Measuring feet. Volunteering in Granada, Nicaragua.

I read an article today on Gigi's favorite app, Flipboard. It began with the following quote,

"I have found out that there ain't any surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." - Mark Twain

This is true. And I think it stretches to how you feel about yourself. Traveling is raw and relentless. It tests your grit, exploits your weak points but mercifully, gives you tomorrow to wake up and have another go at it. It sounds a bit like parenting. . .

There are the rainbows. . .

and the wonder.

The horrors that you just can't seem to look away from. Or, if you are Sam, move your head away from!

The sights that make you want to whoop.

The heartbreaks and helplessness.

 

This horse was skin and bones. She was walking aimlessly down the street by herself. Sam ran to try to get tufts of grass for her which sent her wobbling down the street. When we asked who she might belong to, a couple sitting outside said matter-of-factly, "When people can't afford to feed them any more they let them go."

The possibilities.

We had the honor to go several times this week to a private library non-profit called, "Puedo Leer". 

Never as much as when I am traveling, am I aware of how life can go either way. 

Gigi poses with a boy who had something about him. (He reminded us of Jonah????) We are rooting that he will have a life that is good to him. This kid was wearing old pink flip flops and of all the kids we were able to give shoes to, he's the one who I will remember. 

(Thanks Kevin Swaim's class!)

I am proud of the kids this week. 

They traced feet for shoe sizes.

 They fit kids for shoes.

       

When a little boy covered in a dermatological condition that was straight out of a medical textbook  presented his little feet to them, they didn't blink. 

They fit his feet and rejoiced when the shoes fit.       

 They read to them.

They looked. 

Smelled. Listened. 

Sam quietly took a picture of a ravine full of trash. 

They stepped over putrid water and remembered every day they couldn't use the tap water. They remembered to greet our amazing friend Julio, and to say goodbye to him, because it means something about dignity to do that here. 

They patiently took in the Holy Week proceedings. Gamely running out when a procession would go by. . .

   

day

or night.

.

Mark Twain also said, "There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist."

I am happy that (we don't hate each other after traveling in close quarters!) these kiddos are not pessimistic. We've thought up a neat idea to continue donating shoes in Nicaragua to the kids showing up at the library centers. Will you help? 

Sky is the limit.

Back to Costa Rica tomorrow. We'll be headed to the northern coast to meet Gigi's great friend, Sophia and her family. I am sure Twain is wagging his cigar.

Granada. . . hot, colorful and endearing.

It was close to 100 degrees today but we liked Granada so much the first go around that we are back for several days.

The colors are addictive. Every block leads to color schemes you couldn't have imagined a moment before.

Everyone has their favorites.

Seeing the straw sticking out of crumbling adobe that has held for more than 100 years is something.

 

Many people say, "you have to visit Nicaragua to get that it's different." It's true, the people have a remarkable quality of playfulness, and endearing confidence and openness that calls you to have a seat and get to know them. 

It's true that it is the second poorest country in the hemisphere- after Haiti, but it's not the poverty that calls attention.

Even though it is visually with you, always.

The streets are teeming with 'busy-ness' that is almost medieval. Pushcarts, horse and buggies, baskets on heads, no chain stores. Oddly, there isn't a freneticism to it all, impossible with the heat.

On the contrary.

It reminds me a bit of Morocco in the best way. 

 There is no doubt, a trip's success is absolutely dependent on where you hang your hat. Period. If sleep ain't had at night, ain't nobody happy! Struck gold we did with our VRBO houses. First, with Casa Camila, a house from 1945 but filled with 100 year old relics and enough patina to sink a ship.

Everywhere you turn is another pinch-able view.

The house is so beautiful that it feels like you are in a dreamscape. It's something out of a Hollywood set.

 The rooms and furniture oozed history.

The place just had a quality of fun

 that is hard to put your finger on but you know it when you have found it.

I know I am gushing but we were all smitten.

The fact that it was across the street from these beans didn't hurt.

Like much of Granada, unassuming facade is the name of the game.

The pot. I am dreaming of it. It is as big as a coffee table. If you strain, you might see the gigantic cloves of garlic swimming on the surface. The smell was out of this world.

On our 'phase-two' of our Granada stay we have landed in Casa Camila's sister house, Casa Paloma. Suffice it to say, she is just as beautiful but in a different way. She is a grand dame of a house but what we have loved most are the peddlers that call right through the door and windows as they sell fruits and breads and more.

There is something fantastic about fresh-baked bread being handed through old wrought-iron.

We all enjoy it.

From our quick visit to Laguna de Apoyo

To chocolate-making. . . Granada and the Laguna have left lasting-impressions.

Grinding cacao.

Even the sunrise from Casa Paloma this morning left me replete with the promise that lie ahead.

 Fundamentally, Nicaragua has a tapestry that is unexpected and colorful; it is charged with history and never far from making one think. . . about the past, present and future.