Scary flying ants. I apologize for not updating in a long time but I was preoccupied killing the hundreds of flying ants that decided to invade my room after the first rain fall. Okay, I guess I'm exaggerating a little bit by saying that I didn't have time to write. The part about there being hundreds of flying ants is not an exaggeration. After one hour of using about half a roll of toilet paper, large amounts of Baygon (the equivalent of Raid), and a few sturdy flip flops, I killed almost all of the buggers. A dozen or so made a classy reappearance a couple weeks later but I think the situation is now under control.
Jillian!! Jill came to visit the second week in May and it was so much fun. She posted a lot of pictures if you want to take a look. I took her to school with me on Wednesday and Thursday. She helped paint the school map in Las Limas and got to play some baseball at recess. She also got to speak a little Spanish during my lessons in El Crucero. On the weekend, we took a trip to Granada where we went kayaking and zip-lining. We stopped in Masaya on the way home to look at the crafts... I bought a mini hammock! We couldn't have asked for better weather except for some rain on the bus ride home on Saturday which was, hands down, the most crowded bus I've been on so far in Nicaragua. Sorry, Jill. On Sunday, we experienced the "Hipico" which is also celebrated the Sunday before a town's patron saint's day (Teustepe's is May 22). This basically entails lots of cowboys showing off their horses, mariachi bands, and fiestas. Overall, a fantastic visit!!
More water (sometimes). So now that the rainy season is just starting up, we've been getting more water during the day. Hooray, showers! (Unfortunately, Jillian didn't really experience this too much when she was here.)
School gardens and tree nurseries :) All of you green thumbs out there know it's a little difficult to plant just about anything without access to water. Now that it's been raining for at least 30 minutes about every other day, we've been able to transplant trees at the schools and have started the school gardens. We're already seeing lots of green. Each environmental Peace Corps volunteer received fencing, tools, and seeds from USAID so I decided to use these resources to work with the kids and parents of Las Limas. The wonderful parents worked hard the other day to cut down huge posts and put a fence around a 12 x 12 meter space at the school where we'll be planting peppers, tomotoes, cucumber, and squash. I really didn't think we'd be able to achieve a garden at this school because there is no water access and a ton of pigs, but I think the kids will soon with adding lots of veggies to their diet!
Bipolar weather. It's great that things are starting to turn green again but the incredible heat in the morning that brings on the rain in the afternoon has made me realize just how much I am able to sweat. Not pretty.
A sad farewell to the bridge. You definitely are familiar with the log bridge I'd been crossing to take the short route to 3 of my schools. My heart palpitations had finally stopped after about 2 months of getting used to crossing the bridge and my balance could now be compared to that of a pro gymnast. I'm very, very sad to say that the river is growing and the wading is returning. Take a look at the beautiful pictures below....
