SAN JUAN DEL SUR

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Krystina Tanjoco (she's the one sitting next to me), organized a group for her going away party.  Since September she's been serving in San Marcos but left last week to go home to Hawaii. About 15 of us met from different areas of Nicaragua and converged in San Juan del Sur for 3 days.  San Juan del Sur is on the southwest coast of Nicaragua and is the most well-known city here.  It has some of the best surfing in the world and has a large Jesus on a hill much like Rio de Janeiro.

We stayed at a hotel called El Pacifico owned by a German couple and just relaxed a few days.  I know that to most people this is not a big deal but to us these are luxury items very seldom seen or experienced that the hotel had:
1.  a pool
2.  hot water (note: I haven't had a hot shower since January)
3.  AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!!!
4.  free breakfast that wasn't rice & beans
5.  two fat and sassy dogs

 It was really nice getting to know new friends and a new vacation spot.  We went to a beach called Las Maderas one day.  I've NEVER IN MY LIFE seen waves so big.  It's generally my goal to skip surfing beaches because I'm more of a swimmer but that's basically all that's available in SJDS.  It was insane!!  I'd see this massive wave coming and be in awe and then just when it folded over there's be an even BIGGER one behind it!  The waves are so strong they wash up really high on the beach so they touch a rock outcropping far out.  It was neat to explore it because thanks to the salt water there were sand dollars, barnacles, crabs, and a million other things I don't know the name for but had a great time messing with.

I'm going to post more pictures soon but for now I want to leave you with a clip from a new friend I made on the journey:

 http://youtu.be/A9wSRaxO_S4

BBQ

Last Friday I got invited to my 1st Nicaraguan bbq. I wasn't sure what to expect but it actually turned out really good and fun. I also rode on a motorcycle for my first time here. Loved it! I felt truly Nica because my friend Roberto gave me a ride while his 3 year old son sat in front and I had 2 big containers in my hand. Sooooo Nican!

Anyway, it was Roberto with his wife Martha and son Samuel, Richard with his wife Leila and son Richard, Ezekiel with his wife Diana, Shelina, and I. We did it at Ezekiel and Diana's house.

I'd have to say it was really normal. Heavy on the meats but dessert was missing! Nica libres running freely (that's a Cuba libre which is rum and coke plus a splash of lime; but we make it with Nican rum). The best part is when we were all done eating and stuffed like pigs the general consensus was to dance off our bbq. Now, at first I thought this was a bad idea and would just result in the kids barfing everywhere but it turned out to be the best idea! We shook our money makers and Leila showed me some new salsa moves I can't wait to try out.

EFECTUESE TU VOLUNTAD

Here's our new brothers...Marlon, Celeste, Diana, Guadalupe (mother), Guadalupe (daughter), and Yolanda

Shelina and I. When I come back from the US in July she'll be my new roommate!!

We had our Special Assembly Day in Ticuantepe on Saturday at the Assembly Hall. It was beautiful as usual over there. There's some yellow trees in bloom that were just gorgeous. What was more beautiful was the session. We had a visiting speaker from Bethel, Armando Ochoa, that I got to meet after the session. You know what his job is? He's the overseer of the translation dept in Mexico Bethel. He's in charge of making sure 39 languages/dialects (including Sign Language) are properly translated and printed. Fun job, huh? He even included a little Sign Language in his talk to us. If you haven't had your SDA yet, heads up on the last talk. It was super encouraging at a hard time for me and literally had me in tears.

I had the privilege of helping with the baptism again and really enjoyed it. There were 14 baptized, 6 of which came from my congregation. One was the (now) sister who fed me lunch the day I went to Cana de Castilla (previous blog about that). Because the brothers from Granada Este were in charge of the baptism we were really excited about all the brothers in our congregation. It was beautiful to see everyone crying and congratulating each other afterwards.

We had a peak attendance of 1,047.

ENDANGERED SCHMENDANGERED

This is salpicon de pescado. Salpicon is usually beef chopped finely and mixed with onion, green pepper, and LOTS of parsley, but once in the house they made it with fish and it was super yum.

GULP....ok, this is indio viejo made with turtle. I was lured into eating this with the understanding it was lake turtle and was NOT endangered like sea turtles....I later found out they're ALL endangered. Honestly, I ate it out of ignorance! It was good, though, like seafood. PS--there is NOTHING done here to protect them. In fact, my neighborhood was thrilled to learn it was turtle season and bought many many carcasses from the fishermen. They have a creepy skeleton which Ollie also benefitted from.

Here's Alicia making guirilas. How to describe them? Think of the taste of sweet cornbread but in tortilla form and texture. They're really good. They mainly sell them in the north so if you want them here in Granada you usually have to make them at home. They're served with cuajada and crema. Cuajada is a homeade cheese here eaten really frequently. It's packed in water like mozzarella and had a mild flavor. I love it!