Friday, February 25

This morning I woke up at 7:30, a time considered sleeping in to my host mom who woke up at 4:30 to see her husband off to work. I had breakfast complete with some outstanding coffee and then showered in the outdoor shower enclosed by plastic tarps. The heat outside made up for the cold water and I actually really enjoyed this intimidating experience.

Once we were ready to go, Santa Elena and I stopped at Jake's house to see how he was doing. He's been feeling a little sick, so we went to get the LASP medical supply bag from Courtney. When that situation was taken care of, Courtney and I got on the bus with our host moms to go to Managua to buy some things from the market. The bus is so much fun here. I loved people watching, seeing the beautiful scenery and trying some snacks that Santa Elena bought from the vendors who got on at some stops. We chose to pass on the magic pills being offered, but it was fun to hear about all the wacky things they promised to do. Courtney passed some time talking to the bus driver and he gave her his number..the two of us attracted a lot of attention as we walked through the market, and our host moms through it was hilarious.

Neither of us were even hungry yet, but our host moms took us to a restaurant for lunch. Since the the limits of our stomachs don't seem to matter much here, we were fed way more than enough. At least the food was pretty good, and once we finished we went about buying fruits and veggies at the market. I love markets, and it was fun to go to one during the week in order to avoid the crowds and see everything much more clearly. We loaded up heavy bags and made our way back to the bus where we crammed everything into the seat with us. It was a hot ride, but my fascination with the vendors that got on at every stop and the scenery made it go pretty quickly.

When we got home, I was encouraged to rest for a while, so I wrote a few entries in my LASP “critical thinking journal” (our assignment for the week). The neighbor girl came over to play with me, so I got out the jump rope, construction paper, and colored pencils that I brought. We colored and did some crafts for a while until it was time for dinner. After we ate, Santa Elena took her daughters and I to a church service a few kilometers down the street. It was an outdoor gathering of many church communities, and Santa Elena guided an elderly blind neighbor to the service. Many people shared songs with the group and there was a message given by the pastor of my host church. A lot of the other LASP students came with their families and Trevor and Javier were there. I enjoyed the gathering a lot and it was fun to see the other LASPers. On the way back from the service we stopped at a birthday party where I was served MORE food! We watched some TV when we got home and again had an early night.