Day 4 in Nicaragua

Today is the last actual day of activities in Nicaragua.  I am typing this in a van on the way from Jinotega to Managua - hope the signal strength holds up.

Thanks for putting up with unedited and uncropped pics- they may not even be my best choices but I'm blogging entirely on my iPhone and it's challenging (though fun).

8 must-brings to a Nicaragua trip:

- Sunscreen

- Mosquito spray with Deet (not just to avoid a bite but to avoid Malaria)

- Baby wipes, you will use them a lot

- Hand sanitizer

- Your own travel coffee cup if you like coffee, just trust me 

- Your own water bottle is nice because your group will buy large bulk water supplies

- Non perishable snacks like protein bars and jerky

- Neosporin is optional but smart and small

Do not bring many outer clothes - bring multiples but not enough for every day. Focus on underwear as far as an everyday clothing supply item.

Takeaway for me - if I am going to help this organization (Alas de Dios) in a deeper and more regular way I have to improve my Spanish.  These people politely say I've learned a lot and that I learn fast but truthfully I depend on them almost completely and my Spanish is more of an amusing side show.

Some pics of Hotel Cafe

The dining area 

Garden in the middle - this does not do it justice

Basic but clean room

Today we started off at the Alas de Dios school site again, as always, and we picked up our gifts for the orphans and some wheelchairs we would be giving away to a home for the elderly.  We also said goodbye to the school kids and the teachers.  Lots of hugs and smiles, no tears.

Maddie with her favorite

Meeting "Steve the Alaskan"

Some Americans choose to retire in Nicaragua due to its beauty,?the exchange rate, and some government incentives.  I met Steve the Alaskan last time and his wife and was glad my kids got to meet them this time.  We met Steve today at a boat ramp and dock he is building on the local lake.

These local kids were cute but scared of us

We then went up to Steve's mini mansion he built in the middle of nowhere, it's shocking..

The views were amazing

He made us real, oil-cooked French fries on his outdoor kitchen

Next we went to the orphanage to give our gift bags to the orphan kids

Pink bags for girls

Blue for boys 

We got everything at Dollar Tree and Party City - those places made our 82 gift bags do-able, I'll do the same thing again for sure.

Noelle also thought we should do a treasure hunt for them and we bought supplies for that but never had the chance do we left it for them.

How to do a kid's Treasure Hunt:

- Party City sells some plastic gold coins which is your treasure 

- Buy some ziploc sandwich bags - one for each kid

- Buy some affordable boy and girl prizes, we bought coloring books, blow up beach balls, and some cool arrow shaped foot balls

- Hide the coins like you would Easter Eggs and those who find the most treasure can win a prize, maybe even exchange every coin for candy so everyone gets something 

Next we visited the home for the elderly to give them the wheelchairs we brought, we had several.  My neighbor Martin who is the founder of Alas de Dios discovered a cache of thrown-away wheel chairs near his house and rescued them.  We arrived at the home to the delight of the director who indicated this was a severe need.

Getting them out of the truck

The Director gave a touching little thank you speech (in pink)

We got to love on the residents a little bit, our kids did great after getting used to it. They were sweet and we seemed to brighten people's day by being there.

Apparently this is an example of one of their better wheel chairs before we came.

One of our Directors, Ana, read off of a list on a wall what the needs of the home were.  It was really do-able stuff like a shovel, cleaning supplies, goofy stuff like that we all could knock out.

I caught Riley giving the love

Ok that's all I'm doing for today, say a prayer for our long drive to Managua tonight.  I posted this from the van.