Final Goodbye's

Godbye to Fred & Frieda
Gary's study Carlos who Gary feels will soon be a baptized Brother. I think leaving him was the hardest study of all to leave behind.

Perhaps one of the hardest goodbye's so far....this beautiful Spanish Family came to mean a great deal to all of us. They are very poor but came around with Roses for us to say how sorry they were we are leaving!

It's 6 am and I would NEVER normally be up, while my family slept, at this time out of choice. But these pills I am on to keep my panic in check put me to sleep deeply by about 8 pm and each morning I seem to wake up earlier and earlier. This morning it was 5.45 which is just as well I guess as this is the morning we move out of this house and go and stay at Dave's for the last two nights.

Have I mentioned how much I hate pills. These ones by about mid day make me start feeling like I have had one drink too many (and I am having none!) and by early evening I make no sense at all. BUT, they are working and as soon as we are in the US I can start weaning myself off them.....thank goodness.

Yesterday was the weirdest Anniversary we have ever had. You can't buy cards here....and we can't fit anything else in our luggage so we did nothing other than ackowledge that it was a special day. The celebrating we will save for Florida when I can remember it and walk straight. You would have thought that we would have at least gone out for a nice meal, but as a small English group we have a policy of taking out the visiting speaker for pizza with Steve & Debbie and splitting the bill. They usually travel quite a distance. So it was kinda neat to sit there eating out pizza with everyone secretly thinking "what a neat Anniversary meal" Seriously though, when will it ever happen like that again?

So I must be off, my family have woken up and I will go and make coffee and start stripping beds. Then a pill at 8.........:)

Home a little sooner every day!

No NOT 17 sleeps left....6 :D

We bit the bullet...which for a cheap skate like me was no small bite. We paid the horrendous fees and moved out flight up by a week. It cost almost the same again in ticket prices, plus the extra week in a hotel when we are all paid up here....but now that the decision is made and the plunge taken...we have no doubt that we made the right decision. There are so many reasons why, my mental ones only part.

So we spent today trying to pack. We went out and bought all these gifts only to find out today that we can only return with one checked bag each (we came with four total, now we will have three) as it's Christmas time and there is a luggage limit. They won't budge on it! So now packing is going to be a real challenge. REAL challenge. Sorry guys....all your gifts have to stay here...it's either that or we all go commando for the next week!

We move out of here on Monday after the last of our stuff is picked up by their new owners and then we stay at Dave's (Friend at the Laguna) for the last two nights. It felt safer as by now word will be out that we are moving....and we all know what happened last time.....plus, I have not been feeling very secure here recently so I will be glad to be out earlier. He will then take us to the airport on Wednesday which as "luck" would have it our friends Steve & Debbie are also flying out to take a trip home to work their business for a month (Christmas and they own a boutique). Actually, it originally out us off flying home that day but now I can see that it may be a good thing. Additional moral support should I need it.

So we are very excited. Our idiot landlord didn't pay the Internet bill (that we already paid him for) so our internet has been cut off and we can only get on when the neighbours turn on their wireless. Which yesterday was not at all but today has been all day thank goodness. He also tells us that as his wife left him and returned to the States, he has no money to give us our deposit back.....and what are we going to do about that here in Nicaragua?? Nothing! It smarts let me tell you!

Off to make some dinner....trying to use up what weird looking stuff we can find in the freezer.

Love to all......

17 Sleeps Left.....

This little girl was playing peek a poo with us shyly as we worked her alley in service this week. She was beautiful. I gave her some cookies that I had brought in my bag for Nikki.

Christmas is a huge celebrations here...and obviously they have no pine trees. So this week we saw them "installing"one in indepance square. They string up metal in the shape of a pine and then slowly wind greenery onto it. This one is still missing it's top. Hilarious.

This is Granada's town square, the meeting place for everyone. I originally thought it would be an awesome place to sit with a coffee and people watch but the reality of it is very different for a "chele". I don't exaggerate in the least when I say that every minute you would be approached by someone selling something or aggressive beggars. Still, I enjoy walking through and feeling the atmosphere.

This is our life right now. We have no TV and are down to one computer, our only contact with the outside world. We are on it constantly and frequently bicker over whose turn it is with it.....

We woke up this morning, looked at each other and said "17 more sleeps"! Last night was a challenging night, we almost left and went to stay with friends. The two rival political parties had demonstrations through the day in Managua. All our meetings there were cancelled and people were warned to stay in doors. Granada was the meeting place for many to travel in, and travel back from the demonstrations. So many were in town. Gary called me in the morning and warned me not to come out in service. We stayed in for the day even here in Granada. But then last night noticed a crowd of young 20 somethings in FSLN (political) shirts starting to gather on our street, in front of and off to the side of our house. The ladies across the street even closed their doors (which they never do). We started to worry. We called friends who said for us to give the word and they would come and get us.....but we decided we were best off the streets (the US consulate here had warned it's citizens in the country to not travel around if possible). We shut our house down and headed out into the back of the house for the night. Everything was fine for us, we don't know why they were there or what happened later, but we were fine. It reiterated to us the smart move of leaving. Things are going to get much worse over the next year.

All our stuff is now sold. Everything. The last batch of stuff is going to a lady who has just built a rental apartment that will be ready next month so she just paid us a set amount for all the odds and ends we had left. We can use them till we leave (like our coffee maker, thank goodness). We were at the meeting this morning and had some tearful conversations with some of the local friends who we are sad to leave behind. Not fair that we can just walk away but they can't leave. We don't mention our safety concerns though, only my mental issues....:)

Speaking of which, at this point I have come to a happy dosage of meds that seem to be keeping me stable but not dopey. I can even think about flying with out my heart racing which is a really good sign.......Just no more wine for me....you know I am desperate when I am willing to give up wine. As soon as we are back in the States, no more meds (once I am weaned back down) and lots of wine! Funny thing about these meds though (which I understand from Mom I would never have been given in Canada) is that they take away some of my mental agility so unfortunately, but sometimes funny in hindsight, I say what I am thinking straight away, when normally I may wisely choose to temper my words. Poor Gary has to keep giving me looks to shut me up while I merrily shoot my mouth off........I'm surprised he answered my hand at all today in the WatchTower!

So tomorrow we are off to Masaya Market one more time with a final list of gifts to pick up. Then Tuesday a friend is taking us into Managua so that we can pick up our Exit Visa's (we can't leave the country without them as we are residents now). Then it's only 2 weeks...........

We have now booked our month in South Carolina too. We are very excited. The place we found is a new condo complex right on the ocean, complete with two pools, a lazy river, hot tub & exersize room. And we will not have to share a room with Nikki...heaven. You can see it at avistaresort.com. Because it is off season there, it will end up costing us for the month about what we spend here anyway so it will be a nice way to avoid the extreme cold in Canada, but still slowly adjust to cooler temps (it's only around 11 degrees there that time of the year). We are there from Dec 30 (we didn't want to travel around New Years for safety reasons) till Feb 1. Then....home James......or Gary....whatever your name in, the pills made me forget :)

More to come....we have no TV so this is my entertainment.....when I can win a wrestling match to get it off Gary or Nikki :)

Days Inching Past...

It amazes me how much these ladies can carry balance on their heads! They work VERY hard and are yelling out the whole time what they are selling.

In service this morning. Behind us is one of the beautiful local churches and beyond them, Mighty Mombacho.

Playing cards in our tiny bedroom last night. Its small and we already have two beds in there (dbl & qu) so if we want to play cards, it's on one of the beds I'm afraid!

Not that I have ever had Christmas....but if I did, this is what waiting for it to come must feel like! The days are passing agonizingly slow till our departure. So much in fact, that we even considered pulling our dates forward by a week or two, but always cheap, we just couldn't bring ourselves to pay the exhorbant fees that would include. When we booked for December 9th, we did so thinking it would take us at least that long to get all our affairs in order. Guess when you are really motivated, you move fast, because we could leave next week! Almost everything we bought is sold.

So, life must continue with some sort of routine for the next 2 1/2 weeks. The highlights of this week have been that Gary got bit by a dog in service yesterday :) He was alone, walking down a tiny dirt alley and a little long haired dog came barrelling out of nowhere and attached himself to the back of Gary's shoe. Good job they were good leather ones and kept the teeth out of his skin! I think the humiliation of being bit by something that small and cute must have been worse that the fear of what it was doing! Gary just kept walking and eventually, satisfied that he had bested Gary, he left to brag to all his friends.

The terrible humidity has for the most part broken and although the days are still hot (we hit 110 F this week) it is actually pleasant with the end of the non existent rainy season meaning that the breeze has again picked up. Mornings and evenings are gorgeous. Everything is really dry though (this should be Nicaragua at it's most lush) and serious problems are ahead for the country as the harvest should soon begin....and there is little to harvest. There is also a political clash brewing, even though the next election isn't until 2011 for some reason they are starting now and this weekend we have all been warned to stay out of Managua and both parties are having demonstrations and rumour is that Ortega (the president) has issued permission for force to be used. I am so relieved to be leaving....and that is all I will say or think about that because it makes my anxiety go up........I can't wait for my family to be safety back in North America.

We had taken this last week to going into our bedroom around 5 pm, when it gets dark, putting on the AC, (decadence), and watching movies together until bedtime (off the street they are only 20 cords each ($1). Until yesterday when our TV and DVD player sold. So last night, for the first time since we got here, we dragged out the cards and had a riotous game of cards! I forgot how much I loved to play. Nikki is really quite good and I love to see her trying to stratigize. Plus, we usually end up ganging up on Gary, which we think is fun, Gary....not so much. Not really, he's always a good sport and keeps us in stitches. We're trying to keep busy to help the time pass.....did I mention it's still 2 1/2 weeks till we leave.....????

Our Day In Pictures...Sorry, Not in Order

Normal transportation for a "weathy" family of four!

Masaya Market Parking Lot.......

The Street Leading into the Market

Our Snazzy Bus...which broke down part way!

Our Street, "Calle Cuiscoma"

The street dog who lives on the corner a block from our house.

Our House


We headed into Masaya to pick up goodies to bring home to Canada today. I took pictures along the way as we realised we have lots of shots of what we have done, but not enough of every day life here in Nicaragua.

Just over three weeks to go till we leave...it seems so far!

Coming Home!

We're coming home! Nikki funnily enough has already packed her carry on. That's within a day of booking our flights!

As you may have noticed from the last two blog entries, I am struggling with panic. The last couple of days has been full blown and I have never been so frightened in my life....over nothing! I am confident that it will ease, it has to in order for me to fly home, infact each day after the midnight attack I had, it gets a little better. I think it is my minds way of shutting down and saying it's had enough with the stress of life in a third world country where everyday is a challenge and where you constantly have to be on guard.

So we are coming home! I am so relieved to be able to let down my guard once in the States.

We fly out of Nicaragua into Fort Lauderdale on December 9. Our plan is to stay in Florida till at least January 1 at which point we are thinking about renting a condo in South Carolina for a month (right on the beach in North Myrtle Beach). We just can't imagine coming home for the entire winter (did I mention that we have NO winter clothes!) We are even hoping to buy a car while we are there so that Feb 1 we can hit the road for home, stopping for a week or less at the Morgans on the way (where we left some of our stuff).

We arrive in the evening so I booked a hotel near the airport for two nights to allow us to recover from our flight (I will likely be heavy sedated to allow me to fly) I then found a hotel (comfort inn) in Orlando that was running a special if you book before Nov 16 for $29 a night! Two huge pools, fridge, microwave and near the outlets for shopping! So we are there for 10 nights. Then we are staying with friends for the week over Christmas. We have promised Nikki a day at Busch Gardens (her choice of venue). Funnily enough, no matter how many times I offer it to her, she has no interest in Disneyland! That's my girl :)

At that point we will are still undecided. To go either to South Carolina (the condo was a good rate since it is winter there but still a daily high of about 11) or come home. Money is always a concern and at some point you just want to be home. But it's winter in Canada....and we really didn't expect to see winter this year!

So, that's it. I didn't realise how happy I would be to be booked to leave. Nicaragua has been amazing....and horrifying at the same time. We will leave behind some super new friends too :(

But I can't wait to be home.........

The Isleta's

Although we had gone before, we took Ashely for an afternoon tour of the Isleta's that are clustered around the harbour of Granada. These little islands were created by the eruption of Mombacho over 1000 years ago and are now home to generations of locals as well as the playground of the rich and famous. An amazing contrast of local fishermen swimming naked in the murky waters, casting their handmade nets, next to million dollar homes with security guards patrolling year round so that the owners can come for a couple of weeks a year and enjoy the serenity.

We took a taxi down to the dock where we were inundated with competing boat owners all jostling with each other yelling in the taxi window all the reasons why they are the best tour. We finally settled on one who had a new looking boat and asked for his price, $30 for the four of us for an hour. "No way, do we look like tourists"? Oh yeah that's right, we do! We talked him down to $20 although in reality it should have been about $15. We climbed aboard and started off. It was a gorgeous day, absolutely beautiful. Even still, I had a brief surge of panic (again) as the boat left land and my mind realized there was no way off and back to land. I told Gary I thought I might have to go back, but waited it out and through concentration was able keep in under control.

We saw an incredible variety of tropical birds, some quite comical looking with their long legs and tiny bodies. Our boat driver spoken only Spanish but between Gary, Nikki & I, we were able to understand most of what he told us. We had taken with us a bag of goodies to feed the monkey's on Monkey Island and as we pulled up, prepared to toss then to shore as the last boat tour we had taken, the tour guide had told us they were crazy from their isolation on this tiny island and it was unsafe to let them take the food by hand.

Well much to our shock and horror, this boat driver pulled us right up and invited one of the Monkey's onto the boat!! We didn't notice at first as we were busy tossing cookies (galleta's) to the other monkey's on the island. This guy quickly clambered over the seats, over Gary's shoulder, to the front of the boat and grabbed the bag out of a shocked Nikki's hands! Is was horrifying and exhilarating at the same time. He then calmly sat down on the seat in front of me (I didn't move a muscle, if they even scratch you, you need to get rabies shots straight away!) stuck his head in the bag and started to work his way through the contents. Gary, bless him, instinctively tried to retrieve Nikki's bag for her at which point the monkey bared his teeth and hissed at him! Hilarious!

He first went for the cookie wrapper which he looked in, found empty and then with disgust threw it on the ground before starting to rummage again. He pulled out all the banana's and sat calmly pulling them apart and eating them. When he was done, he threw the bag on the ground saw another boat pulling up and made a flying leap on to it. Without as much as a thank you!

It was amazing. Ashley & Nikki were in awe and talked about it for the rest of the day! I had been sat so close to him I could count the hairs on his head. What an experience!

Masaya Volcano

We did a night tour of Masaya Volcano. Absolutely stunning. We arrived as dusk was settling around us. After a quick zip around the museum, we drove up the winding path to the meeting point for the tour. Here the mighty volcano was gushing forth huge pillowing clouds of sulfur. Through the few remaining rays of day light, it look spectacular. What we didn't realise, is that it is also deadly. Our guide had not yet arrived so we decided to get out the air conditioned vehicle to go and peer over the edge of a look out. The wind was constantly changing the direction of the smoke. We got about half way to the edge when a park ranger came speeding up the volcano path and gestured quickly to us to return to our vehicle. Huh.....maybe they should have signs or something! Apparently when the winds blow the direction they were, this is not a safe area to be in without a gas mask. Thankfully we had not gone far although our eyes were already burning when we got back in the car!

We then made our way a little higher, parked our car and the group of 8 of us joined our tour group. We climbed on foot a little higher to see into and across two extinct volcano's. By now it was pitch dark, so we returned to our vehicle and drove higher, through swirling clouds of sulfur, in the dark to another pathway. It was eerie. We were given gas masks, hard hats and flash lights. We walked silently along another tiny path for about 10 minutes until we came to some rustic stone stairs. A Bat cave, used for "ceremonies" back when they made sacrifices to the volcano. I wasn't sure I could do it (panic) but I went almost all the way to the end of it before i had to turn back with panic rising. Bats zoomed over our heads and the pitch dark was eased only by our groups flashlights as we went lower and lower. I made it out (dragging Gary & Nikki with me. Couldn't leave them behind!) without making a scene....but one of my friends didn't give up in time and screamed, then started hyper ventilating. She was a mess when they finally got her out!

Once we calmed Glynnis down, we continued back to our vehicles, regretfully gave our flashlights back, and drove into the swirling darkness, higher still to our final destination. A look into the mouth of the giant herself! We had to park the cars facing back down the volcano due to an eruption a couple years ago that made the tourists have to flee quickly (apparently you can see it on u tube).....! Many cars were damaged from flying rocks. We were warned if rocks started to rain down (their had been some activity the day before) that we should hide under the car.

We were taken in groups of 4 to peer down through the smoke to a look in point. Here is the horrifying part, there is NO fence, no safety, just mother earth under your feet as you peer over the edge down into the molten lava far below. Nikki wouldn't even come close enough to see (smart kid). Gary & I hesitantly leaned over with our feet as far back as possible and got a glimpse of the glowing lava. In the pitch dark, with the mouth of the giant rising around you, the sulfur clouds constantly pillowing out of their subterranean home and the sky full of glimmering stars, it really was awe inspiring. It was magical and you can understand why in days gone by, the local inhabitants considered this the mouth of hell.

For $10 a person, this really was an experience of a life time. It certainly helped you to appreciate the magnificence and power of the earth....and Jehovah for having created it!

Amazing

First and foremost, congrats to our Jess. A healthy ultrasound....with a little girl just what they were hoping for!!

We are on fast forward and I am not able to write too much. I will say this.....This last weekend, I think, has been one of the best of my life! Amazing how you can go from the one wild emotion (hate) to another (love) here in a matter of days. I wouldn't have missed this for the world.

We had our convention, which had a peak attendance of almost 700. Almost all in full time service! We spent Thursday cleaning the convention center (which is at the branch) then greeting our guests. The next three days are a blur of fun and work. We provided for the two missionary couples who stayed with us (I was up at 5.30 everyday making sandwiches) but they were SO down to earth and fun. It makes me think of really rich people, compared to people that want to pretend to be rich. There is no need to try and prove anything when you are the real thing. They were so unpretentious. Our drive to and from the convention (we rented a vehicle for 8) was so fun I usually ended up with a headache from laughing so hard!

We all had parts....Nikki had two (as did Gary) and was fabulous despite coming down with a nasty cold Friday!! Gary & Steve (the other elder in our group) were responsible for the attendant department so I saw him little.....but that didn't' affect the enjoyment at all. It was awesome.

We ended the convention weekend with a party at Daves (the place we stayed with the pool overlooking the Laguna) which was low key and elegant... full of missionaries, bethel members, special pioneers & other need greaters. But all the fun, real ones :) It was an amazing end to the weekend and the missionaries who stayed with us kept thanking us for the amazing weekend.....we were the ones that should have been thanking them.

Today to unwind, after seeing off our guests mid morning, we hit the Laguna for a swim with Steve & Debbie. We have a full week planned with Ashley who is having a fabulous time and wants to return again, whether or not we are here, for a longer period of time. We plan on taking her this week to Masaya volcano at night (you can see the Lava), zip lining on Mombacho, shopping at the Masaya Craft Market, Swimming at San Juan Del Sur and for a tour of the Isletas around Granada.

I have to run. It has been amazing. The weather seems to have finally broken. Hot still but less unbearably. Infact at times, it has been pleasant. I am on fast forward but for some reason the tiredness hasn't hit me yet. Maybe it's all the sunshine!