The Zoo

e
Stijn and Marlies raised some money from Stijn's place of employment before they came here. They decided that they would try to do something special with some of it, so they planned a trip to the zoo to finish our summer activity group. We took a pretty big group there last Wednesday. My favorite part was the bus ride to the zoo. In true Nicaraguan fashion, we crammed a ton of students, volunteers, ayudantes, and parents on one bus. Many of the kids sat 4 or 5 to a seat, and most of the volunteers were standing. The school we work at, Juan Diego, is about 20 minutes outside of Granada and sits at the base of Volcan Mombacho a couple miles off the highway. Many of the students have not been far from home. So, going to Managua was a big deal. As the bus began rolling down the road, the children were pasted to the windows. They got even more excited when we hit the four lane freeway. Xavier got them all riled up each time we passed another vehicle. Xavier and all the children would howl "whooooo" every time we made a pass.

We had sandwiches and juice before heading into the zoo. All of the children were broken into groups with 3 or 4 volunteers to a group. Mara, Dietrich, and myself presided over the hipo group. We had the youngest kids, mostly 6 year-olds. The zoo itself was pretty fun, though I spent most of my time trying to keep the group together. We had a guide from the zoo for each group. He would tell the kids a little something about each animal we saw. But, it seemed the main goal of the young ones was to be the first to see whatever was next before the other children. It did not matter if they were face to face with a lion two feet away, they would try to see the donkey because it was next. Of course, this was also kind of funny. It is really something to see such youth and curiousity at work.

The bus ride home was filled with just as many "whoooo's." I sat in a seat with four young boys. One would not think that I would fit in a bus seat with 4 boys no matter how small they are. But, they all piled on top of each other and pressed their faces against the window, leaving me a comfortable seat next to the aisle. Overall, the trip was a huge success and went off without any major problems. Stijn and Marlies did an excellent job of putting the whole thing together.