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One evening, I was on the porch waiting for Bex!. I had taught one of our last classes at the house and she was returning home from her class across town. Just as she was walking up to the house, our buddy Juriel came up to us. He was there to invite us to his house for dinner. Since 'his house' is actually his aunt's place and since his aunt is Tia Margarita, we were happy to accept! Of course, we would have said yes anyway. "Si, gracias! Cuando?" "Ahorita." Now? Well, alrighty then. We put our stuff inside the house and locked up.
Juriel even had a ride waiting, for Bex! anyway. He had brought Cheyenne with him. Cheyenne is a horse. Thus my wife, for the first time ever, rode a horse!!
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| "So, this ear is the turn signal.. or the horn?" |
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| Bex! is having way more fun than Cheyenne. |
We've helped make nacatamales a couple of times and they are labor intensive. We've also eaten a lot of nacatamales this year but these were simply amazing, by far the best we've had all year.
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| A special meal with special people. |
We had a great time and felt so special, so humbled.
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| Muchas gracias, amigo!! |
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Although we had wrapped our 'official' classes the prior week, we were holding open houses on our porch Monday and Tuesday for students to come by to ask any last minute questions. Apparently, we had done an amazing job of teaching because we only had a couple of folks show up. Haha! Just kidding, on the 'amazing' part. Yeah, attendance was light but as the island hits its busy season, people have much more work so we weren't expecting a huge turnout anyway.
Maynor came by Monday to ask a few questions about irregular verbs. And Marbeli showed up both days to catch up on some of the final classes, since she had missed much of the last couple of weeks taking care of her sick grandmother. It was fun to be able to offer this time for our students and we're glad they took the opportunity to stop by.
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| The sunsets continue to amaze. |
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| We hear the fishing is best at this time of day. |
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| Even Booby has been enjoying sunsets on the porch. |
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Every single day over the last few weeks, we've hoped for decent enough conditions to paddleboard. And every single day the wind has been blowing something fierce or we've been busy with other plans. Or both. Boo! The end is approaching and soon we'll have to deflate our boards to pack.
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Before Marbeli left the open house class on Tuesday, she mentioned that she and her family had made nacatamales, which were cooking away as we spoke. She asked if we wanted two for dinner and the answer was 'Heck yes!'
Around 6 that evening, she came back with two fresh-out-of-the-pot bundles of goodness, which we devoured for dinner. Many people here make nacatamales and then sell them around the the community or at events. We assumed this was the case and offered to pay her. But our money was refused. These were a gift from Marbeli and her family.
Yep. The people here work so hard for what they have, and it leaves one speechless when they are so giving.
In fact, I think I just got something in my eyes while reflecting on this.
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| The view from our office on one of our last mornings in this island paradise. |
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Our OBS kids (and their families) threw a despedida to celebrate the end of school and to say goodbye to us. We had a swim day in the lake and a specially prepared lunch. It was a lot of fun and the kids were having a blast splashing us and dunking me!
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| Keneth sporting his ultimate Hawaiian beach look. Love this kid! |
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| Yostin, playing catch. |
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| A very waterlogged - and happy - Dulce. |
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| Jesner took a little too much pleasure in dunking me... |
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| Anjela (back to camera) with Itzel. |
Swimming and water are a part of life here, obviously. It's an island. Living on a heavily used path which led to a prime laundry and bathing spot in the lake, we regularly viewed 5-6 year olds bringing their toddler younger siblings for bath time. No adults. The older kids are simply... responsible. Ooh, I think I just heard the United States gasp and speed dial their lawyer because that society works on the basis that nothing is ever one's own fault - there is always someone else to blame. I noticed something special when the kids were piling on to dunk me. When I would relent and go under, I would blow bubbles. But sometimes I would hold my breath and as soon as the bubbles stopped, I would have 6-10 hands quickly grabbing at me to pull me up. These kids take care of their loved ones. They play - and work - and take responsibility for one another. I found it very touching.
After we were worn out from swimming, we enjoyed a great meal that was prepared by the moms. Then Julia gathered all the children with us, we got in a big circle and held hands for goodbyes. Julia asked if the kids knew why we were gathering today. They answered that we were saying goodbye to Profes Rebecca and David, and celebrating the end of the school year. She asked the children if they had anything to say to us. Kids get shy when put on the spot but Jasmina piped up immediately to say thank you for teaching us English all year and then many of them took turns saying 'thank you' (many saying it in English!); Itzel wished us safe travels; several of them wished we could come back. If only...
We love these kids so much and we already miss them!
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With a busy week ahead of us, we knocked out a batch of tortillas, setting up the assembly line one last time. We netted a couple of dozen to enjoy with quick meals throughout the week. Mmmmm mmmmm! It would take Heydy about 20 minutes to make this many, by the way! We'll get faster.
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| Thank you, Marbeli and Heydy!! |
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Wednesday was a big and exciting day for us! For one last island adventure, we took off at sunrise to bike around our volcano, Volcán Maderas. You can click 'the link below' and check out the details - elevation, temp, etc. It was a good day for this trip - overcast skies kept the heat of the sun at bay and we had a breeze most of the trip, as well.
the link below
There has been a lot of road work being done lately. We're told it's been 7-8 years since anything has been done. In Mérida the crews have been digging out a hillside and dumping the dirt along the road, grading and rolling it til smooth. And it's great, at least for getting around.
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| Crews have been 'repositioning' the island for a few weeks, making a lot of noise and dust in the process. |
We weren't sure how far around Maderas the work had reached and were assuming it was only in our neck of the woods. We were surprised to see that they had improved the road most of the way around. It made for mostly easy pedaling for us, even though we were prepared for a more epic ride. There are only a handful of villages around the southeast side and virtually no vehicle traffic, so it was great.
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| Our steeds await during a snack stop in San Ramon. |
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| The pedestrian bridge in Tichana. The new foot bridge is on the right. Prior to its construction, the only crossing was via the narrow path on the left. |
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| The school in Tichana. |
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| Rest stop on the church steps in Tichana. |
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| As long as there are snacks, there are smiles. |
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| Some of the less good road (the best of the worst and pretty good, actually) |
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| Some of the new and improved road. We could really fly, if it wasn't so uphill. |
When we reached the community of La Palma, we stopped to ask directions to Julia and Pilarte's house. Julia is the 1st grade teacher at OBS and Pilarte is a teacher in Tichana, so everyone knows them. After asking a few different people, each one getting us a little closer, we found their house. Alas, they weren't home! But we are 100% sure they will hear that two gringos on bikes were looking for them cuz we were getting all kinds of curious stares!
We knew we were close to familiar territory when the road dropped back down to lake level. Soon enough, we hit Balgüe. We thought about breakfast here but it didn't look like much was open so we headed for the isthmus and had a delightful late breakfast at a roadside place. The young women who ran the place were fun and sassy, so that made the meal even more enjoyable.
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| The day offered stunning views of Concepción. |
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Our afternoon adult beginner class, the rockstar group we've had all year long, came to the house tonight (Wednesday) to have dinner with us. Alcides, Berman, Isidro, Marbeli, and Heydy (only Juriel was missing) brought gallopinto, tacos Nica-style, and arroz con leche for dessert. Bex! introduced the folks to a US classic - potato salad, which they all loved! We had a great time and it was so enjoyable as we had actual conversations in English and Spanish! This group was a blessing and we looked forward to each and every class with them.
We shared the newspaper article that was done about us when we were in Costa Rica, for the last event in our 50@50 Project. A daily called La Teja had done a write up on us as part of their coverage of a local foot race. The reporter asked us, among other things, what our future plans were. Our students were touched because in the article we mention specifically that we're returning to Ometepe to teach English in a rural community to help the people improve their lives. We were assured that we had indeed done so.
A personal highlight of the evening was finally having a beer with Isidro! He and I had talked about it all year but had never worked it out. So tonight, we made that happen! We also gave away quite a bit of stuff we had that we weren't bringing home - miscellaneous items like post-it notes, an umbrella, envelopes, paper clips, etc. They were very thankful and we again encouraged them to continue classes together. We even gave 'Profesor Alcides' a whiteboard and markers. Now they have all the tools to keep the ball rolling!!
It was yet another incredible and touching evening with people who will now be our friends for life. And what they don't realize is that we gained as much from them as they did from us.
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Thursday was spent around the house, finalizing our packing plans and trying to keep the number of bags to as few as possible. Hamilton and some of his family came over in the afternoon and we played Cornhole. Hamilton, his daughter Yossi and her son Jarvin, and family friend Laura had a great time - as did we! Once they got the rules down, the competition was on! Recall that we had paid Hamilton and his son to make these boards for us back in July. In between rounds, Hamilton asked us what we were doing with the boards, assuming we had sold them. He was very pleased when we informed him that we were giving them to him and his family, so they could enjoy it and remember us. He was extremely moved that we would just give them back to him. He is a great guy and, with his family, have helped us in so many ways all year. With some help getting the Spanish right, Bex! wrote up a set of rules for them and they got lots of scoring practice while we played.
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| Yes, in America we throw bags of corn around for fun. |
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| Dad and daughter |
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| Laura, watching a match from the mango gallery (no peanuts, here) |
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| Three generations of Hernandezes (or is it Hernandi?) |
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| Hamilton, Bex!, Yossi, yours truly. |
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We had some last minute random stuff for the bilingual school so we went to Hacienda Merida to make the drop and say our goodbyes there. Afterwards, we went to Pescadito's for dinner. Leopoldina was very kind, giving us a discount on the meal. Walmoro and Luvianca were there watching TV (they don't have one at their home). When they heard us talking about leaving in a couple of days, Luvianca came right over to hug us. Walmoro looked at us for a while, playing coy. He finally decided that, yeah, he should give us a hug before we left. As it turned out we would see them a couple of more times before we departed. Fine by us.
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We've written several posts mentioning our printer and the issues we've had with ants moving in to set up their home inside it. We voided any warranty on that thing a long long time ago - dismantling it and reassembling it several times. We broke a couple of pieces and field stripped a delicate ribbon cable, all to keep it running throughout the year. We are certain this model was not made for what we put it through! A lot of cursing, prayer, crossing of fingers and good joojoo helped us maintain this machine, which made teaching a lot easier for us and a lot better for our students.
The buttons on the control panel quit working after dismantling No.2 or 3 - I forget. Bex! figured out brilliant workarounds to bypass the printers' builtin programming to scan a recalibration page each time we replaced the toner cartridge. We turned it off and on by unplugging it between uses. This thing was held together with duct tape and glue from a gluestick. No, really - it was. It was jerry-rigged in about every way imaginable.
And it worked all the way up to the end. The last thing we printed was a photo of ourselves, to fulfill a request from Hamilton, who wanted a picture to frame and put in his house. We were very honored - from what we've seen we'll be on the wall with family members and Jesus.
Any given day, we might have to try 3-4 different semi-technical workarounds to get it going - unplugging it, resending the print job, squeezing the control panel, etc. Moving it even slightly meant having to reposition the ribbon cables just so to get them to make contact again. So giving it away wasn't an option. Plus not many people here have computers so there wouldn't be anything to print from. Back behind the house we had a mini-landfill going - a concrete bay where we put non-recyclables and non-compostable stuff. But we didn't feel right about just tossing the printer on the ol' garbage heap. It did too much work for us this year to be treated like an empty rum bottle or a plastic Coke bottle. We decided to send it off in style.
Even though the lake was raucous, with waves and wind, we paddled out at sunset with our beloved HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 2515 riding on the nose of Bex!'s board. We got out a ways in the lake and pulled our boards together. The printer was positioned so that it was straddling the two paddleboards. Bex! sang 'Amazing Grace' while I switched to my Reverend mode to say a few words. Then we let our boards drift apart, the combination printer/scanner/copier/fax machine sliding off into the darkening waters of Lago de Nicaragua. It floated for a couple of seconds, then began filling with water. It listed to one side and slipped away, just like Jack slipped away from Rose at the end of 'Titanic'. Except our printer sent up more bubbles than Leo DiCaprio did. Maybe not the most sustainable thing we've ever done but it was fitting.
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| At sunset, a final despedida for our friend. |
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| Shortly before our Valhalla moment. |
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Friday morning we started the actual packing. We started with our paddle boards, giving up on getting a non-windy day to get some paddle time in before we leave these warm water climes. Oh well. We started with Bex!'s board and after a little trial and error, got it rolled and into its travel bag. Then we got mine bagged and it was on to clothes and other boring stuff.
At one point we had a bag that took both of us to close up. It was stuffed, so one of us zipped while the other pulled the flaps closed. We busted up laughing when Bex! said "This is how Latina women get into their pants!" Haha! Many women here do wear them some tight pants.
Once we got going, packing went pretty quickly. We rearranged things from bag to bag, trying to balance weight, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Bex! had the great idea to use an extra rolling duffle we had instead of one of the two suitcases we'd brought down here. This bag held a lot of stuff, allowing us to eliminate two entire suitcases. The number of bags we'd be traveling with turned out to be a wash, even though we gained two paddleboards. Between materials we used up, donated, gave away, and wore out, we had less crap to bring back. We were quite pleased with how it all turned out!
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| Not too shabby! |
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| Bex! made gallopinto con huevos revueltos one last time! |
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Hamilton stopped by to bring us corn on the cob, fresh from his garden about 30 meters behind our house. And later that night, he came by with his wife, Maria Estela, to give us fresh corn tamales with a big chunk of salty cheese. These were made from garden corn harvested that morning and were absolutely delicious! We had a great visit with them and Hamilton presented us with bracelets he'd made for us. Mine had my name and an R for Rebecca; Bex!'s had her name and a D for me. Very nice gifts, indeed!
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| "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" |
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Friday meant it was Margarita's for lunch - our last time! We presented Tia with a photo of us and thanked her for being so wonderful to us all year. She is a very special lady and we can't wait to see her again! She was very touched by the picture and said she would always remember us, even without a photo! We enjoyed a delicious last lunch of chicken, cerdo riblets, rice, beans, salad, and this delightful salad made from fresh baby corn.
And since it was the last visit and we were packing, we bought two bottles of 7 year Flor de Caña to bring home! Woohoo! As we were leaving, we ran into Juriel, Jose Carlos, and Maynor.
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| Dos profesores with Jose Carlos & Maynor. |
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We made the rounds, visiting the Lorio's to say goodbye and see baby Rosita one more time. The family is so happy and little Ariana seemed to be adapting well to having a new little sister. No longer the baby, she wasn't too happy at first! Mama and baby are doing great and we look forward to seeing the Lorio's when we visit again someday.
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| Not photoshopped! My wife, holding a real live, honest-to-goodness 16-day old baby! |
We stopped in at the pulperias and produce stands we bought from regularly to say our goodbyes. We received many thanks for our efforts, lots of hugs and positive comments about how we represented in the community. We lived lived here, enduring the heat, the drought, the chayules. Even those who never took classes were appreciative. We were a part of the community and people here respected us for that. (In fact, as we told people we were leaving at 9, 9:30 on Saturday, multiple times we had people respond with "No, you have to leave by 8:30, 8:45 for the bus." We explained that we had too many suitcases and were taking a taxi, but were a bit proud to have lived so normally that the chicken bus was people's first assumption.)
We stopped by Marbeli's house and chatted with her and Heydy. They agreed to come to the house to pick up some English language children's books we were going to donate to the village library. We had talked with a local guy, an expat hotel owner who is involved with the library, but he never followed up on his commitment to get the books from us, so we were kinda stuck. Thankfully, Marbeli and Heydy said they would make sure it happened.
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We made one more stop by Hacienda Merida to say goodbyes to some of the people we had missed the day before. Darwin was there and as we were talking to him, he had an idea to try to keep us from leaving as planned the next morning. "So, did you hear that there are no ferries tomorrow? Yep, all the ferries are cancelled tomorrow, so you two can't leave." Funny part was that there was a hotel guest that overheard him and quickly walked over to us. "Excuse me, did I just hear you say there are no ferries running tomorrow?!" The tourist and his friends had been in the process of finalizing their departure plans for the next day!!
Bluff called. We kept our mouths shut, grinning and chuckling at Darwin's predicament. "Well, Darwin. You should explain to this nice man why there are no ferries tomorrow." After some hemming and hawing, he figured out a decent save. "Well, what I meant to say is that there are no ferries for people from Oregon tomorrow. Where are you from?" "Vermont." "Oh, okay, you'll be fine. But these two can't leave."
Darwin is the best!
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As promised, Marbeli came to the house later and got the books. We also foisted off two suitcases and a 2 liter bottle of Coke we had left! These last few days, no one left our house empty handed!!! Plus, we told Marbeli that now she had suitcases so she could come visit us in the states!
Marbeli sat with us while we watched our last island sunset and it was a beauty! Before she left, Marbeli told us again how special it was for the community to have us all year. She was grateful for the opportunity we provided her.
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After the sun went down and we said final goodbyes to Marbeli, we went inside going through last minute packing decisions and preparations, when we were paid a visit by Marili, Ericks, Ricardo, Deymar, and Donaldo. They brought snacks and Coke and balloons. (It seemed like they'd gone to the pulperia by themselves and said okay, what do we need for a party? It was adorably grown up.) They also brought eggs and spoons, then had Bex! and I race each other while carrying the egg in the spoon which we were holding in our mouth! Good times! We tried out racing with pitchers of water on our heads, too. Some balloons were filled with water and we tossed them around until *someone (*Deymar, every single time) dropped them.
It was our very last, very fun despedida and these kids made us feel so special by throwing us a party! We shared snacks from our depleted refrigerator (peanut butter on crackers, raisins). We practiced some English (Do you like peanut butter? Yes, I like peanut butter.) What did you do yesterday?).
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| Profe & Ericks |
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| Goofy kids: Donaldo (rhymes with Ronaldo), Marili, Ricardo, Deymar |
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| Group shot #1 |
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| Bex! and Marili - and way too many bunny ears. |
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That's about it, really. Our last week, our last night in our island home.
Tomorrow morning, we were heading off the island for the last time.
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