Spoiled rotten in Nicaragua

Hola friends and family. Sorry for the delay in updating our blog, but here goes...

We left Costa Rica on a 7:30 a.m. bus last week and didn´t arrive in Managua, Nicaragua until 5:30 that evening. The actual ride wasn´t bad since we had asked for the front row with ample leg room! We enjoyed the scenery, movies on our laptop, and fellow passengers. The border was an interesting experience to say the least! Before officially leaving Costa Rica, we all had to exit the bus, where we were greeted by 30 men who all had a variety of currencies and were competing for currency exchanges. After getting exit stamps on our visas and passports, we all got back on the bus. We drove literally 10 feet over the border and were asked to get off another time to enter Nicaraguan customs. We had to gather all of our luggage (we quickly regretted packing so many bags) from under the bus and line up. Once it was our turn, we were asked to press a button. Paul and I couldn´t fathom what was going to happen, but we pressed the button and got a green light on the street light, which apparently meant we were free to go. It was great lugging those 4 huge bags for nothing!

We were greeted at the bus station in Managua by our now dear friend, Rodney. My sister-in-law´s (Becca) mom (Sally) was born in Managua. Rodney is her cousin. We were very thankful she helped us get in contact with him because we had our best week of our trip with him! We were spoiled rotten, although it was easy after roughing it on the farm for 3 weeks. We were driven around by his chauffeur, Juan Ramon, and were served coffee (on a silver platter), breakfast, lunch, and dinner by his maids/cooks. One of his maids has a 9 month-old son, Rodrigo, who also lived in the house. We loved playing with him since we had been too deprived of children. We enjoyed learning and eating the typical, home-cooked Nicaraguan food at his house, which was easily the best food we have had during this trip. We FINALLY had hot showers. Not only were they hot, but there was so much pressure that it felt like a massage. Either we truly haven´t had a good shower in a long time or this was the best shower head in the world.

Rodney served as a great historian and entertainer. He caught us up on Nicaraguan history and culture. We also enjoyed watching movies with him in the evening. Luckily for us, he speaks fluent English, since he has lived over 15 years in the states throughout his life. We loved getting to know this amazing guy, who is now who we call our Nicaraguan grandpa. He took us with him to donate Christmas money to old friends of his who are less fortunate. He told us that he wanted us to see how some people live in this world so we can appreciate everything we have. Everywhere we went, it seemed as though everyone knew and loved Rodney.

He even took us to his beach house twice during our 5 day stay. On our second trip to the beach, I got locked inside the bathroom! This was a new house that Rodney looked after as it was built for his friends, so it was a good thing I tested it out. We now know the bathroom door definitely does not work. I had to climb up to the window and yell for help to everyone. Finally, Rodney´s friend heard me and came over to see where I was. Apparently, Paul didn´t move from his hammock when Rodney told him I was stuck in the bathroom because he thought it was a joke! They got a ladder and helped me climb out from the window. It was nice to be saved by others and not my husband. Just kidding, he eventually showed up and pitched in!

Rodney drove us 45 minutes to Granada on Sunday and helped us move into our volunteer house. It would have been an easier transition if we had gone straight from the farm to this house. Instead, we were spoiled rotten by Rodney and have found ourselves wondering where the hot showers, hot meals, and personal driver were all this week! Honestly, the place is not bad at all. We have our own room and bathroom with, yet again, cold showers. We felt a little like we were on the Real World show when we met all these young people from all over the world who are now our roommates. There is an American guy from North Dakota, 3 girls from Holland, and 2 girls from Chile. They are all very easy to get along with, so we lucked out.

I won´t go into too much detail about our volunteer work quite yet. We´ll save that for another blog since it has only been 3 days. We are enjoying the children and Spanish practice greatly! We like Granada a lot. It is a beautiful town with colorful colonial buildings. The guidebook insisted the best hair cuts are in the barber shops in Granada. Paul was surprised to see nothing was correctly written in the guidebook when he tested it out. I don´t think the lady quite understood his English requests. She brought out the clippers before he knew what was going on, so he politely just walked out bald. I still haven´t been able to stop laughing everytime I look at him, which isn´t too nice of me! It has been a great source of entertainment over the past few days.

Thanks for following our blog. We´ll update again shortly with more pictures and info on the volunteering. Here are some pictures for now:

Rodney's house:
One of our many wonderful, Nicaraguan meals. Sorry it is sideways. This internet is too slow to wait for it to re-load the right way:
The house where I got stuck in the bathroom! That roof apparently took the local guys 1 day to build:
Paul relaxing at the beach:
Look, Dad - I'm wearing one of Rodney's hats to protect me from the sun. Evidence:
Rodney relaxing in a hammock:
Check out this beautiful beach sunset:
Paul at sunset:

Nina with Rodrigo and Irania at Rodney's beach:
Our bedroom/bathroom:

Our garden and drying lines:
Some of our roommates in our kitchen:
Our TV room (you can't sit on the furniture without a sheet because the bats like to use the bathroom on them. I was surprised to hear we are living with mice and bats):
Paul's haircut. By the way, this was taken today...2 days after the damage had been done. Imagine what it had looked like fresh!:

Love,
Nina and Paul