Safe & Sound

Hello all you lovely people...

We have arrived safe and sound in Nicaragua...it felt like we had been travelling for quite a long time so when we arrived I was first struck by how the airport smelled like a swimming pool...the humidity and chlorine-like scents...then hit with a wave of tiredness...and then just completely weirded out and disoriented...now that I have a day or two of sleep under my belt I am doing much better.

Nicaragua is very endearing...there are lots of pairs of beautiful brown eyes and the people are very friendly and hospitable...I have enjoyed driving around in the back of a red pick up truck...embracing my prairie girl roots...but today we had to trade in the pick up for a fancypants SUV...it´s ritzy...we have a driver, Eduardo...who helps us get safely from A to B and back again...the dogs bark all night and the locals have a night security system set up that involves sending coded messages via whistle blowing...at our hotel we have several pet parrots and other sorts of birds...they wake us up each morning...I have discovered delicious local beer...Victoria...and you won´t believe it but they have FANTA orange drink here...yeah!!

We have spent two days at the orphanage...my first impressions of Parajito Azul was probably relief for the centre being so clean and large...it helped seeing the sun shining all around us...and then joy to finally get to meet these children that we have met through photos and heard stories about...what a lovely bunch of children...they are thumbs up fantastic.

I have already been invited to a birthday party...two fridays from now...I feel pretty special...as it happens I was invited to Helen´s birthday and she is the first friend I made...she is 37 years old and has lived at the centre since she was a little girl...on our first day visiting Parajito Azul she sat quietly embroidering in the corner of our meeting room where Andrea and the others were planning which children to see and how to organize the clinic...I sat straight across from Helen and while she wasn´t sitting at the meeting table...she and I soon made eye contact and that was it...our friendship began...she likes to laugh at me...probably because I don´t understand any spanish...nonetheless it didn´t take long before she was attempting to teach me to embroider...this is not a handicraft that I have a natural talent for...

Today we started the acupuncture clinic...I got to hold lots of lovely babies...some cried, some laughed and many of the 14 treatments we provided fell asleep after their acupucture...Andrea says that is a good sign...I´ll leave the acupuncture talk up to her...I was just happy to hold the babies and send them lots of good wishes and love...they are fabulous children...I already have many stories to tell about them...one of my favorites is a girl Karina...she is 14 years old with CP but to look at her you would think she was 3 years old...so tiny...anyway when you tickle her she laughs and laughs...it´s a contagious giggle...and she likes to grab my nose and earrings...we have fun playing together...she is pretty great.

I look forward to meeting more of the children and making more new friends...
ciao
Lindsay