Today, after a breakfast of huevos y gallo pinto, I headed over to meet the group and we all went to Los Quinchos again to continue working on our project there. The idea is to clear out debrie (rocks, weeds, etc) in order for us to be able to plant different fruits and vegetables (cebollas, platanos, etc) along the path alongside the mountain that leads to they boy's dorm area. The organization then hopes to use these vegetables to make the site sustainable (and eventually possibly generate a cashflow of some kind by selling them). The work was hard, especially in the heat, but I found interacting with the boys (even with the language barrier) to be very fun once again.
I returned home for lunch, where Señora Nidia and I watched a Nicaraguan telenovela. The news came on next and the anchor announced that Donna Summer (pronounced "Don-ah Sue-meir") died and Señora acted as if she was someone in my family (just because she is American and so am I), I thought it was very cute.
After lunch we went on a tour of the city and it was great to be able to get a refresher on the history of Nicaragua, and even better to learn about the city of Granada itself. We climbed to the top of a church bell tower and got to see the whole city, which I also thought was very cool. After that came the highlight of my trip thus far. We went to Sor Maria Romero where I was greeted by at least two hugs and a fiesta with music, dancing, and a bunch of silly games. Evan donated a soccer ball to the site and we immediately ran for the court to play. I loved playing futbol with the kids and seeing how happy they were to have a soccer ball to play with (they had previously been playing with a volley ball). I made a few little buddies. One kid was named "Sesha"-at least that's how it sounded, not sure if I spelt it right- and we had a blast being on the same team. Despite the heat and my being drenched in sweat within five minutes, I didn't want to leave...
At dinner today I really got talking with Mirella, Señora Nidia's daughter who works at BanCentro in Managua during the day. The conversation wasn't really about anything in specific, all the different apects about our lives, the weather in Nueva Jersey, and other random things, but it was a great way to become more comfortable speaking Spanish with the family before Bradford gets here tonight.
One last thing woth noting...when we went out tonight, a street kid who was obviously VERY high from sniffing glue came up to our table and started going around and hugging everyone to try and get money (before being chased away and kicked by the restaurant staff). Later another street kid was fighting him to try and take the glue away. We called that kid (who wasn't high at all) over to ask him why he did that and he said that he knew it was bad for him and wanted to give it to one of the police officers. They aren't friends but they know of each other. This is something else that hit me very hard. It is like I don't even know how to feel about it. I was talking to Karina and Erica about it and there really is no ending it with a governmental policy in my opinion. The glue is used to make shoes (one of the only big contributers to the economy here in Nica) and would be nearly impossible to regulate. It seems that the only hope for the problem are NGOs like Los Quinchos, but how much can they do? Yes, it is great that they are able to change the lives of the hundreds of kids that go through the program, but what about the thousands of others? They aren't so lucky. Regardless, I am appreciative (if nothing else) that this gut wrenching experience allowed me to see "step one" of the Los Quinchos process, and it's horrible.
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