Beaver Tail, Funnel Cake, Churros…

call it what you want it’s deep fried dough typically rolled in cinnamon and sugar and it’s a little taste of heaven. Add three milk cake with whipped cream and you have what we called dessert at the “Taste of Nicaragua” dinner last night.

My Jamaican mother-in-law made ‘rice and peas’, a tasty blend of long grain rice stewed with kindney beans and coconut milk, in Nicaragua it’s called Gallo Pinto or ‘speckled rooster’ , it’s pretty much a staple for all of Latin America.

See? I’m learning stuff!

I met the leader of the mission group who started the whole concept of aiding Nicaraguans on behalf of the Presbyterian church 12 years ago. They’ve designed a full two week experience that isn’t limited to young, strong people. They welcome everyone who wants to help (and can earn the funds to go) from 12 years old and up. Some people go to do physical labor, others go to help hold and feed sick babies, teach music or sports to kids or help young moms. There’s no end of work that can be done there or pretty much anywhere in the world. The organization is pretty grass roots but it’s become a fairly sophisticated outfit over the years. I will have access to running water, shower facilities and flush toilets. My food will come from a supermarket and be cooked for me and my transportation and an interpreter will be provided. A huge luxury I’m already feeling guilty about. In order to cover the two week trip in one week we’ll need to get to a lot of locations to acquire the video we need to tell their story.

The church group of fifteen is backed by an entire congregation. It’s a small town church outside of Niagara Falls, Ontario but they are mighty fund-raisers! They applied their madd skillz and raised almost double the necessary funds to go. Not only will we witness three school rooms being built and painted, a recent hurricane caused the boy’s orphanage to lose it’s roof. This group is going to replace it. A teacher who has donated all his time so far will get a salary and there will is still money left to use there. Each participant had to raise their own $3000. to go and they will each try to fill two fifty pound hockey bags with donated stuff to take with them and leave behind.

I nearly cried when the group presented the cheque to the mission leader.

We don’t see signs and wonders anymore?

I’d say a small group raising any money in this day and age is a wonder. A sign? I’m going to a third world country with my eyes wide open and not one ounce of my usual cynicism. That’s a miracle. Then there is the wonder of Churros. How something so simple, fattening and delicious crossed borders, oceans, cultures and lifetimes to be enjoyed in many worlds? I’d put that in the wonder category.

Flurry of Inertia…

Yeah, I buckled.

New job, trip planning, proposal writing… some how S & J got neglected. Sorry. I know I was doing so well but the dog ate the URL! (Actually I’ll blame the cat. Ella peed on it heaven knows she’s peeing on selected sites a lot these days, like the ventilation grate. Have you ever found out an animal peed on your vent, usually vents are connected to vent work like ducting which travels under floors through bulkheads and eventually connects back to your air conditioning/heat making furnace? That was rhetorical. If you said ‘yes’ you’d know a cat with one less life. Let’s just say the husband has renewed his subscription to HowToKillYourCat.com.

So much, no, too much is going on and my brain is in overdrive. I just received the final confirmation about the shoot in Nicaragua. NICARAGUA! Yes. I’m yelling. I started the first round of inoculations. Hep A and B times three rounds, typhoid just one. I’ll say won instead because that one hoits! Full muscle ache. I have a prescription of Malaria pills you take for 5-6 weeks and cypro for the dreaded diarrhea. We brought the camera in to shoot the needle paraphernalia and the tropical diseases reference book and the fun part -the needles going into arms. I asked the nurse to show me where it would go in to the camera guys’ arm, focused then looked away, just in case. I’ve also written a long proposal to ask for partial funding costs for our flights. Since we’re not getting paid for our work and we’re losing pay to be there we thought it was ok to approach various resources for grants. See? No online begging (I think that’s tacky). So a micro-crew -just two of us will spend the best part of five days or more following a group of voluntourists as they build school rooms, visit women’s shelters, orphanages, the city dump, to reach out with medical supplies, clothing, toys, and even just sing for the elderly to uplift their spirits.

Even with the warnings about diseases I think my biggest fear is not wanting to come home.

I hope to blog about the experience just to clear out my thoughts.

Kind of like a vent (without the cat pee).