Happy 4th of July!!

These are some of the boys from the farming community we willwork with.

The high schoolers arrived on Thursday morning, and its Monday, and I cannot believe how quickly this trip has already gone by. Maggie, funny you should mention turning out the lights. Jinotega has a man made lake and dam that gives 30 percent of the countries power. We learned right away that if it hasnt rained for awhile the power is off. Luckily, after the first couple days here with on and off power, the rain has come pretty regularily.



A local community leader came for dinner one night, and spoke with the group about Nicaragua. His name is Javier and hes a journalist. He says that he is trying to change journalism from Red Journalism to Green Journalism, so in other words, instead of covering all of the bad, he is covering the Naturaleza and Environment. He also spoke with us about the war. He was enlisted in the Sandinista army. His brother in laws were with the Contras, and apparently they would have dinner together and talk about the different ways they were trained, and the types of guns they were using. He said there was a time when his brother in law was injured on the battlefield, and he took him home to cure his injuries, and once he was better he went back with the contras to continue the fight. It was fascinating to hear his stories.

The Nicaraguan people are into giving speech-introductions, and we.ve noticed with the older generation a common thread of solidarity and peace, and a love for the land and pride in culture. It seems as though through all of the ten years they were fighting, they all just want to get along now.

Javier also took us on a difficult but short uphill hike to the cross, which you can see everywhere in Jinotega, including at night when it is lit up.

I didn,t have my camera with me the day we visited San Rafael. If you ever have the pleasure of making it to Nica you should make a point to visit. There is a church in the town, 40 years before the beginning of the war the church hired an Italian priest to come paint the walls. On of the paintings depicts Jesus being tempted by the devil. The picture of the devil looks like a mirror image of Daniel Ortega,including and exact representation of his bald spot. He has nine fingers showing in the picture. The people of Jinotega and San Rafael believed this to be a sign. The nine fingers represented the nine men leading the Sandinista revolution. Because the painting was created so many years before Ortega was around, it is amazing the resemblance.

The other really interesting thing about San Rafael, is that Father Orinoco has been Canonized a Saint for his good works during the war. He would bring Contras and Sandinistas together to say mass. He passed away 16 years ago, but supposedly his body has not decomposed at all. Our bus driver Gustavo says that he saw the body last year.

The first day the kids were here, we sent them on a scavenger hunt of the city. I was stationed at the Cathedral, and while hanging out, i heard music coming from the church. It was so beautiful, and intense and it made me think of how heavy and sad the times of the war must have been here. It also reminded me of a scene in Romero in the church. The music enveloped the intensity of there past.





Today was our first day digging the ditch, and my first day off in two weeks, it feels good.



Que te pasa bien, and go Twins!!