VIGORON

V is for vigorón.

If you ever make it (specifically to Granada, Nicaragua) here, please eat the vigorón.  It's fabulous and cheap and supposedly originated in our city.  What is it?  Basically it's boiled yucca as a base topped with chicharrones (pork rinds) and cabbage salad.  It's honestly the perfect combo of soft and crunchy, the blandness of fried food with the bite of vinegar.  Where's the best place to get it?  If you go to Parque Central on any given day you can get a big plate of it served on a banana leaf WITH fresco for less than $3.  Not bad, huh?

UBICARSE

U is for ubicarse which loosely translates to get your bearings or literally "to be located."

That can be a huge challenge in a country where most streets have no names and most homes have no numbers.  Instead, addresses are given by landmarks (which may or may not still exist), cardinal directions (remember, in Granada the volcano is always south), and shape or color of homes.  Here's an example of an address:  La Villa, la parada de los Coquitos, 3 andenes al norte, 1/2 cuadra al este, casa color cafe de 2 pisos.  

No really, that's a real address.  It means that once you're in Granada you go to the neighborhood called La Villa.  Find the bus stop called los Coquitos (which isn't marked, by the way, you just have to magically know where the bus stops on its route), and count 3 alleys north, 1/2 block east, and find the brown 2-story house.

Needless to say, our mail never makes it :(

KATHY'S WAFFLE HOUSE

K is for Kathy's Waffle House....no translation needed on this one.  I really wanted to make all my posts in Spanish for the challenge but well, no go on this letter.

Yes, that is REAL Aunt Jemima's in the background!

Kathy's Waffle House is a restaurant here in Granada.  As you can probably guess by the title, they're famous for producing a mean American style breakfast.  We're talking about products that are hard to find here like blueberry waffles (made with blueberries in the batter AS IT SHOULD BE!), breakfast sausage (that alone should win them a medal), and hash browns.  

I know that living abroad is all about new experiences but sometimes nostalgia sets in (hey, word trivia! I just learned that nostalgia is the Spanish translation for homesickness. Fitting, right?), and I want to hear English, see blue eyes, and eat what's familiar to me.  Don't get me wrong, I love gallo pinto (rice and beans) too just not every day.  When that hits, I head to Kathy's Waffles.  Not only is the food great but it's a big foreign hangout in Granada.  When you pass through, you should check it out and maybe we can meet in person :)

GRANADA

G is for Granada.

Classic Granada site...horse and carriage for tour or just plain help to get from A to Z

Colonial courtyard.  Classic of Granada colonial architecture

Ahhhh, the city in which I live and my new home.  Granada claims to be the oldest city in Central America funded in 1524 if I remember correctly.  As most Central American history goes, it was conquered by the Spanish.  Their influence is still highly obvious in boulevards, architecture, and well, language.

What's some fun things to do in Granada?  Here's some suggestions:

• Tuesdays at 10 a.m. take a home tour which leaves from Centro del Arte.  See some fabulous colonial homes both original and renovated.
• Take a horse/carriage ride and negotiate negotiate your price.  They leave from Central Park and are available in English.  A leisurely way to learn about Granada history and sites.
• Mombacho volcano is right outside Granada as is
• The Isletas (islands) tour....365 islands in beautiful Lake Cocibolca

Come see us!

DARIO

D is for Darío.

You cannot live in Nicaragua without knowing that name.  It belongs to the most famous author (poet) to have come from here...Rubén Darío.

Here in Granada there's an amazing colonial style hotel called Hotel  Darío.  If you're coming through Granada, please visit.  I can't comment on the rooms but I CAN comment on the restaurant.  There's two on-site, but my favorite is the Chocolate Cafe.  I think by the title of the restaurant you should figure out why.  They serve great coffees and desserts and just so happen to make a mean burger, blt, and chef salad if you're looking for something stronger.

The most fun part is that on Friday nights at 8 p.m. they have a folklor show.  Folklor is the traditional dance here done in couples with a live band.  It's really nice to watch and when paired with a glass of Flor de Caña in a colonial courtyard....well, you just can't get more Nicaraguan that that :)

UN HOMBRE MURIO POR TODOS

Little girl, Jandra, me, and Pilar.  I found my dress at a second-hand shop in Masaya market for  a little over $3!

I hope all of you had a beautiful Memorial this year.  This year was much like last in our setup.  We were the 2nd Memorial again starting at 7:15pm and had seating both inside and outside.  We were able to see and hear the speaker thanks to a projector.  Here, the sun sets year-round at 6pm (thanks to being so close to the equator) so we're able to get started pretty early.

The weather was a little better this year although I certainly wasn't expecting that.  Around 3pm I was in my room sweating and noticed my temperature gauge said 93 degrees.  I moved it into the living room, and it went up to 95.  I moved it outside and it went up to 97.  With about a million percent humidity.  But I endured!  I didn't put on the A.C. and by the time I went to the Memorial, just as it was starting this amazing breeze started up, and it was actually really comfortable.

I wasn't able to help with set-up or cleaning this year because I've been sick the past few days.  I have barely a voice and when it's early in the morning or late at night, it's really painful to talk and swallow.  Apparently, it's allergies.  Again.  Thankfully, I was so busy with the campaign I already had my hours last Friday so I was able to take some time off to recuperate guilt-free.

Best news to report from the Memorial?  A student of mine came!!  Three of my students said for sure they wanted to come and lots more from rural.  But rural couldn't ever work out transportation, and I feel sick about that.  However, my student, Hazel, came with her brother-in-law, Roberto.  It was her 2nd time to a KH and his 1st.  They said they wanted to come back for the Special Talk!  I'm so happy because I was really praying for my students to come, and in general it's been a struggle to get Hazel to come to a meeting.  She's my most progressive of all my Bible students and an absolute gem.  She came over to the house when my parents were here, so they got to meet her, and she felt so happy getting to know my house and family.

Hazel, Roberto, and I

All in all we had 294 in attendance from our 99 publishers.  Best report I heard came from Malacatoya.  It's a group, not a congregation, just a little further out than our rural territory.  They have 18 publishers and had 179 in attendance including 1 deaf they interpreted for!  Isn't that amazing?!  There's still sooooo much work to do here.

Brett & Kathy, publishers from Illinois that now serve in my sister congregation, Granada Norte.  Norte hosts Malacatoya group.  They also are the only foreigners in their congregation so have been a great support to me especially when it comes to getting a hold of English literature.

CALLING POTENTIAL NEED GREATERS

Can you imagine this being your need-great territory?  San Juan del Sur calling....

Some of the sights you'll see if you choose to serve in Bluefields

Circumstances are always changing, and it may be that you readers are looking for opportunities to serve where the need is greater without a really long commitment.  Right now, Nicaragua has multiple exciting opportunities available during Memorial season.  Here, just like in the U.S., we always do a campaign three weeks before the Memorial.  However, there are some congregations that are just too tiny to reach all their territory but still end up with HUGE turnouts each Memorial.  Think about what the attendance could be with just a few more helping hands!  So if you're weighing your options and have only maybe 1-3 weeks that you can spend away from home, please consider us *me on bended knee begging*.  Every place I mention I have contacts in I can connect you with for questions on lodging and prices.  Here's some places to think about:

SAN JUAN DEL SUR ENGLISH

I know not all my readers are Spanish-speakers or are possibly bilingual.  If that's your case, you've got a great opportunity.  In a prior post (here) I told you there's a new English group in San Juan del Sur.  This year, they'll be doing their first Memorial.  Wouldn't it be exciting to be a part of history?  There's a TON of foreigners who live in San Juan del Sur and oh, did I mention you'd be right on the beach?!  One of the prettiest beaches in Nicaragua.  Look on the map below and you'll see it's location on the southwest coast of Nicaragua.  Currently, there's a ton of Australians in SJDS serving in English so you'd get to see our international brotherhood firsthand as well as make a big impact on a brand new congregation.  

MASAYA SIGN LANGUAGE

Nicaragua uses their own sign language but if you already know ASL it's supposedly veeerrry easy to pick up NSL as they only have about half the signs.  There's quite a few in the congregation who know ASL also so you'd have support to help you if you got stuck.  There's three foreigners serving there already so you wouldn't be alone.  Although their congregation is in Masaya (see map below and look between the 2 lakes) their main need is in my city of Granada.  That's part of their territory, but they only have one publisher (my roommate) living here right now.  That means all 100 deaf in the community are her responsibility to invite.  Nicaraguans can't always afford the bus transport between the two cities to be of regular help.  The two cities are about 20-30 minutes away from each other by bus.

BLUEFIELDS SIGN LANGUAGE

This is also a new group that's sprung up recently.  Bluefields is on the eastern coast of Nicaragua (see map below) and supposedly is gorgeous; I personally haven't seen it yet.  It's a really unique place because the residents are black and speak Creole English.  So if you only know ASL and English; it'd be a perfect match for you.  It's a very different feel there--more Caribbean, less Latinoamerica.  You'd be getting to see a very special place in Nicaragua while serving a new group that needs a lot of help and frolicking on the beach at the end of a long day in service.  Doesn't sound too bad, huh?

LA SAVANA SPANISH

La Savana is a small town located about 20 km outside of Somoto (see the northwest part of map below).  There's a couple in my congregation who just went there to serve in December for a month and said they had GREAT response; so great they themselves are going back during Memorial season.  The congregation is only about 12 publishers with 6 students who regularly meet with them, but they have a HUGE territory.  You would have an opportunity to speak to people who quite possibly haven't heard the Kingdom message in years.  Another benefit is back, being up north, you'd be in a cooler area of Nicaragua.  Something to think about as March/April starts our hottest time of the year.

EL ALMENDRO SPANISH

You can read about the special pioneer couple already serving there in this former post of mine.  But just to refresh your memory, El Almendro has only about 6 publishers and a very large territory with great response.  My friend Yahoska has dozens of studies; so many she only studies with them about 15 minutes at a time or does group studies to get them all done.  And her husband Jairo is the ONLY brother there.  If you're a brother reading this, just imagine....EVERY public talk, EVERY part on the service meeting, EVERY WT study...it's just you!  Can you imagine the pressure?  Wouldn't you love to help him?  :)

NICARAGUAN POSTCARD

You sure you don't want to visit me?!  Beautiful, huh?  This was taken a little north of Matagalpa after the wedding.  The area's called Selva Negra (Black Forest).  It was settled by Germans and they have a little settlement there with German architecture where they make sausage, cultivate coffee, make cheese, and even have strawberries!!!  The first I've seen grown here!  Oh, and by the way, you know how I'm always complaining about the heat in Granada?  It was about 50 degrees here and we were freezing to death in our sleeveless dresses.

La Calzada at sunset with Central Church in the background (Granada)