So, as you can probably imagine, Nicaragua and the United States are not the same. Nicaragua has so many things that, at first, are strange and new to me, but over time I have become used to them. The other night we were talking about all of our favorite things in Nicaragua and so I am going to share so some of my favorite things.
1. Food in a leaf. On nearly every street corner you can buy food in a leaf. It is a random assortment of items, depending on the vendor. Some of our favorites are Chicken, rice, beans, slaw, plantanos, or potatoes. Everyone has their favorites and normally you can get a huge leaf of food for 1.50 (30 cords).
2. Ridin’ Nica Style. It is possible to fit a whole family on one pedal bike. We have tried and we have failed, we get laughed at.
3. Our water and power at our house. We are not sure why but the power in our house will randomly go out. It can blink or it can be out for hours. The same with out water. Some times the water pressure gets really really low, this can be fun when we try to take a shower. Imagine taking a shower from a super soaker, its just one solid stream. Currently, we are in a water low. We are told that we will not have water for 2 or 3 more days. We found a collection of rain water in a giant rusty barrel in the back of our house and use that for cooking and cleaning. We just pick out the dirt.
4. ANTS- Just assume you will always have a few ant bites and that you will always have one on you. We eat them on a regular basis and we excited when there are only a few in our sugar, we just pretend the little ones are dirt in our coffee.
5. Eskimo- Ice cream, Friday nights, Be there.
6. Granada is small. I am not sure how many people actually live in Granada but it feels like a small town. You can walk to everywhere or take a taxi and be there in a few minutes. We also frequently run into people we know. Our favorites are our new friends from the street, this picture is infront of our house one night, this is a fairly regular group. We also see our ESL kids walking around. Our least favorites are ones that speak English. We have a friend named Richardo. We see him nearly everyday. He enjoys talking to us about all the things he owns like the PGA tour, and his famous friends, Denzel Washington and Tiger Woods. We invited him to Bible Study.
7. Nerts- Nearly every night me and two other girls play some fairly intense games of nerts. We are loud and insulting, and play until we cant see straight.
8. Pulperias- Local stores. There are always a few on every street. They sell cookies and pop. There is one right across the street from our house. We are frequent customers. Additionally, down the street is the best bread store. We go and buy Picos or Empanadas. They are tiny pastries of awesomeness. They know every single one of us and just ask us how many when we go in.
Hopefully this will give a little insight to the culture and sweet surroundings that I have been blessed to be a part of. Please continue to keep the team in your prayers. Please pray for courage for all of us. thanks!
annievalenziano
From Nicaragua.
Annie-So enjoy your e-mails. Sounds like you are on vacation having fun instead of on a mission to help & teach others of our Lord. Please explain the game of “nerts”. You probably did in you last communication, but I can’t remember. I have a birthday tomorrow (election day) and as the years increase the memory decreases. What else is new!! Really enjoyed the picture taken in front of your house with some of the local youth. They look like a great bunch. Keep the e-mails coming & look forward to seeing you when you are home for Christmas. Our Harvest Festival supper is this Wed. night (Nov. 5). We will include a special prayer for you & your group & the locals you work with. God Bless You. Lyanna
sweet blog. our nertz is really intense and reading about banana leaf dinners and eskimo make me want banana leaf dinners and eskimo.tomorrow?