Sunday, May 17, 2009

DAY 1 Thursday May 14:

Kate…

So, I landed in Houston at 5 AM.  Our flight to Managua wasn’t until 9 AM, so I had some time to kill.  I decided to look up Beth’s flight and tell her where to go after she got off the plane, because I figured that would save her some time, seeing that her plane was supposed to land around 8:10.  She called me just as she landed around 8, and I told her we were boarding soon.  She freaked out a little and said, “Great, I’m going to be sprinting to the gate, 120 speed.”  She definitely got there with LOADS of time to spare..  Good job Beth.  I didn’t sleep at all the night before because I left LA at 12:45 AM.  I watched a movie and then couldn’t fall asleep, so on the flight to Managua, I passed out.  We finally got into Managua and had no problems with our bags.  They were waiting for us on the conveyor belt.  Hallelujah. 

Beth…

So I left for Houston around 5am from my house, which left me a bit tired because I had managed to go to bed around 3 that morning. Good job me for leaving the packing until the last minute. I slept straight through my flight to Houston, and landed only to call Kate and find out that our gate for the flight to Managua was basically on the opposite side of a relatively large airport. Nice. I finally got out of the plane at like 8:15 and sprinted, yes like 120’s speed sprinted to the gate. It was a freaking LONG run, and boy am I out of shape. Turns out my effort was pretty much unnecessary though, because I got there with like 15mins to spare. I took out some cash, but, being in a hurry did not take out enough. Looks like I was just on top of my game then lol. Kate passed out for the flight to Managua, and I talked to a guy who’s daughter is going to adopt some kids from Nicaragua. Very cool. We finally landed and walked out to find the airport employees all wearing masks. That was comforting.

Kate…

So initially, when we first walked out, we didn’t see Luis or Veronica, so we might have been in a TINY state of panic, but no big deal.  We decided to buy some minutes for the phone my mom gave me that works in Nicaragua.  After buying some minutes, we called Luis only to find he was standing like 20 feet away from us… haha whoopsie.  We loaded our 4 MASSIVE suitcases into the back of Luis’ truck, and off we went to the supermercado (that’s supermarket for all you Gringos, Dad).  On the way there, I was a little nervous that someone would just snatch one of our bags, because they were just chillin’ out there, but we made it safely.  Once we were in the supermarket, we spent about 1.5 hours trying to decide and find all the food we wanted.  A lot of sandwich meat, milk, cereal, OREOS, water, juice, soda (shhhh), bacon, cheese, crackers, mustard, mayo, thousand islands dressing, vegetables (yuck!), frutas, eggs, and bread.  In the middle of our shopping adventure, Luis brought us some pretty delicious ice cream, and two scoops of it!  NOT GOOD!  Finally, we made it to the checkout only to find that our bill was only $129 for 11 days worth of food.  It probably would have cost us about $300 in the US.  VERY NICE!

Beth…

Right after we landed we were able to get our suitcases really easily, though I did try and chase down several that weren’t mine. Once again, just on my game. We couldn’t find Louis at first, and I could just imagine my dad loosing it if he was there. Oh Dad. But we had a phone, bought some minutes, and called him only to find he was about 15-20 feet away from us. Well done Rice girls. We loaded everything into his large truck and it fit pretty snuggly, so it was hard to imagine loading groceries and a refrigerator in there as well. I loved looking out the window as we drove and just watching people. There are so many people out and about, and the city is so lively. Everyone has very American clothes, and there are a lot of American billboards and products. The difference is in the general environment. Houses are small, dirty, and made of trashbags, slabs of wood and corregated tin. It didn’t take us long before we got to the grocery store. We had to lock all the luggage in the back under bungie cords. While I never felt threatened as far as my safety, robbery is a huge problem there and you always need to be aware. When we got to the supermarket, we pretty much bought half of the store, I think Kate included a list above. We did a good job reinforcing the fat American stereotype lol. Everything was so cheap though, because 20 cordobas are about equal to 1 dollar. In total it was less than $150, pretty cheap for all the stuff we bought.

Kate…

We then had to wait for an hour or so as Luis had some business to do.  We hung out in a tiny air-conditioned room and tried very hard to be patient.  Not one of my strengths.  That’s why I don’t play golf like Justin does.  After that, we went to an appliance store to buy a refridgerator for my mom and all of the food we bought!  I found one that was 5-6 feet tall and made the purchase!  Beth said she thought the same one would have been twice as much in the US.  YES!  GREAT SUCCESS!  Now, here was our dilemna…  We had to fit oodles of food, all four suitcases, and a large cooler Luis and Veronica brought for all of the perishable foods.  Interesante…  Es posible?  SI!  Con Dios todo es posible.  Luis worked some magic and off we went!  I was getting tired at this point, seeing as I had only slept a couple of hours in the last 18 hours or so, so I decided to take a little nap on the way to El Transito.  20 minutes later, I was awaken with some fried chicken and coke.  Guess what?  I wasn’t tired anymore!  YUMMYYYYY.

Beth…

After the supermarket, we had to wait for Louis to do some work at his office, and ended up hanging out in an office with a friendly coworker. Afterward, we went to an appliances store to pick up a refrigerator for our house in el Transito. The store was so nice, and it felt really odd to walk in there after seeing what the rest of the city looked like. There were large flat screen TVs, dishwashers, cameras, and of course, refrigerators. It was just like being in a store in the United States. Kate bought a pretty big one with a freezer and all, and I thought that there was going to be no way for us to fit all of our luggage, food and that massive appliance into the truck, but Louis did somehow, and it looked pretty ridiculous because the fridge stood upright. I got a little sick in the car, and I think it was because of the ice cream I ate, but it didn’t last very long and all went well on our 1.5 hour trip to el Transito. The scenery is amazing, with rolling hills and tons of trees. I loved just looking out the window and eating the fried chicken Louis got us while Kate passed out in the seat next to me. With her mouth open. Cute. She looked like a baby bird with its mouth open for food. Thank God for free entertainment.

Kate…

When we got to El Transito, we started to unload the car immediately because we didn’t want to lose the light.  Pastor Carcamo came and helped us unload the refrigerator with Luis.  Beth and I would have done it, but we decided to get the groceries instead.  Haha.  Luis and Veronica gave us the cooler with ice, so we left all the perishable foods in it and loaded everything else into the kitchen.  The kitchen is small room that is not connected to the main room.  You have to go outside to enter the kitchen.  It has a small, metal-fenced door with a HUGE lock so that no one can take anything while we are not there or in the middle of the night.  We left everything else on the counter and proceeded to put our suitcases in the room.  Estella, my mom’s caretaker for the house, and one of her oldest daughters came to sweep the room and the porch before we settled in.  Luis, Veronica, the Pastor, Estella, and her daughter all left, and finally we were left alone… SIKE!  Julio, who is our next-door neighbor, called out to us, “Muchachas.”  We were not alone…  Julio is the son of Naya and Jairo.  He has two little brothers, Cairo and Christian, who is a new baby of three months.  He wanted to talk and had lots of questions including, “Y Dona Julie?”  Meaning and Mrs. Julie, where is she?  Yes, my mom is cooler than me.  But only in El Transito.  Sorry mama.  Meanwhile, Beth and I did not realize, but we were getting bit to death.  Awesome.  Finally, Julio ran out of questions and we went to go lock the front gate, which also has a HUGE lock on it.

Beth…

I had imagined what El Transito would be like so many times before I came here, and while I knew it would be different from that image, I was still surprised. I hadn’t pictured horses wandering around randomly, or the condition of the houses being quite as run down as they were. I loved the fact that there were a ton of people out and about, with kids running around in groups playing random games. Soon after arriving, we took the refrigerator in the kitchen, which is separate from the main room just like the bathroom is, and took all of our food in. We couldn’t refrigerate anything that night though because we needed an extension cord, and needed to allow the gas in the fridge to settle. Being the geniuses that we are, we left the food on the counter. I’ll let you know how that went in the next section.  We walked around just a little bit, went to a small bar about 2 houses down and used the internet cord to email our families. By the time we went back, it was getting dark, and we decided to call it a night. We decided to lock the gate, and well, got a little surprise.

Kate…

As Beth and I were meddling with the gate lock and a small flashlight, someone began throwing rocks at us.  My initial thought, “AH!”  But I tried to keep it inside.  Well I did grab onto the Beth and say, “What was that!”  We realized, they were rocks.  And this happened a couple of times while we were at the gate.  I proceeded to freak out a little.  I mean who throws rocks, honestly!  Next, we decided to grab some water and lock the kitchen, and again, more rocks.  No bueno.  We were a little scared at that point, especially me.  We went inside the room in a little state of panic.  Beth whipped out her pepper spray in 2.5 seconds and I grabbed the flashlight.  Now, I don’t know exactly what I thought I was going to do with that flashlight if someone did attack, but I had it just in case…  Wow.  I then thought it would be a good idea if we turned the light off inside the room, but left the light on on the porch, we they couldn’t see inside, because the windows only have sheer curtains, but we could see them outside if they got on the porch.  Wow again.  Then, we thought it might be a good idea if we turned off the porch lights too.  Just dumb.  So, there Beth and I stood behind the front door, ready to spray and shine if someone dared to barge through our door.  Beth kept saying I think we’re safer outside, because there were people out and about, even though it was dark, and hopefully they would see or hear us if something happened.  I thought the exact opposite.  I felt safe inside where they couldn’t reach us.  Eventually, Beth convinced me that we were safer outside, and we turned on all the lights and went outside, pepper spray and flashlight still in hand.  Then Julio, our neighbor, and Josue, one of Estella’s sons, came to talk.  Thank the Lord.  Those rock throwers couldn’t get us now!  Then a few minutes later, the Pastor came.  Hallelujah.  We told them that we were a little frightened, but they assured us that we were very safe and that there is no crime in El Transito.  We went to bed a little more comfortable, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t jump up a little every time I heard a sound.  And the same goes for Beth!  J

Beth…

I think Kate did a pretty good job describing this lovely incident. I would just like to add that I did think it was kids the whole time J I did get scared when we were in the house with the lights out though because it really sounded like someone was on the porch. Funny story, it was the wind. Aren’t we valiant. Also, while we were in the house, I taught Kate all of the self-defense moves I know. Thank you mom. It was really comforting to know we have so many friends close by that are concerned for our well-being and want to make sure we are safe and comfortable. We haven’t had a problem sleeping there since. Not to worry Dad, we are still alive :D

 

 

1 comment:

  1. Y'all are so cool! I hope you both have a wonderful time! Keep uploading pictures, they're wonderful, and the children are adorable. :)

    ReplyDelete