Nicaragua

Finally I have returned from my ten day trip to Nicaragua. I'm so glad I went even though it was a somewhat last minute decision. I was nervous and excited when I found out I would be going by myself, but after I met other people there I found I was worrying for nothing. The night before the big trip, my sister, dad and I stayed at a hotel in Washington D.C. because I was flying on a different airline. Saying goodbye was hard and sitting in the airplane alone made me miss them already. I fell asleep for the flight to Houston then I struggled to meet up with the rest of the group. A few minutes before the gate was closed I made it and met up with the rest of the group heading to Nicaragua. After arriving burst of warm air swarmed around us. It felt so nice but like in Ghana we were all wearing out coats and long pants so we were practically roasting. We made our way through customs and the people at the airport searched through all of our bags. After what seemed like and hour we finally made it out of the airport and onto the bus. It was a tight fit on the bus and about and hour drive to the ranch so I spent most of my time looking out the window. It was very similar to Ghana but I liked it more because unlike Ghana even the city had quite a bit of green. Being in Ghana definitely helped me in this situation because I was use to this sort of atmosphere. After a very bumpy ride on a dirt road we finally made it to Rancho Ebenezer. I stayed in a room with two other girls, a Denison student named Zara and another girl named Rachael. The other kids were Zach and Seth Dobbalaer. We all stayed in very ugly dorm rooms with bunk beds. The colors in the room alone were pretty bright in obnoxious (although I shouldn't be talking giving that I live in a bright pink and green bedroom.) We had our first meal which tasted very good, then I found out it was Rabbit. After this, beans and rice became my permanent meal. After eating we went around to explore the farm. Everyone was so kind and the workers let us see the pigs, rabbits, goats, and gardens. It was so beautiful at the ranch and it made me never want to leave. That night I took the coldest shower I have ever taken then slept better then I had slept in a long time. The next morning we woke up super early at the sound of the breakfast bell, at 6:30. Guess what I had for breakfast...beans and rice. After breakfast we had devotions which I found very interesting before we began farm work. The first experience I had with farm work was shoveling goat poop into bags, then transporting the bags to the worms who turned it into rich soil. Let me just clarify, this was not my favorite task. Often the person shoveling would miss the bag and poor goat poop on the person holding the bag. I was usually the person holding the bag. A few days later the translator, Farrin, and all the kids walked to a town that was about and hour away from the ranch. It was very hot but the walk was absolutely beautiful. We saw ox carts and from a distance the volcano, we also passed many kids who would run out saying, "Hola, Hola, photo?" The walk was very fun and we finally got to a grocery story called, Pali. We soon found out that this store was a Nicaraguan Walmart. At the store I decided to get peanut butter so that a few days I could have something other than beans and rice. We were way too tired to walk back so we got a taxi, because it was so cheap we only had to pay a dollar each. Another day one of our tasks was to paint a dorm room. It turns out that the paint was oil based paint and it smelled more disgusting than the goat poop. It made us very light headed and we would ocasionally have to walk outside and sit on the porch for a while. Another perk about oil based paint is that the only way to get it off is with paint thinner, another very toxic substance. That night we all went up on the roof for about two hours and stared up at the stars. We went through the same process for many days after eat, work, paint, stargaze, eat, and sleep. When Tuesday came along we were all so thrilled. On Tuesday was our trip to the Pacific Ocean and we had all been looking forward to it for a whole week now. We had the best time ever that day! All of us ran straight into the water from the bus and were greeted by a series of chilly waves. It was impossible to get warm so for a while we walked around the town and went shopping. Then one of the highlights of my trip, we ate Pizza! Even though compared to pizza in the U.S it would have been bad, it tasted like a piece of heaven the form of bread, sauce, and cheese. We ended up watching the sunset then I took a walk on the beach with Zack, and Seth. To top off our amazing day we saw fire dancers on the beach. The whole way back to the ranch I slept. Throughout the whole week we had been spending the afternoons with the kids of the women in the sewing group. They were very shy at first but after they got to know us we had a very fun time. All of them loved to get their picture taken and they would come up to you and blow bubbles in your face. One little girl, Hazel even tried to teach me some Spanish with sidewalk chalk. The next day at the fiesta we all had an amazing time, we danced with the little kids and with each other. We all tried the pinata (mostly missing) and played Limbo. We were up very late that night helping to clean up and saying goodbye to all the kids. The next day was our final day to we finished up some of the dorm rooms we were painting and said goodbye to all our new friends. The hardest goodbye for me were all the little kids that we had spent to much time with. I will never forget there sweetness and patience with us as we tried to understand them. We stayed up late that night packing and stargazing, we saw six shooting stars that night. Going to bed was sad because I knew it was my last night in Nicaragua but I was also so excited to get home. We left very early and stopped at Farrin's house before going to the airport and heading home. The security on the way back was absolutely horrible. We must have looked pretty suspicious because the drug sniffing dogs came over and they had them smell our bags. The stupid(but cute) dog almost ate my bread that I had been dieing to bring back! It was even worse when we got to Houston and barely made it to our next gate. I was so excited to see my dad there and finally when we got home I was so excited to see the rest of my family. Nicaragua was an amazing experience that I will never forget and next year I can't wait to return.