Catching Up...

Where to begin...it's been a while since I actually wrote a post for my own blog.  There has been so much going on over the past month...that I'll try to summarize...

A good place to begin...This is a pic of John's side of the bed getting pooped on by a friendly gecko...good times...ok jk on to the real stuff.

We've been making monkeys, potato turkeys, rainbows and celebrating birthdays and last days in Brasilito with Abriendo Mentes.

My mom came to visit over Thanksgiving. She got to volunteer with me, meet my adult english class student's chancho(pig) for Navidad, visit the beautiful Monteverde cloud forest, go ziplining, and of course we had lots of beach time.  In one of the pics we are even dressed as twins from the hat (thanks to Hanya's gift to me) to our beach cover-ups.

Celebrating our last days with the kids in El Llanito by watching movies and celebrating birthdays.

Helping with sex trafficking fairs for the past week and ending by helping to raise money at the Gala on Saturday night.  Lots of organization's partnered to make the week possible: Light Force Int'l, CEPIA, Global Connections; The Human Traffic Initiative, Serve One, AM, etc.  Costa Rica is actually a hub for sex trafficking and after the first safety fair a few girls were rescued from a nearby club.  During the safety fairs, the kids learn about protecting their bodies along with having a little fun at different stations that reiterate all the main points.

The teachers of El Llanito invited me to their end of year retreat on the beach. They grilled out tons of meat (sausage, chicken, beef, etc), molido/chips, and even had a birthday cake for Stephanie.  They had all drawn names for presents and each said something very special about the person they bought for (a very formal production).  Yentry presented me with 2 Costa Rican displays which were really precious!  A very relaxing afternoon before I headed to Brasilito to play a round of bingo for our last Thrilling Thursday of the year.

We attended the CEPIA end of year party where there were more games for the kids and they were all recognized for the extra curricular activities they had participated in. John's group of soccer guys and our english class kids from Brasilito were all invited and recognized. I am now happy to say that I am a pro at facepainting. I was put on the FP team for the safety fairs and I got to do it again at the CEPIA end of year party. Maybe that's a skill I'll be able to put on my resume one day :)  I loved the ladies and gents that showed us a Typical Costa Rican dance too!

Lastly for this blog...we also attended the Brasilito kinder class end of year party. We made a chocolate cake for the event that was split into 30 tiny slices. They hired a clown and more facepainting (these kids love FP), and we ate pizza, fresco, and icecream. The clown was an absolute hit with the kiddos!

Busy times in Costa Rica....and there is more to come! We had an amazing day with Serve One Ministries in El Llanito and I'll try to write more about that in my next blog. Adios amigos!

Ole Ole Ole....

John just recently wrote a blog for the Abriendo Mentes organization about his soccer guys in Brasilito! Check it out at:  http://abriendomentespotrero.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/futbol-fun-in-brasilito/

Maybe we need the entire Nabers Soccer Academy to visit Brasilito and give these guys some intensive classes...aka Need Ben and Steve to come visit asap!!!

Hasta Luego!

Cancer Walk in Costa Rica

Every now and then all the volunteers at Abriendo Mentes volunteer to write a blog post for the AM website and Facebook accounts so all the donors and past volunteers can see what we are up to. Here is one that I recently wrote and thought I would share with you.

Last Saturday, eleven Abriendo Mentes volunteers and of course Harry Potter (Caroline’s dog) participated in the Caminata por el Tratamiento del Cáncer (Hike for the Cure of Cancer). Las Catalinas opened up their beautiful hiking trails to us for an approximately three-hour hike on the beautiful coast of the Pacific in order to help raise money for cancer research.  A few of the volunteers (Trevor and Sam) were really ambitious by running the very mountainous roads to get to Las Catalinas before the hike even started; I don’t think that would have ever crossed my mind, but I was very proud of them!

A class of students from Potrero helped to support the cause as well. It was so encouraging to see the kids out in the community and running through the trails with all their built up energy.

Along the way there were fruit and water stops, which were so needed and appreciated! For the most part the hike was not too strenuous, and there were some points in the walk that had absolutely stunning views. I think a few of us will definitely be back to explore all the other trails on the property.  By the end, we were all pretty tired but pumped that we got to support a greater cause!

Poco a Poco... Espanol

Many people have asked me, 'So how's your spanish coming?'.

I would say...slow and steady.  I'm definitely better than when I arrived, but I struggle every day. Some days I feel a lot more confident after I've had very successful conversations. Other days I can't seem to understand anything and I'm completely lost.  For instance, when I'm volunteering in El Llanito...all the teachers and cocineras only speak spanish (which is great for learning).  One on one I can usually get my point across, but put 2 or 3 spanish speakers together and talking at a pretty fast pace, and my ears shut off somehow... it's a very weird disease I have!!

I'm currently taking classes with a local Tica women, Ivette. She used to work for a language school near Quepos, but now offers classes out of her house in Potrero. My goal each week is to spend about 3-4 hours practicing spanish with her.  Currently, I'm in a group with 2 other students, Carrie and Kristen.  We have more of a conversational type of class and lately we've been having classes at night time so she's been teaching us some local cuisine...namely empanadas!

Ivette's beautifully painted living room!

Like any student, it's important to practice! I would say the one downfall of where I'm living is that there are quite a few gringos (english speaking) people that live in the region and many of the ticos speak english because of the tourism industry (which is why it's so important to teach english).  So, I will start talking in spanish and of course struggle a bit, and then the ticos will start talking back to me in english.  I know my family will say...'that is the same excuse you used last time you lived in Costa Rica'...which it was true then as well ....I said it was a strange disease I have.

Funny story... So, John keeps telling me that I have to practice (which I agree with), however he thinks that I should be able to talk on the phone... which for me is extremely hard because I can't read lips and there are no helpful hand motions (all that nice non-verbal communication). So, the last time I had to make a call, it was to confirm plans for taking Isabella and Maria to the beach after church...simple task right??  So, John promised that he would help me, so I agree to call. Well if you know me well, I have a hard time talking on the phone and doing anything else (one of the two things will suffer - I know my sister can relate). So, I plan out what I need to say, but of course things don't go according to plan.  I'm trying to listen to Isabella and hear what John is telling me to say, and it's a mess.  Towards the end of the conversation that is on speaker phone...I'm sweating, John is trying to run from me, while I'm holding the phone out for him to help me, and Isabella is probably wondering why I stopped talking.

I can't wait to be good at Spanish!!  Since college, I've wanted this skill set and I know I have to take advantage of my surroundings, so no worries I'm still in full throttle trying to learn! Carrie and I were posing for some pictures to go on Ivette's website that John is making her. Our pic didn't make the cut, but feel free to check out the site or even sign up for a skype lesson: http://www.costaricaspanishtutor.com/

Ok last funny story. So, I had pretty much my first in-depth conversation about the Lord in Spanish about 2 weeks ago or so with one of our tica friends (Yay). Afterwards, John asks me what I said (because he was out fishing at the time), and I told him all these things we were talking about for a good 20 minutes or so.  His next question was 'how did you say all that?'.  We both started laughing because I have no idea and I probably couldn't try to re-live the experience for him. I just pray that God wouldn't let me say something completely wrong in another language.

Lastly, we could use your prayers for a home bible study we are trying to start in El Llanito. One of our students in our adult spanish class has agreed to host it in her home once a week, so now we just need to get the word out to other english class participants and in the community.  Also, pray for John's spanish as well because talking about God in spanish is a lot different than talking about the food, weather, etc.  Also, if anyone has any cool ideas that we can do with the class...please email me, etc.

I hope everyone has a good weekend! Hasta Luego!

End of Session 3 in Brasilito

Last week was a fun and exciting week in Brasilito! It also was the end of Session 3 for the kids and adult students. Which means they all get a break for one week and then Session 4 will start this coming Monday, October 22 and run through Dec. 14.

John was leading his Soccer class on Monday. They are now preparing to play another pueblo team in the near future. He has about 6-7 kids that are pretty consistent and then the rest change every other week, etc. The kids now have this game in mind, so we will see how they recruit in the neighborhood to make sure they have a complete team.  We will keep you posted on how the kids do.

Carrie and Serena were giving some one-on-one attention to some of our older students on Monday. The older kids are currently learning anything and everything around travel and transportation. So, they are getting to pick places in the world they would like to travel to and explain why.

The travel theme kind of goes along with our Fun Friday in Potrero last week called International Day. At this event, the kids were able to go from station to station (U.S., France, Japan, Australia, Africa, etc) and get stamps for visiting the country with their Passport. It was a huge hit and here's a cute link for the Hollywood station:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPZcrfYT6C8&feature=youtu.be

On Wednesday, the kids learned 'L' is for Lion. It's funny...each week we review what they learned in previous weeks. When we went over 'J' is for Jump, we had lots of jumping activities for the kids. So, now every time we are going over past weeks...we always have to start jumping around for the letter 'J', at least we get a work out!!

On Thursday, Ashley (another volunteer) led a bracelet making work shop. The kids absolutely love beads and really take their time picking their colors and stringing them perfectly.  Afterwards, we treated them to Popsicles in celebration of the end of the session.

I'll update you soon on our excursions over the 1 week break ....Vamos a Granada, Nicaragua!!

Nicaragua Trip

In Costa Rica, your tourist visa is only good for 90 days. So, since we had to exit Costa Rica we thought we might as well do some exploring in the nearby country of Nicaragua (only 2 hours from where we live).

With a combination of friends driving us, buses, taxis, and ferries...we actually made it across the border in very good time for public transportation. The actual border process is a huge mess...there are no signs AND tons of people bombarding you to buy passport papers, buy your very own passport stamp so you don't even have to cross, and flinging money at you to change your colones into cordobas.  After you pass through Costa Rica customs (which is free), you have to walk a little less than a mile to the Nicaragua customs agent (which is not free). We ended up letting one of the guys that was hounding us to help us through the process and he actually proved to be super helpful! For example, the lines for the customs agent randomly close without telling the people in the line, so he would literally move us to get in certain lines to keep us moving AND since Nicaraguan customs only accepts exact change... he took us around to all the money changers to help us out.  That process alone probably would have taken us an hour or so, so that was a great investment!

There was a huge wind energy farm along the road from the airport alongside Lake Nicaragua. I kept trying to see if GE owned any of them, but sadly no.

We stayed on Ometepe Island which is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (which is absolutely huge).  Two enormous volcanoes make up the island (Concepcion (10-hr hike) and Maderas (8hr hike)).  This is a pic from our ferry.

We stayed in some cute cabinas at Villa Paraiso Hotel. We got lucky with some great low season rates (which I now love the low season) and the food in Nicaragua is super cheap, so we ate pretty well. 

We hung out in the picture perfect glass lake a lot.  The water was like bath water...a little too warm but still refreshing.  We heard that Santo Domingo (which is where we stayed) was one of the windiest places on the island but last weekend it definitely didn't feel like it.

The first day we went on a 3 hour hike to the San Ramon waterfall which is on the side of Volcanoe Maderas. The road to get there was only 15 kilometers but it took us about 1 hour because the roads are so rocky and they haven't paved the south island.

The next day we rented bikes and headed to 'El Ojo de agua' which was a huge natural spring pool. Since I might have been complaining about the bath warm lake water...these pools definitely shut me up...they were a little chilly. The springs produce 400 gallons of water a minute.  The water flows into a river (where tons of kids and adults bath and do laundry) and eventually out into Lake Nicaragua. Also, the volcanic minerals are said to make you look 5 years younger after bathing!! Not so sure it worked for us this time ... I guess we'll have to go back!!

Here's John swinging from the rope swing. I did it too, but my picture wasn't as graceful :)

Overall, we had a great trip and can't wait to explore more of Nicaragua!  However, we were thankful to be back home in Costa Rica!  Also, on the way back, we picked up our car that is now fixed - woohoo!!! Adios amigos!!

Buses, Horses & Volcanoes....

So, the past week has been quite exciting and it's just neat to look back and think about all the ways God is in our moments with us.

I'll start with last Sunday.  After hearing a great sermon on forgiveness, we (John, Ryan and myself) decided to spend the day at Rincon de la Viejo (a volcano about 2 hours from where we live).  We hiked a 2 hour loop around the volcano...where we saw geisers, boiling mud pots/lagoons, and could actually feel hot rocks at different points in our hike.  I had never been this close to what seems like 'activity.'

 
Afterwards we hiked to a waterfall where we had the lagoon all to ourselves.  On the way back, we had an encounter with some wild horses (we'll keep that story between us).  Let's just stay it delayed us for about 30 minutes or so.   John, with his awesome spanish, got us out of having to pay the full entrance amounts 3 times (2 hikes and then we got to view some hot springs).  Thankfully it worked because we literally went there with hardly any money (no bueno) and we would have had to drive 40 minutes back to society on a dirt road and then returned.

Afterwards, Ryan and I are trying to find this restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet book and of course it's already dark and we can't find it. Anyways, we take this turn and have to go through some massive mud puddles.  After we turn around...our car dies in the last puddle.  Thankfully, it dies right beside a gas/mechanic station (and not back on our crazy 15 mile dirt road journey) ...so Ryan helps to push us there (thank you again!).  After about 15 minutes our car starts back up on its own and we continue on our journey home (thank you God!).

Another pic from Ryan's trip.  He ran in a half marathon in the Costa Rican heat.

Next, I was driving to volunteer in El Llanito, like any normal Tuesday. I pick up a female hitch hiker (John tells me I'm absolutely not allowed to pick up male hitchhikers...which I agree with, but it's really hard to pass by females especially with kids when I have an empty car). Right when I pick her up, my car starts to make this awful (culack-culack noise). I continue to drive for another 10 minutes and then hope that after I'm done volunteering it will magically not be there anymore.  After, class I always take Isabel, Maria and Martha home.  Once I get to Isabell's house, they pretty much tell me that it sounds so bad that the mechanic that lives right beside Isa should take a look at it before I drive on the main road. I was completely out of oil and the mechanic didn't have any...so Isa's son's friend rides on his bike to get me some oil.  Then Martha calls her husband and there is a good mechanic he knows and he'll help me get there.  So, Martha and I drive in 1st gear for about 30 minutes back to Huacas...it is so hard for me to drive slow!  When I get there her husband puts in more oil for me and then we are off to the mechanics. Bad news...no oil means broken pistons, viellas, etc (lots of other spanish mechanic terms). Car is now out of service for at least a week.  John ends up taking the bus to come meet me and talk to the mechanic and then we walk to the bus stop to start our many bus adventures.  Martha and her husband were super helpful through the whole process and stayed with us to make sure we understood everything.

Bus adventures...

As we are waiting for the bus...a guy that Martha's husband knows, tells us to jump in (woohoo). He takes us to Huacas and then a friend from church sees us and gives us a lift the rest of the way home (woohoo again). John and I decide to finally put the basket on our bike that we bought over 2 months ago since we are now carless and still need to go grocery shopping, etc. After thinking we had destroyed the bike's turning radius...we get it working and now our bike has a nice little basket, that I'm very proud of.

The next morning I get on my first bus.  Mind you...there are no bus schedules in Costa Rica. Every person tells you a different time, so you pretty much just sit and wait.  John later asks me later that night...'if I thought God was trying to teach me anything from all of this'.  I think for a few moments and then I say 'patience' which he nodded in agreement (that little booger).  However, I do think it's true, that things that were once urgent can't be urgent anymore and things get shifted into perspective.  As Americans we are geared to go-go-go and we are running from one thing to the next at an insane pace. In this culture, it's just different. You don't plan that much because it just takes time/patience to do things and go places.

On with my story. So, after class, where we learned 'I' is for icecream, another volunteer (from Winston-Salem - mom with 2 kids) offers to drive me home (woohoo!).

I had to cancel a lot of my night adventures this week because buses don't really run at night...like meeting Janene for some prayer time, cancelling my spanish class, cancelling going out for a friends birthday in Tamarindo...so life shifted somewhat.  I still think it's crazy that buses don't run at night because lots of people work at restaurants and hotels and now I don't really know how they get home :(

The next morning, I have to catch a bus and then make a connection (du-du-du) to get to El Llanito. Martha told me she thinks there will be a bus for Santa Cruz around 8am. Well...funny story. Since my day has to get started a lot earlier, John and I decided to do some quick sprints up our hill. We were about through, when this lady (who seems a little out of place) comes slowly walking up the hill.  We say 'hola' and then we see her black pitbull behind her about 10-15 foot. I ask her in spanish if her dog was nice and she responds 'mas o meno' (more or less). Thankfully the dog just stared us down and continued walking behind his master. But...no leash and the owner was not trying to get her dog under control at all.  We finish our work-out, but now we start heading back up to our place and the dog is standing guard at the first house. He literally is in attack mode and is not letting us get close or pass by. We try a couple times but by the end of our efforts the dog has slowly moved John and I to the bottom of the hill and now we are headed anywhere but home (and my bus is coming at any moment...which means I'm going to miss it).  Then another guy from our church passes us and asks if we need help. It was quite embarrassing, but we asked him if he could drive us home because of this dog...which on the way back up we couldn't even find the dog!  I get changed and then John escorts me back down the hill with his machete...thankfully no dog...but we definitely need some pepper spray!!

I find the first bus, have to hitch-hike the second connection after waiting for 30 minutes, Martha's husband picks us both up after class, and then the connection bus comes within 5 minutes. I was home probably in record time. Then, John and I head back out to volunteer for Thrilling Thursday with the kids in Brasilito. We were waiting on the bus and one of our neighbors stops and picks us up. Then on the way back, our other neighbor picks us back up...so we don't even have to walk up our hill. And...since we were leaving for Nicaragua the next morning...she offers to drive us half-way there since she is going that way anyways (woohoo!)

It's just amazing when so many things fall into place and what could have been bad or stressful situations just turn into little moments where I can say 'thank you Lord!'

This verse I believe is so true, especially with my time here.  Just recognizing and thinking of God throughout my days and the special moments he gives us.  'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.' James 4:8

More to come on our Nicaragua adventures on Ometepe Island ...

Costa Rica Independence

This past Saturday (15th of September) was Costa Rica's Independence Day. For the past few months, kids have been practicing band, bastonera (baton), and learning how to make faroles (lanterns) in preparation for the big celebration and desfiles (parades).

Unfortunately, last Tuesday the President of Costa Rica put out a notice to prohibit celebrations on Friday night and Saturday due to the recent earthquake and the possibility of another one hitting while everybody is in one place.  So, sadly my first C.R. Independence Day celebration was short lived, but I still got to see a little bit of what makes this country tick!

For the past week every day before lunch, the kids at El Llanito gather together to sing the same four Independence songs (they even gathered on Saturday to sing their songs). Afterwards the teachers took turns teaching them about the Independence holiday (attitudes, national figures/animals/songs, etc.).

Below is a picture of one of their sessions and of course some of my kinder class kids.

For those of you that don't know what a farole is, a typical lantern is pictured below.

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching the kids about toys. We've learned some new songs, danced and did some construction projects along the way.  Lots of fun!

Two things I did get to experience was eating tamales and playing Bingo. For Independence Day and Christmas a lot of the women cook tamales for their families and/or sell them to the community.  Isabel tried to show me how to make the tamales but someone in her family passed away...we'll have a rain check for another date.  Here is our first one. 

 AM put on a Bingo match for the community of Potrero on Saturday. It was a huge hit and the women's group of Potrero cooked some wonderful dishes to sell as well. I believe over 100 people came out to play. I never knew how much Costa Ricans LOVE bingo! Another volunteer and I were helping at the door and it was so funny at the number of adults/kids that would come up to change out their bingo card between each match because it just wasn't lucky enough!

Last night John and I taught our adult English class.  In the middle of class, the rain began and it was a downpour.  When the roof is tin, it is really hard to speak over the pounding rain, but we both made it work. It's funny ... I hear John yelling in the room next to me, and I can tell we are both having a good time with this and our class is too!  Then the electricity goes out about 10 minutes before the class is over.  So, with my phone as a flashlight, I pass out their homework assignment and we all scurry home.  My kinder class this morning got cancelled due to the heavy rain from last night and I was a bit thankful due to my small case of gripee (C.R. term for any head/congestion cold).  And then the Potrero's women's group got cancelled tonight (which I probably needed as well so I could rest more).  It's funny, one thing that you have to get used to is the schedule of Costa Ricans. Things seem to change, get cancelled or move almost every week ... so just a little adjusting for me :)

All is going well here ... God is good!

Terremotos ... how scary!!!

I'm writing this blog so John and I won't ever forget our Terremoto (aka earthquake) adventure. 

The day started with a nice peaceful sunny jog to Flamingo beach. At the end of my jog, I met John at Ana's Panaderia for breakfast... a carne (beef) and manzana (apple) empanada (I know it kind of defeats the purpose of jogging). I then hopped in the shower to get ready to teach the kindergarteners at the Brasilito school.

In the middle of my shower (I think I was on the hair conditioner part of my routine), I heard what sounded like a helicopter.  Then I realized very quickly that this was much more...  I can't really remember what all happened but I stepped out of the shower and things were shaking, so I automatically started calling for John. I was clenched to the wall (which was moving) that is in between our bathroom and bedroom (because it was the closest thing I could find to a doorway). 

My mind was racing trying to remember if a doorway was what I needed at this point or if I needed to duck and cover my head.  After screaming out of shear terror ...my faithful husband comes running into the room and makes it to me and covers me with his body.  It was crazy I could see so much love in those few moments as I saw him running toward me (when he was just as scared as I was).  I was so thankful to have him with me.

So, back to the 7.9 terremoto. I've never seen a house shake the way it did. It was going up and down and sideways all at the same time. It's like our house was in a bouncy gym. I wouldn't have thought it would still be standing or that it would at least have had severe damage.  After what felt like forever (but in reality was probably 10 seconds), we hear screams outside from our neighbors and everyone is yelling to get out of the house.

So, I grab the following items (dress, sleep pants, panites) - and of course I'm running out the door with my towel on. 

John somehow manages to bring these items...granted it is 8:42am in the morning bright and sunny!

We were all pretty shaken up, but everyone was ok. The owners of the place were talking about how the houses were built with these experiences in mind... but they had never felt one so strong.  We had our car radios on (since power/internet were down) trying to figure out if there were tsunami warnings.  Thankfully, the tsunami warning was cancelled about 30 minutes after the quake.

We waited outside for about 2 hours and decided to go back in. In the course of the next few hours we felt 3 more aftershocks...very small.  Each time, we would run outside and sit on our beach chairs.  Luckily, the only damage we experienced was some glass inside our house breaking, a few tiles fell off the roof, and some rocks/dirt that fell in our yard area.  It could have been so much worse and I'm just so thankful that we were ok along with all the people we have met in Costa Rica. I believe there were only 2 deaths in the whole country and one was from a heart attack.

That night, we had a small bag packed just in case we needed to sprint out the door at night. Since last Wednesday we've felt about 4 more earthquakes with one on Saturday being around a 5.7 earthquake.

On Thursday we headed off on a mini trip to visit a preacher that spoke at our church a few weeks back and had been doing missionary work in Costa Rica.  We decided since he lived extra close to the Riu hotel (all inclusive) that we would spend the night there since the rates were so good. So, we get to the Riu all excited, and the hotel is like a disaster area. There are about 100 workers working furiously to paint over cracks, repair walls, and the pool side bar was being held up by metal stands while they are trying to weld/repair the columns. It was a mess! 

We got there early so we couldn't check in yet. So, we enjoyed the free food/drinks and swimming for most of the day. Once we checked in...the walk to our room was so scary. The ceilings and walls had cracks everywhere...many of their restaurants were closed for repairs. We kept thinking of course it can't be structural but it looked bad.  Then, we heard that the night before, the hotel was having people sign waivers to stay in their room, so most people were sleeping on the lawn chairs outside.  So, sadly to say we left :(  Just in case you are wondering the Riu is still standing!

We then found out that the missionary (Paul) we were going to meet returned home from Nicaragua on Wednesday and had a bad case of dengue fever...so he couldn't get out of bed.  Please send lots of prayers his way!

The 5 pointer yesterday was so funny. Our friends Didier, Jasmine and Emerida had us over for lunch.  Jasmine saw us in Brasilito and an hour later she is calling us over to have lunch...they are so sweet (and the gallina (hen) was quite tasty!)

The earthquake happened in the middle of lunch.  Jasmine's first reaction was 'Tranquillo'.  Sadly, I am not very tranquillo when it comes to earthquakes. Later that night, John's soccer game got cancelled and we went to a church service with them and at the end of the sermon I caught what the preacher said. He said that as Christians we shouldn't fear the earthquakes, etc ... I think I still have some work. 

Here are just a few examples of how God used earthquakes in very positive ways to carry out his purpose years ago. Thanks again to all of our family and friends that were thinking of us and praying for us over the past week!!!

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. Matthew 28:2

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. Acts 16:26

Chancho anyone?? ... you'll love this!

John took me and picked me up from teaching in El Llanito on Thursday...so fortunately we were both there which is very rare. Isa and Maria (sisters) work in the school's kitchen. They are super helpful with my spanish and are trying hard to teach me how to cook... I'll do another blog post on those efforts later.

I always take Isa and Maria home from school and today Isa asked me if I wanted to 'toma un foto del chancho muerto'.  John and I were both like sure ---we'll go take a picture of a dead pig. Well come to find out that there was a very large festival last weekend in Santa Rosa and their family was selling lots of pork on Saturday.

We walked in right when her husband and uncles starting working on it. They were pouring hot water on the pig to make it easier to skin. I was amazed that the skin was pure white...I would have thought a rosy color.

This is Isa and I trying to skin a portion of the pig with a knife. She kept saying 'muy duro'...which is harder-harder ... because I'm a weakling and was barely getting any hair off of it!

She eagerly showed me around her house, her family, her family's houses, etc. Isa is like the town cook. She cooks for the school, she cooks for soccer games, and she cooks and sells food for the community out of her house as well. I wish I could have gotten a picture but she literally has 3 kitchens (1 inside and 2 fire stoves/pits outside). 

John and I left that day just amazed at the amount of work that goes into the concept from 'farm to fork'.   She tried to explain how over the next 2 days that will be hanging the pig, marinating the meat, etc.

John and I then made a point to attend the Santa Rosa/Finca Festival to eat some fresh chancho. We have made friends with a Nicaraguan family so we asked if the mom (Isabella) and their three kids (Christopher, Sofia, and Angie) wanted to go with us. John took this picture below - poor Sofia got cut off but you can see Chris' head.

We first showed up at the wrong place (Santa Rosa). I guess most of the crowd meets in Santa Rosa on horseback and then they all ride over to the farm together.   So, we got back in the car and headed to a random farm (almost back to where we broke down last weekend).    We walked in and were quite definitely the only gringos at the festival. Everybody was standing around a ring hanging out. Maria found us pretty quickly and showed us their food station.

We bought a few skewers of pork (que rico!) and the kids had fun listening to the live music and watching the bulls (which all of them were trying to mount each other...such good entertainment). 

We left right when the fiesta was probably getting started (there was a big bull ride that night). As we were exiting ... all the hundreds and possibly a couple thousand horses were entering. I thought our car was going to be pummeled...but thankfully no bruises on our little geo (notice we are the ones off the road).

Next time you eat pork...think of our chancho experience!