Final farewells

The end of the week has included two more school farewells, one at El Corozal and one at Las Pilas. And today I move on to another hotel, so the hotel owner is picking me up and taking me to Marvin's house. Patrick is coming too as he's doing some plumbing work.  Yesterday he went to the builders' merchant to buy the parts, with a lift from Carlos, who works here.

I had a quiet morning having a drink with Jose and his friend in a little ranchita near the university. His friend is also a recovering alcoholic and has been sobre for 18 months during which time he has set up this little business selling fruit drinks and bottled drinks to the university students. He has constructed much of it himself in wood and it is very good. I keep my fingers crossed for these young men who have lost their way. It is such a waste of their lives.  They gave me cake and a pineapple smoothie and wouldn't let me pay anything. This has been a big change this year as before I rather felt people were happy that I gave them a treat, but now they are concerned about keeping my expenses down, and I think because they see the work I have been able to do for the schools and community. I'm no longer treated like a rich foreigner!

In the afternoon we made the long trip to El Corozal at the other side of Maderas volcanoe. It is such a long journey and my bones ached so much when I got back I just had to lay down. When I went to sleep, I slept for 10 hours!

But it was a wonderful celebration, a presentation and thank you by the children, the staff and the parents with amazing gifts that I neither expected or need, just words of thanks or signs of appreciation are sufficient and these come in abundance anyway.

First we checked out the work that had been done the locks, electricity and toilet mechanism.




Now the toilet needs a good clean up and paint and to be used to drive out the resident bats which made me jump as I opened the door!
The neighbouring toilet needs a new door then that can be tidied up. Inevitably now we've started a few more things were identified. More taps to the washbasins( at least they have some), an outside drinking tap, and some more external lighting.  The workman offered a good price, so we have another list to calculate. Even people working for us are contributing by giving good prices and attending to other things they see. The community here are very supportive too. So for example , if we buy paint, they will decorate the toilets.

  
We opened the box of preschool toys to much delight, especially the fire engine which lit up one little chap's eyes. Hopefully these will help to make school for these very small children, a bit more fun and more enriching too.

There was a wonderful presentation with lots of dancing,  interspersed with present giving.

There were beautiful pots from hicora,  a carved wooden plaque and a box of cajetas! The latter will be shared with the family tomorrow. The others will need careful packing.   This was followed by food, always food after a celebration,
Then the long journey home, through several herds of cows, a few mad tourists on rental bikes, and some large lorries.  I feel quite bruised the next morning!  Actually there have been a number of accidents with tourists on rental bikes, and I've witnessed some ridiculous driving. A French tourist was taken to hospital this week, badly injured, and last week someone had to pay $500 after crashing into another vehicle. They get on with no experience, and take no account of the local obstructions.  

On Friday we went to Los Ramos School in the Cuidadela, from my new home at Chico Largo. It is very quiet here, I am the only guest. The Cuidadella was built in 2014 after the last landslide from the volcanoe. The old village of Los Ramos was deemed unsuitable so new homes were built, characterless boxes of breeze block. They have no land.  So inevitably many chose to stay put with their chickens, pigs, cows and crops,  how else could they survive. Those that have moved still go down to the lake to do their washing , but in reality Its a rather dreary waste land. The school is in three houses, a room is used for storage and one for a toilet in each. There is no privacy, it has a curtain and is right next to the classroom.
They have been promised a new school this year, so we need to be careful what we offer to do.


The rooms are small and the roof is made of tin. I can only imagine how hot it gets. Drinking wayer is a bucket into which they dip a cup, and it looks like they are shared. The headteacher says the children get urinary problems, I imagine from dehydration and respiratory problems from all the dust, a major problem here, which is why we have bought several hoses and sprinklers. 
The teachers had all the same charts and teaching aids that we used to make and use before we were able to use technology.  But there were no toys, except a couple that had been brought in by the children. 

After visiting the school, we had a walk down to the lake before having lunch with the family. 

After lunch we went to the school to do some copying and  collect some papers , but the school was shut. All were participating in a pro government FSLN March we had just passed. I imagine as they are government employees they are obliged to. Whilst they are making political statements we provide much needed support. 
So I'm back at Chico Largo and was hoping for a quiet couple of days. But typical Nicaraguan style, there's a host of visitors wanting to see me over the weekend.

No more school visits, no more shopping but a few visitors over the weekend.


  

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