Rainforests and sleeping on a volcano.

It has been hard for me to get the time to sit down and write during the past week. With volunteering, Spanish lessons, working out, socializing, and daily errands, I am quite busy. There has not been a dull moment yet. The volunteering is fun most of the time, but it can also be frustrating and is a lot of work. We usually have between 8 and 14 children between 2 and 5 years old. The majority of them are well behaved, but some of them can be little stinkers. A girl named Rosita, who is probably 4, and a boy named Gabriel, who is probably 2, throw fits when their older siblings are not in the same room as them. This is a problem, as the older siblings are supposed to be in groups with children their age working on projects. So, we have 3 options. The first is to allow the older sibling to stay with us and their younger sibling. This takes the older sibling away from developmental activities and encourages the younger siblings dependence. The second option is to allow the younger sibling to go with the older sibling to their activity groups. The problem is that the younger siblings are quite a distraction to the volunteers running the activity groups, and this option also encourages dependence. The third option is to not allow the small child to be with their older sibling. This can lead to fits of crying, kicking, scratching, and biting. This can go on for some time and both distracts and affects the moods of the other children. I personally think that option 3 is the best, although it is annoying. It is easy to see that when we give in to them when they have a fit, they only have more fits. It is also easy to see that these kids are not really traumatized. The whole thing is a show put on to either get what they want, get attention, or both. I believe that they either need to learn to be away from their older siblings, or they are not ready to be there and should stay home. We certainly have not yet solved this problem, but I think we are making progress. This is our biggest problem, but we also have some children that are just really shy and others that can be a little nasty. There is a small girl who looks cute and innocent most of the time, but she can be wicked at times. Today I was kneeling down and tying a little boys shoes. She walked up and ripped a good handful of my hair out. It is hard to punish these kinds of behavior, as we have little power over them and I do not even speak Spanish.

Despite these hassles, I manage to have a lot of fun. The school got a new jungle gym when I came. After lunch, we spend an hour outside. This is my favorite time of the day. The hour is usually spent wrestling, spinning, lifting, shaking, and chasing the more active of the little buggers. They get great pleasure out of this. If I sit down for a rest, it is never more than a minute before one or more of them attacks me. By the time they head home, I am tired, sweaty, and very dirty. The tendonitis in my elbows even flared up by the end of last week from all of the lifting and twisting. I will have to try to be more careful this week.

I try not to play favorites with the children, but I fail miserably. There are certainly a few that I have taken a particular liking to. The first really good buddy that I made is a girl of about 4 or 5 years old, named Paula. She has a real deep belly laugh, which rises to the surface easily and often. Her huge grin reveals half rotten teeth in the top front of her mouth, proving just how poor most of the locals are. It is truly beautiful to see how happy a child can be without piles of new toys, games, or even proper health care. I taught her to hold my hands, walk up my body, and then spin and land on her feet. She likes this, but she loves when I grab her hands, lift her off the ground, and spin her in circles, raising her up and down. I think, if it were up to her, she would have me do this until we both puked. I have had many serious conversations with other volunteers about the many problems in our world. There are never any easy answers. Sometimes we even discuss whether there is much hope for humankind. The beauty and joy that I see in Paula makes me feel that as long as there are children, there will be hope for humankind.

It seems that personality runs in Paula's family. Her little cousin, Gabriela, also joins our group most days. Gabriela is an extremely cute little pudge with a round face and a twinkle in her eye. I would say she is 2 at best, but already really has a mind of her own. She starts out quiet each morning and slowly grows into a squealing bundle of energy. By mid-morning, she is rolling around on the dusty floor, running in circles, and generally terrorizing the classroom in a very fun way. She is the most fun when she is running on all cylinders. On the rare occasion that she actually sits still for a moment, I have a hard time resisting starting her up again. I often creep up behind her, peek my head down in front of her face, and say rarrrr! She looks at me questioningly at first, and then lets out a big laugh. Then, I tickle her little belly. She squeals, says NOOOOOOOO!!!, rolls aways, and is off and terrorizing again. When we are outside after lunch, she likes to take something from me and run far away until I chase her down. When I catch up with her, she throws the stolen goods at me and makes a break for it. I catch the projectile with one arm and swoop her up with the other. I then carry her upside down or over my back as I carry her back to the others.

Another small boy, named Marcel, has slowly become a good bud of mine. He is kind of quiet and shy, but very well-behaved. Marcel must be about 2. He is not dumb, but he seems kind of dopey in some of the things he does. In this way, he reminds me a little of what I have seen of myself in home videos that were made when I was near his age. Initially, Marcel would play with me, but quietly and straight-faced. When he saw me spinning the other kids around and their laughter, he quietly approached me and put his hands up. I picked him up and began to spin him slowly. At first, he smiled, but his smile quickly turned into a look of terror. I set him down and he ran away. But, once he realized that he was alright, he came back for more. Now the look on his face shows a mixture of joy and terror, but I am sure that he likes it. I would compare it to my going bungy jumping. Scary, but extremely fun. As Marcel grew more comfortable with me, he spent more and more time by my side. On Friday he was sitting next to me on the ground with his hand on my knee. Another kid came and sat on my lap. Marcel tried to push him off. It seems he has laid some kind of claim on me.

Judith(pronounced Who-deet-th) continues to pall around with me after lunch. She was quite impressed with my progress with the tun-ba-da-li-qui-ti-tanga la bat-usa chant. The other day she was holding my hand while we sang some songs and then kissed it. I think she has a crush on me, which I get a kick out of. Today she started to call me "Riley Monkey" with a very strong accent.

Overall, school is fun but tiring. I think we are going to get another volunteer to help us with the little kids later this week. This should make it possible for us to do more activities, as one person is often bringing a child to the bathroom, chasing down an escapee, or getting more materials. If anybody knows any good activities for kids aged 2-5, let me know.

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This past weekend was a lot of fun and very interesting. We went out for some drinks Friday night. I was up until 4AM but got up at 8AM on Saturday anyway. It is fairly easy to get up early here, as it gets hot and light early. I wanted to lift and get a few things done anyway, so it was nice. In the early afternoon, a group of nine of us headed to Volcan Mombacho, which overlooks Granada. We took a bus, then walked about a mile, and then took another bus to the top of the volcano. It is another world at the top. Below, it is hot and dry all the time. At the top, it is cool and moist all the time. We went for a short hike around a small crater right away. The views were absolutely amazing. I will certainly take mom, dad, and Ryan up when they visit. After our walk, we headed into the ranger station/hostel for supper. We then played some cards before heading out on a night walk with a couple of guides. We did the same walk that we had done earlier in the day, but it had a very different feel. Mombacho is one of two volcanoes in Nicaragua that is considered a cloud rainforest. It is extremely lush and green. There are vines, moss, plants and trees tangled together everywhere. At night, we were literally walking through the clouds in the dark in this lush environment. It was very mystical. The guides pointed out salamanders, insects, and plants as we walked. At the end of the hike, we stopped on a platform overlooking a very steep drop-off. An extremely strong wind brought the clouds to us in waves. A few of us stood there for some time, enjoying a very unique experience.

After returning from the hike, we all headed to bed early. The mattresses were nothing and the beds were damp, but it was really nice to sleep in a cool temperature for the first time since my arrival. The wind is very strong on top of the volcano. It was quite loud inside the station/hostel as the wind whipped against the building, causing it to shake and creak. Rain also fell on and off throughout the night. I did not sleep well, due to crappy mattress, but I enjoyed the experience and the cool temperature anyway. We were all up early in the morning. We had breakfast and headed out for a guided hike. We missed some amazing views because the clouds were still swirling around on the top of the volcano, but we got a lot deeper into the forest. Although the clouds blocked our views, they gave the forest a beautiful eery feeling. At one point, we stood on a platform overlooking a sloping hill which lead to a steep cliff. The hill was covered with small trees which danced as the waves of wind and whispy clouds rolled in. It was truly beautiful. I would have loved to have stood there and listened to Incubus' Aqueous Transmission. Ryan would have loved it, and I hope we are able to have a similar experience when he visits.

The trip was excellent and cost a grand total of $33, including lodging, transportation up and down the volcano, meals, and guides. Again, I was lucky enough to have the trip completely arranged for me, thanks to Erin, Stein, and Marleis.

I headed to the lake with Nick and Matt for supper after returning to Granada. We went to a quiet little outdoor bar ten minutes out of town. The views of the lake, the islands, and the volcanoes on Omotepe were really amazing. We sat at lake level in the sand and enjoyed our meal and a few beers. We took a cab to the restaurant for 10 cordobas(50 cents) and hitch-hiked home. It was a very relaxing way to end the weekend.