Day 3 Nicaragua

Day 3 July 5th, 2007:

Waking up, once again to Isa screaming. This time she was actually screaming tho, she was in pain. She was yelling for her mom even tho she was right there. I guess she had a sinus headache, she had a fever and kept saying her nose and head hurt. She’s just so cute it was so hard to watch. Akhil was frustrated with her but even I found it hard to be because she’s just so good the rest of the time.

Once again checking if the internet worked and finding that it didn’t I went out to the deck with everyone. As I watched the ocean from the deck I thought about home and how I haven’t talked to anyone in days. Its so weird to have absolutely no communication. I guess that’s partly why I’m writing this, to feel like I’m telling someone how everything is going. Even if no one reads it I will be glad to have a detailed account of what I did so I will not forget anything. Pictures are great but they can only show so much. And don’t show everything we did in the day. Taking them around people just makes me feel more touristy and makes more people look at us even more.

Anyway, after checking the stupid internet Lee was making breakfast: eggs, and potatoes. I offered to help and ended up cooking eggs. As we were finishing the cooking the cleaning ladies showed up so we all decided to go down the beach to get out of their way. As we headed down I looked at how beautiful it was all over again. There are aloe plants everywhere down here, fitting for all the sunburns I suppose. At beach I laid in the sun for a while to heat up while everyone else went in search of cool rocks. As I laid on the towel in the sun sweat was dripping down my face and back. When it just got to hot I ran into the cool ocean. The most refreshing feeling ever. Amy joined me and soon everyone else did. We swam for hours, again. Then I moved my towel into the shade (relative term since the heat is awesome) and read my book for a while. The walk back up the steep path made my leg and butt muscles burn. I passed our neighbors, whose names I cannot remember at the moment. They are really nice though, they offered us their pool anytime we wanted since theirs is big and ours was obviously not done. They live in Reno but are trying to live here as much as possible. Back up at the house we all relaxed for a while. I wrote, Lee and Amy painted, Velvet and Isa read a book, and Ak and Jason did something with a rock and a hammer. I think they were trying to get a fossil out of a bigger rock.

After a few hours of relaxing everyone piled in the truck again to go to Rivas, the nearest town with grocery stores and things. Amy, Lee and I were in the bed of the truck again. My butt will be so sore by the end of this trip. Rivas is about 45 minutes from the house and it’s over bumpy roads. We picked up a woman and her two kids on the way down, they were walking from close to were we live all the way to Tola which is probably three or four miles. They all walk everywhere down here. She had a son and a daughter; 5 and 8 years old. They were adorable. We dropped them off at their home, about a third of the way to where we were going. We continued on to Rivas. We ate at a place called “Pizza Hot” which actually had really good pizza. Then we got a lot of groceries at the same store we’d stopped at on the first day. About 1600 cordobas worth. There are 18 cordobas in a dollar so it wasn’t even a hundred dollars and we had more than a whole shopping cart full. By time we were ready to leave again it was almost dark. Climbing, once again into the bed of the truck, this time with all the groceries we headed off. Looking up into the sky every star is clearly visible. The big dipper is turned so it is vertical, I almost didn’t recognize it. Wishing I knew more constellations I stare at them, as if transfixed. There are so many and I know that there are so many patterns in them if only I could recognize them.

Back at the house we unloaded the groceries. It was strangely satisfying to be able to fill the cupboards with something other than a few measly pots and some salt that we had borrowed from the neighbors. With everything put away Lee and Amy settled into a game of Gin Rummy, Jason and Ak went to the beach, Velvet and Isa coloring, and me typing as usual. About ten minutes or so went by before little Isa came over to me and, in such a whisper I could barely hear her says “would you like to come paint with me?” Now, this girl was extremely shy towards me this whole trip and would barely say a couple words to me and here she was staring up at me with what I can only describe as puppy eyes, it is impossible to say no. When I went over to “paint” with her I discovered that her “paint” actually meant color. Velvet explained that, in Guatemala the word “pintar”, to paint, is used for coloring and painting and the only way they differentiate is by saying the tool that they are going to use. Coloring with her for a while was adorable. Velvet got her to eat her medicine so we would not all be up all night with her screaming but she did not want to go to bed, she wanted to “paint with Brie” but I told her I was tired too and it was my bed time. She asked her mom if it was “ok if I put Brie to bed” and, of course Velvet said yes so Isa spent the next few minutes tucking me into my bed and kissing me goodnight. Possibly the cutest thing I have ever seem in my life. A four year old tucking in a seventeen year old. As she went into her room to go to bed she ran back to me one last time, hugged me and said “goodnight”.

After Isa was in bed I went out and joined Lee and Amy playing Rummy. It is quite fun! I’d never played before. Shortly everyone went to bed and I am now sitting up in the dark writing this and watching Alias. I’m going to bed now too. The gecko that stays in the house makes it a little hard to sleep though. He makes clicking noises that sound more like metal knocking together than any animal. They are adorable though, they climb all over the ceiling. Night.