunately, I still do not have a camera, so I was not able to take pictures. I do expect to be tagged in Facebook by the others, though! When Lori arrives in a few weeks, she will be bringing a new camera for me with her. =]

My Spanish has been improving dramatically, mostly because I am studying very, very hard. Like I mentioned, I take home children´s books every day, which I read both by myself and with Scarlett and Roberto. I also listen to my Spanish tapes once a day, which are in half hour sessions. Also, every morning, from 8 to 10, the four of us UD volunteers have been taking Spanish classes with 2 professors that come in from Totogalpa, five minutes away. Finally, I just try to talk Spanish whenever I can. Last night, I had a dream where I spoke Spanish!

Ok, so it has come to that time again where I need to get going. I do enjoy relaying what I can to you all, but I also have other tasks on my to-do lists. For those of you checking in from your other ETHOS locations, I sincerely hope your trips are going equally well. Also, I hope everything in the US is swell, and that gas prices have jumped down to 0.50 cents a gallon (no? What are they?).

Peace to all,
-Daniel