Our last week here in Ometepe has had its full share of parties! Woo hoo!! Sunday night, our team had a game night with the kids, with a bonfire and s’mores on the beach, and a homemade snack similar to Chex cereal puppy chow. They have never had a bonfire for fun (they have fire often, to burn trash) and weren’t familiar with either s’mores or our yummy snack mix! It was a blast to hang out with them, taking pictures of eachother in the dark, posing on the rocks; roasting marshmallows and watching their beautiful faces turn from questioning to thrill as they experience new, American forms of sugar! Yay, aren’t we great! They all had an awesome sugar high, and we played till they ran out of energy. I carried Amalia to her bed, kissed her goodnight and told her I love her. She told me she loved me too. It was so sweet. I throughly enjoyed that evening with them.
And if that were not enough – Monday night we celebrated all the February birthdays with a Fiesta!!! We had a piñata, cake, icecream and lots of fun games. A group of 6 American college students arrived that evening to spend a couple days constructing an energy producing windmill for CICRIN, so we quickly initiated them into our fun times, laughing and engaging with the kids. I played games, which I generally don’t enjoy as much, but I am more and more, and I laughed harder than I have in a long time. I was so much fun to really play with the kids, when we were all together, laughing and enjoying good music.
Tuesday night after prayer walking in Los Angeles, all who took part gathered at Pastor’s home to celebrate his birthday! We shared Coco-Cola and crackers, and danced and laughed some more. Break dancing is pretty big with the young people down here, so we sat in a circle and watched them show off their moves, with Chad and James stepping in here and there and creating a riot of laughter as they tried to emulate the moves of the others! The rest of us also took our turns dancing in a circle with Pastora Ruth, with a song they all sing. What joy abides in these people!! Again, I laughed so much that night my face hurt!
Three nights in a row, later nights than normal, but so much joy and laughter. I love it! I will hopefully post pictures soon.
Yesterday we climbed to the top, yes the absolute TOP of Vulcán Concéption, with Will as our guide. It took us 10 hours total, up and then back down. I didn’t know when I headed out if I would be able to make it to the top or not, but I did! Coming back down was actually much harder, as we had crawled up a 50degree angled rock field, with loose gravel. Will had to help walk me down through much of that since my balance in unsure. We worked so hard and are going to be sore, but it was worth it – just to say I made it! There was too great a cloud cover to see anything at the top of the Volcano, but I did peer into the crater nevertheless. 🙂 The view was great a bit further down from the top, and we could see the lake, much of the mainland, islands I didn’t know existed, and so much of Ometepe as well. The clouds moving over the volcano is amazing to watch as they swirl and form, with the heat rising from the surface trying to mix with the cool air in that altitude. Stunning.
Again, pictures will go up soon!! Running out of time at the internet!!
