Making Memories

Hola!
     We have just finished our third full day here in Nicaragua. The last post ended with us visiting the orphanage on Saturday. After that we came back to the girls´ house and ate lunch which was spaghetti with chicken and plaintains. After a nap Miriam and Kegan came to pick us all up in the truck and we went to a park in Managua. It was called Puerto Salvador Allende. It was a big park that had lots of restaurants, a huge playground, an area to ride scooters or bikes, and it overlooked lake Managua. The weather was beautiful and cool because it had just rained earlier. Miriam´s aunt and little cousin were there at the playground as well. After walking around a bit we hopped back in the truck to go somewhere else. On our way Kegan pulled over to the side of the road and got us all grilled maize (corn on the cob). It tasted a lot like popcorn and is a very popular snack that is sold on the side of the road all over the place. We went to a different park area and stopped to take pictures of some buildings. One of the buildings was where they held important meetings with the President, and another building was like the equivalent of the White House. The third building was no longer in use, however, it was beautiful and actually stood through some kind of natural disaster (I forgot...hurricane? tornado? earthquake?). We couldn´t go inside because it is not safe, but the outside still looked good. After a bit we drove back to the house to eat dinner-beans, rice, and tortillas. We all stayed up and watched Soul Surfer together. They put it in English for us and had Spanish subtitles.
Sunday morning we woke up to the girls banging on pots outside our room and singing happy birthday. It was my nineteenth birthday:) Kegan and Miriam picked us up for church at 10:30 a.m. There were a lot of people there and it was a lot different from church back home. During worship everyone was clapping and dancing and some people even brought flags to wave around. A women in front of us brought a tambourine with her and was playing along with the songs. We tried singing along, but it proved to be very difficult. I wish I could tell you what the sermon was about, but...sadly we didn´t understand any of it.
     Around 4 o´clock everyone came back to the girls´ house for a fiesta. They sang again (this time without the pots) and Miriam got a birthday cake for me. We hung a piñata outside and took turns hitting it until the candy fell out. It was a lot of fun watching everyone miss because they kept moving the piñata up and down. Cake was next and it looked like a normal cake but the frosting tasted very sweet and kind of pasty. But it was still good! Miriam smeared the blue icing over her lips and then made me and Taylor put green and white on ours. She´s crazy, but we love her! We sat around and talked for a while and then after Kegan and Miriam left us girls sat at the table teaching each other Spanish and English. It was a very special bonding moment between us all. When we had enough learning for the night we all went on a walk together. It was dark and warm outside but there was still a lot of people out. I told Tania that back home people didn´t go outside just to sit or walk, especially when it was dark. We walked to a nearby park and swang on the swingset before circling back around to the house.
     Right now it is ten o´clock here and bedtime! Tomorrow we will post what all we did today, but for now we are headed to bed.
Adios!