Nicaragua -- February 16 PM

Today was very fun and also exhausting. We were supposed to work from 8 till 11 am and then go up to the preserve with our Esteli friends. We worked a little longer, maybe till 2 or 2:30 and then get in Curtains, our bus and after a brief stop at our hotel, we drove up to the cloud mountain. We were crammed into the bus with all of us and the Esteli staff. Also with us is a woman named Edith who is a botanist and also plays guitar very well. She made a very good tour guide. All the way up, I sat with Jessie who is Chilo's 16 year old daughter. She is trying to learn English. We would point at things and I would say it in English and she would say it in Spanish. Meanwhile Roger was trying to talk with Edith. Dave sat in between Roger and me and translated like crazy.

The cloud mountain. The air has enough humidity that the plants are greener. There are pine trees there but it was not cold. We hiked a short distance to a bed and breakfast (actually looked like two new wooden cabins.)

The preserve has a bed and breakfast (three cabins and a family

that lives there cooks for you) And they made us an excellent

dinner.  The preserve was beautiful with natural orange, coffee

and plantains growing all around.  There were pines and what looked

something like oak trees. 

There the Esteli staff entertained us with Edith playing some traditional Nicaraguan songs. Then Ronnie played his self-penned song. Last year for his birthday, the Hope Clinic team had bought him a guitar. This year he can play well and is writing songs. The food was delicious. You had a choice: chicken soup which appeared to be 1/2 of a chicken in broth or 1/2 of a chicken cooked over open flames in a spicy special mix. Actually you didn't have a choice and I luckily got the barbeque chicken. It was very, very good. The staff got each a little present, a keychain or something. They are very tender hearted. We appreciated greatly their help to us. There were definitely tears, but we were not to separate so soon.

We drove down to Esteli, arriving later than planned. Bridget said, "okay ten minutes to bring your suitcases down and load onto the bus. " We entered the hotel courtyard and there was a mariachi band which immediately began to play for us. We each danced with a staff member. It was fun. Then transfer the suitcases to a bus and then get the pharmacy stuff and we are finally off. We arrived in Jinotega about 11:30 at night. The Esteli staff had ridden up with us. There were many more tears.

Finally we were off to Jinotega.  This was a loong uphill bus ride

in a bus that was probably used by some North American School past

its useful life.  We arrived late in Jinotega and they insisted

that we go eat as they had already prepared food for us.  First we

wanted to drop off all the pharmacy stuff at the clinic which 

looked pretty nice.  The St Vincent DePaul Society runs the clinic

out of a sort of boarding house.  (hard to describe because just

about everything here is built of cinderblocks or cement.  So

nothing looks like a house.  Then we ate and then went to bed.

A very long day.

But the St. Vincent Depaul people in Jinotega (Heeno- tayga) are men. And they had been waiting for us. They told us that the people at the restaraunt had been waiting hours for us and that we must eat or we would insult them. So, several of us went to eat. I saw a beautiful painting on the wall and when I purchased it, they were not mad at us any longer. The hotel here is not the same. There is a very narrow stairway with a rickety metal railing. I could barely fit my suitcase through. The room has just enough for three beds (Ron, Roger, and me) and the bathroom is a shower and commode and sink in as close proximity as is impractical. Still no visible bugs so we cannot complain.