Month: December 2018

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These are a few of my favorite (and least favorite) things: Week 1 in Nicaragua ~by Tara, Friday December 28

This is one of those times when you look back on a span of time and think, “Could it really have been ONLY a week??”  It feels like we’ve been here so much longer already, partly because there is often SOOOO much activity packed into a single day that it feels more like 3 days all in one.  So the crossing of the one-week point seems like a good time to take stock of some of the highlights so far, and with that some of the less enjoyable aspects as well. 

MY FAVORITE THINGS:

Outdoor classrooms.  I mean, the fact that it is the end of December and I can be sitting here typing this in a hammock chair on a balcony surrounded by night insect sounds, wearing pajama pants, flip flops and a light jacket…La Mariposa is a beautiful place, and the spaces set up around the school grounds for Spanish classes are perfect for enjoying all of that natural beauty and the life happening around you while working hard at a new language.  I love having reason to spend so much time outside, at a time when normally back home so much time would be spent indoors! 

A balcony area near to our room.
Writing an entry in their trip journals for their teachers back home.

Flowers in bloom.  Always one of the most joyfully startling things for me when coming from a season of brown, gray, and white in Ohio, is to arrive in a place where there is so much COLOR bursting everywhere!  Oh to have flowering trees that are in bloom all year round!  I love trying to capture the exotic colors and interesting shapes in photography as best I can.

This one seems like it should be in a Dr. Seuss book!

New friends.  One of the most fun parts of La Mariposa has been all the different people we are able to meet, from all different places and backgrounds, different ages and motivations to come study language.  So far we have had fellow students from the UK, California, New York, Michigan…University students and teachers and retirees and Non-profit volunteers.  Unfortunately our children are the only kids here right now, but they jump right in chatting away with the other adults here, and everyone is so graciously tolerant and friendly with them!  Also very unfortunately, the number of students is very low overall after the political crisis of the summer, so there are not as many new friends to make as there would have been a year ago (so hey, come study Spanish!).

Susie from the UK was one of the first friends we made here, and even though her stay here was ending after we’d been here only a few days, it was still sad to see her go!

Puppy snuggles.  Few things could make a new place more quickly feel like home than being greeted by a pack of happy dogs.  The very recently rescued puppy “Pecas” (Freckles in Spanish) has certainly contributed to our children feeling welcomed and excited to be here, and Denver shared in a previous post the pictures of Cheyenne being entertained by the job of tossing handfuls of food to all the 12 dogs who live on the school grounds.  The school’s founder, Paulette, had a hobby of taking in and rehabilitating neglected dogs (and cats) from the street, which has grown into a big part of the character of the school, what makes it really unique.

Pecas (“Freckles”) makes everybody happy! They told us that when he first arrived the weekend before we got here he could barely walk because of vitamin deficiency and lack of nutrition, now he’s a quite the spunky little thing!
Pelusa (“Fluffy” in Spanish) who everyone says is the naughtiest dog, but who is also one of my best buddies 🙂 Pelusa was laying at my feet while I typed this, and has chosen the floor right outside of our room door as her favored place to sleep.

The best weekend views.  Which would be lush green mountainsides seen from the back of a horse! There is a time slot reserved for me to sign up to go horseback riding up the mountain ONCE A WEEK.  The horses are also those that have been rescued from abuse and neglect by Paulette, and now in addition to once a week rides up the mountain road by students, they are also used for Equine Therapy for children with disabilities in one of La Mariposa’s community programs.  Which was my DREAM as a teenager (and yeah, probably still is…).    

My pony this weekend, Karen
Quinten started out excited to ride on his own, but eventually got a bit panicky and tired of all the bouncing when there was a lot of trotting, so we ended up hanging behind everyone else for the second half, taking it at a nice walk.
Thea rode this time with the main horse manager, Ariel. She is excited to try riding alone this weekend.
Even Shiny got her horseback ride at the Christmas Eve party for children with special needs. The excitement on her face!

Stunning landscapes.  I love trying to take photographs that capture the vast sweeping beauty of the new parts of creation we’ve been awed to experience so far (and the smallness of us in comparison), from volcanic crater-formed lakes under blue and white-clouded skies, to the depths of the heart of a volcano both mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.

Laguna de Apoyo (a crater lake formed by a volcano), Christmas day.
Thea and Shiny take a ride with daddy.
Denver and Quinten conquering the waves.
Denver on a solitary swim to the raft, after the wind picked up too much for the kids.
Another new friend from the past week, Juliet from New York, at the Fort “El Coyotepe”
Looking over Volcan de Masaya
Looking deep into the crater of Volcan de Masaya, a little red lava peeking over the edge….
The volcano has a metal cross standing guard on a peak, with a number of different stories behind its origins and the reasons behind it.

Children’s enthusiasm for new experiences.  Like needing to hand-wash clothes.  The day I told the kids to each pick out a dirty outfit to bring down for a clothes-washing lesson, I couldn’t believe how excited they each were to try it out and how proud they were to have completed to process independently.  I’m sure that will wear off, but for now… And also of course the more exciting but potentially scary or stretching experiences, like walking through creepy underground tunnels of a fort that once held prisoners, and staring into the abyss of an active volcano. Their natural curiosity and love of learning usual wins out over fear!

Exploring the outer walls of the fort.
Underground in the tunnels below the fort, where we needed flashlights to see. When the guide took us into smaller enclosed dark rooms that he said were once used for solitary confinement and torture of prisoners, Thea got a little scared and claustrophobic, but mostly they were very brave and intrigued by the history.
Searching for loose volcanic rocks.

AND FEW NOT-SO-FAVORITE THINGS…

Children’s difficulties with new experiences.  Like a diet made up of mostly rice, beans, vegetables, and platanos in every form (similar to a banana but for cooking, served baked, fried, sweet, crunchy, with eggs, with salsa…)—the school’s menu is mostly vegetarian, to be more sustainable.  We’ve had better luck the past few days with some pasta and egg dishes that they’ve really liked, but for a few days earlier in the week the amount of whining and refusing to try things at meals was rough. The availability of a big bowl of the freshest fruit with granola and cornflakes at breakfast every morning is a big help!  And then Cheyenne’s adjustment to the 4 hours of the morning spent with her one-on-one teachers and having difficultly communicating (loud yells of “No, Daddy help!” from across the campus while we are in classes…).  But the past two mornings her later morning teacher has been able to rock her to sleep for a morning nap that she very much needed!

She was excited that the shape of her food was like a smile and wanted a picture, but not necessarily excited afterwards to actually eat what the smile was made of…
The fresh fruit and cereal at breakfast every morning is a lifesaver!
The one meal a day when you can count on all the kids to eat SOMETHING without a fight!

Bringing Ohio cold and flu bugs along for the ride.   I mean, we were supposed to be skipping that whole season by coming to a warmer climate for the winter, but when two kids wake up the morning of the flight already coughing…In just one week here we have had Quinten throwing up through a night with what seemed to be the 24-hour stomach flu that all of the girls had already back home, and Cheyenne’s cough virus progressed to a pretty awful croup-like level that kept waking her up for multiple nights.  Being away from home and the normal remedies and comforts one would usually use to help your sick child feel better faster was stressful, but also humbling to think about all the parents in parts of the world who helplessly watch their children suffering and dying from much worse conditions. Perspective.

Doing lots of trying to rock the sick, grumpy girl for a much-needed nap (after loud sobbing cries of “Sleepy! Sleepy!” anytime something doesn’t go her way all morning…)
I brought the puppy to visit Quinten on the day he was sick in bed.

Living in Close Quarters.  I love our kids, and this trip is a lot about experiencing new things WITH them and making memories TOGETHER, but man, SOMETIMES…Sometimes, on days when there isn’t a trip and we are all inside the school for the whole day, and it is hard to ever be alone or get a break from keeping Cheyenne from getting into everything she shouldn’t, and Quinn and Thea are bickering or extra whiny, and we all share ONE ROOM with a bamboo screen dividing the middle and nowhere to escape to alone to recharge…I start to feel a bit claustrophobic, surrounded on all sides by my children, like I don’t have enough room to breathe. Today (Friday) was one of those I-can’t-handle-being-around-you-anymore, anxiety-inducing kind of afternoons. Of course, if we were at home with the kids out of school for Christmas break right now I’d probably be feeling about the same way by this point in the week…but at least I could send them to their rooms!

Hard to believe they could cause any trouble at all, right?
So cute and sweet together, and yet…
…we all do a little better when we have a chance to get out and have a little space!

Hand-washing clothes WHILE potty training.  *Sigh* I don’t think that needs further explanation…

THIS big goober makes sure to keep all aspects of traveling “interesting” and “exciting”, keeps mommy and daddy on their toes!

So that is a peek at life, one week into our adventure.  A lot more to look forward to, and many more challenges to overcome. We are excited to be able to share them with all of you following our journey!

~Tara

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Christmas in Nicaragua

Our last two days of Christmas celebrations have been full of new experiences. Check out the video below to see what we have experienced. Following that is a journal entry to go along with the video.

After waking up early enough to help feed the animals, Christmas Eve started out like a normal study day. We all had Spanish classes. Halfway through my grammar class, I got serenaded by Quin singing me a colors song in Spanish. For the conversation part of our class, we switch teacher each week. This week I have Marvin, an older gentleman who also was our tour guide for some recent trips.

In the afternoon, we joined a Christmas Eve Celebration for children with disability and their families, a program run connected to La Mariposa. The celebration included kids singing, dancing, and pinatas. Their pinatas are well designed in layers that include balloons. If someone breaks through one layer, some candy falls down (instead of all of it at once), and there are more layers to get through. This way more children have the opportunity to take a crack at it. Another unique characteristic was they had to do a “pinata dance” while they were hitting it. Quin took a turn viciously attacking a snowman pinata (but didn’t bother with the dance).

 We were also fed arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), and cake during the ceremony, which ended in each child in the program getting a present.

At sundown, we joined a procession made up of kids and their parents. Some were dressed as shepherds, some angels, others wise-men, and finally Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. They went from house to house reenacting Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to stay, stopping at each for around 15 minutes, singing songs, and getting treats and drinks. The procession was complete with a band, and fireworks at each stop. If you can imagine a cross between trick or treating, forth of July, Christmas caroling, and the Christmas story (plus a marching band), you can start to image what we experienced (watch the video). Their final stop was at the church, where we left them to have a Christmas celebration supper at a host family’s house. By the time we left, it was late, and Cheyenne was passing out in my arms.

Christmas morning, the kids opened a few presents Tara had brought along. Following that, I took the two oldest kids to a reserve owned by La Mariposa to release 26 Iguanas. Iguanas are endangered in Nicaragua, and were purchased at market where they normally would have been eaten. Instead we were able to cut free the string that tied their legs and that sewed their mouth shut, and release them into the wild. Thea was very brave, and helped release “Pinky” and “Tiger”.

In the afternoon we headed for Laguna de Apoyo, a lake that formed from the “caldera” of a nearby volcano. The water was warm, and wonderful to swim in, however we picked a windy day, and the waves made it difficult to Kayak. The shoreline was filled with volcanic rocks, which were hard on the feet, but overall a beautiful area.

Overall we experienced a very different Christmas experience outside our normal traditions, and now have some neat memories to take home with us.

Merry Christmas to all of you back home!

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Through the Blue Portal – Overcoming Our Fears

Out of all the animals on the campus at La Mariposa, the 3 older spider monkeys are my favorite. Each has a unique personality. The two females are sweet and cautious. The male is bravo (mean) at times, but full of personality and strut. Recently they were relocated to the Mariposa main campus from one of the reserves due to staffing cuts. A larger outdoor classroom was converted into an enclosure to house them. For what they had to work with, the construction crew did a good job adding swings and other things to keep the monkeys entertained. But at the end of the day the floor is concrete, and a step down from their previous habitat.

This past Friday, the construction crew finished a second enclosure right beside their current one. They did an excellent job encasing a large tree, several banana trees, and other natural habitat. They then connected the two enclosures with a blue barrow. Saturday morning, they opened this new tunnel between enclosures for the first time. The male, curious and bold, took no time in entering this new blue portal, and immediately started enjoying swinging from trees and ripping banana leaves.

The two females, however, were scared. Not wanting to leave the comfort of what they knew and stressed by this new blue portal, they chose to spend the next hours in their old concrete prison, instead of venturing into this new green paradise that awaited them. Finally, one and then the other made their way in, and are now fully enjoying their new habitat.

 As I observed these monkeys, I reflected on how we sometimes keep ourselves in concrete prisons (metaphorically speaking) afraid of our own blue portals into unknown worlds and experiences. I’ve mentioned in a previous post, that a big part of this trip is to expand our comforts zones. It is uncomfortable at times, but the potential is there for amazing discoveries on the other end. (At the very least we can come back if things don’t pan out, and we haven’t lost anything.)

On this trip, I’ve observed these same themes in my two oldest children. One is bold, not afraid to try her Spanish out, or try new things.  I think she’ll pick things up the quickest. The other is more afraid to make mistakes or be forced to use his Spanish. I was a lot like him at his age. I wanted to make sure I said say something perfect and was probably slower to speak a new language because of it. He also had to be coaxed out of the room a bit more to explore the outdoors. But now that he is out, he is hooked and will play for hours. That’s the good news, sometime others intervene and go through that tunnel first, and make things easier to follow. Being stuck on the concrete side isn’t a terminal diagnosis. All three of my children are still working on acquiring a taste for now foods. Hopefully forcing them to try new foods pays off by the end of the trip.

So what is your Blue Portal? What concrete prison are you sitting in, and what is keeping you from venturing into what you need to become?

Denver

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Hola amigo! From Thea

We are taking Spanish classes at la Mariposa. We went to a park Dec.20 (The day Quinn got sick) we  got ice cream. Me and Cheyenne got chocolate and Quinn got Vanilla . We went to an exercise part where we did some exercise.

In Spanish classes, I have a teacher named Claudia and she is really nice. I already know some Spanish, but I’m learning more and more Spanish. We’ve been here for half a week. It’s a relief that I have my own bed! But Cheyenne’s and Quinten’s are right besides mine.

There are monkeys here, and there are also parrots, bunnies, turtles, ducks, dogs, and cats. Some of the food you might not like, but some of it is just regular food you have in the United States.

On Friday, mom and I learned to salsa dance. I liked salsa dancing. I was better than my mom and another girl who danced call Susie.

Today the 23rd of December, I went horseback riding with Mommy and Quin. We rode on a trail, and I road with a guy, and I liked riding with him. When we came home, we started building another fort. And then Quinten found a coconut. And then we invented “coconut soccer” (hammock style). How we play is we sit in the Hammocks at the Mariposa on their porch, and we would swing around, kicking the coconut around. Each person has their own goal behind them. The other guys have to get it their goal.

We played and then we went on a trip to park. In Nicaragua for Christmas, they don’t put baby Jesus in Nativity sets before Christmas, because it wouldn’t make sense if they put him before Christmas, because he was born on Christmas. So they put him on Christmas day.

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Quinten’s First Few Days

We have loved the trip so far (not the time when I threw up (3 times). It was (a lot of) fun getting to see

(But not pet (or hold) because they might scratch us or bite us.) the monkeys. Anyway, today we built

A lean-to-fort, that is covered in banana leaves, which are taller than 6 ft!

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Pictures & Politics

We finally figured out the Wi-Fi password at this place, so can now upload pictures to blog entries! Please look back over our last two entries. They now contain photo galleries of our travel day and first full day in Nicaragua.

We found out that unfortunately it was probably more than car sickness that made Quin throw up last night. He threw up two more times during the night and spent most of the day in bed reading and liquids. I think he is turning the corner, and hopefully can bounce back tomorrow.

Another interesting note about last night, I halfway remember hearing someone driving around with a speaker system making announcements around 3am. Turns out someone in the town died, and I guess you can hire someone with a vehicle and huge sound system to drive around and announce who died, and the survivors… at 3am. One of those interesting cultural things we don’t get to experience back home.

Cheyenne was up at 6am, and after dragging myself out of bed, enjoyed walking the campus and visiting the monkeys with her. After breakfast, all of us (minus Quin) settled into our new routines of conversational Spanish and then grammar.

Following lunch, we put Cheyenne down for a nap, and then one of her teachers watched the kids, while Tara and I attended a class on the current political climate in Nicaragua and what has transpired in the last 8 months. It’s more then I want to get into in a blog post, and bit sensitive. In a nutshell, protest in April 2018 against the current government turned deadly with many students getting shot (likely by snipers). Things continued to turn ugly, and the current government has cracked down heavily since then (but denying a lot of their own involvement or blaming other). Because of the heavy crack down, things have stabilized since then (and we haven’t seen any evidence of the conflict). I appreciated hearing the first-hand stories from people who lived through it. It’s important to note, staff at La Mariposa has avoided taking sides and both sides have their issues. However, it is clear to me that those currently in power have abused it. Elections are in 2021, however the current president has removed term limits, and will likely run again (or put his wife in office) and squashed most opposition.

All of this has hurt the economy and tourism in Nicaragua. Currently we have about 7 other students besides ourselves, when the school is equipped to handle much larger groups. We are glad to help contribute to the return of tourism and spread the word about this neat school to anybody else interested in similar experience.

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So I’m not going to pretend everything is amazing…

So I’m not going to pretend everything is amazing. It’s not. There are things that are uncomfortable… kids that wake-up way to early (5:30am) and argue loudly in a shared housing space. Long rides in vehicles on winding roads. Oldest child throwing up hours later after long road trip. Children’s taste buds not expanding as fast as we would like. Realizing I’ve already used up nearly 1gb  of my 3gb monthly cell plan because photo sync and updates were turned on.

It would have been simpler and more comfortable to stay home with unlimited bandwidth and sticking to our usually routines. But I find that in times of discomfort and trying new things I grow the most. And this is why we are doing this – to intentionally put ourselves and children in stretching situations and grow.

Now that is out the way, we did have a rather good day overall. The same kids who woke up way to early did so because they were eager to get out and explore. Quin spotted a beautiful blue bird. Speaking of beautiful birds, La Mariposa is situated in a beautiful forested campus, an oasis from the bustle going on outside of its walls. We each have our own teacher and are taught Spanish language in little open-air cabins, during which it is easy to get distracted by humming birds, insects, beautiful birds, squirrels, and monkeys chattering nearby.

Our weekly schedule goes something like this:

7:30am Breakfast
8:00am Conversational Classes – tailored to our individual needs with a 1 on 1 teacher
9:50am Break
10:10am Switch teachers for Grammar Classes
12:00pm Lunch
1:30pm Sign up for afternoon planned activity
5:45pm Supper

Everyone down to Cheyenne has their own teacher. Quin has been a bit shy practicing his Spanish in front of us, but Thea has jumped and picking up vocab already. I started working with my teacher on agricultural, banking, loans, and other business related language. During breaks, and meal times, it has been fun to get to know the other students who are passing through.

This afternoon for our afternoon activity, we drove an hour to Masaya, a town situated next to Lake/Lagoon formed by volcanic activity. We stopped at the town plaza and got our first taste a Nicaraguan playground, ice cream, and side attractions. Later we visit an overlook over the lake with the volcano putting off steam in the background. There too was a children’s park that the kids enjoyed.

As I mentioned earlier, the ride back didn’t sit well with poor Quin, but we made it back tired and hungry. Another day is in the books. Looking forward to new adventures that wait for us tomorrow!

Thanks to all of you who have been following us and reading comments. It’s great to hear from you. I think I finally rigged up e-mail notifications so we can see better when you leave us comments.

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The Adventure Begins

We made it! I got 2 hours of sleep and Tara pulled an all-nighter and last night trying to get all our loose ends tied up (animals, cleaning, final packing, laundry, etc). Last night, we also dropped off our infant foster son who my mom is watching while we are gone. So, if this post is a bit scattered brained, it is due to lack of sleep.

This morning at 3am, we threw kids in the van with our mountain of luggage, picked up my dad (for the return van trip) and headed to the airport. The Cleveland airport was surprisingly busy at 4am, but we made it through. After getting through the line, security was actually the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had. It helped to have cute kids, but they weren’t requiring us to take out laptops or remove our shoes.

This trip is about introducing our kids to new experiences, and it was fun seeing Quin and Thea learn to find gates and gain confidence (to the point, we almost lost them because they were so far ahead of Tara, myself, and a slow Cheyenne). Cheyenne was cute with her lady bug backpack and Elmo. The kids all enjoyed the take off in their first experience in a commercial jet. Quin and Thea did fine for the most part. Cheyenne was a challenge. Keeping a fidgety 3-year-old who was low on sleep in her chair was not today’s highlight. We made our connecting flight in Miami easily with about a 1-hour layover.

Side story, for an early Christmas before we left, my Steiner side of family opted to give us cash towards an area of need instead of buying each other presents. “Area of need” was left to our judgement/spirit leaning.

I didn’t expect our first recipient of this gift to be on the first day, much less the flight to Nicaragua, but that’s exactly what happened.  Our flight to Managua was packed.  Before our flight took off, Quin sat next to a lady who was deep in a phone conversation in Spanish, and mid conversation completely broke down sobbing. I felt like I was supposed to do something, but didn’t know how to approach a complete stranger. Early in the flight, I ended up helping her with her with immigration paperwork. It seemed like she had never done that, or even flown before. Through further conversation I learned her father had just passed away yesterday. She has been working the past 6 months in Tennessee with her daughter. She doesn’t speak English and has been pretty isolated because nobody but her daughter speaks Spanish where she has been living. Because of her father’s death, she took an emergency flight to Nicaragua (from Esteli area), with tickets costing her $1800. Based on the conversation, I could tell that was as stretch for her. So as she was leaving the plane, I slipped her $100. It wasn’t much, but I hope it brightened her day in the mist of a very hard time.

When we finally got to Nicaragua, it took over an hour to get through customs. Marcelo, Lydell’s brother-in-law was waiting for us, because we had to suitcases for him. He also had a sim card ready, so I now have a phone with internet. Our driver to our language school was also kept waiting, but fortunately was still there.

It was about an hour drive to La Mariposa Spanish Language School. Everybody but Thea and myself passed out on the trip. Driving the streets of Nicaragua, I was struck with similarities to other Latin American countries I’ve been to, including Bolivia where I grew up when I was Quin and Thea’s age. So as a random person washed our windshield at a red light for a few coins, or others tried to sell us things through the window, or as we passed small shops and a completely foreign world from Ohio, I thought to myself how much I was looking forward to showing my kids a new culture.

The schools is great. Our living accommodations at the school fit us well. The kids all have their own bed, and we have a private bathroom. It was fun seeing our kids explore the school (they have monkeys!), and forget how tired they were. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to share about this amazing language school in the future, but for now I hear the bed calling my name.

Blessings to all of you back home. (We don’t miss you to badly yet).

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Day 1 – Travel Day by Thea

(Written by Thea, with some corrections by Denver). Wake up at 3am. Airplane. Leave Cleveland at 5:40pm. Get to Miami 9am.  Get to Nicaragua 1:00pm. Get out of immigration at 2pm. Get in  la Mariposavan. Get to la mariposa spanish school 3pm. Eat late lunch 3:30p.m. Explore woods. see monkeys, parrots, ducks and a mysterious animal we couldn’t make out. After we had a tour of the la Mariposa. We have a dolphin bedroom with leaping ones ,swimming ones ,and even a dolphin windchime. First night in new bed Have separate beds for each of us.!