Welcome to Bluefields

 Leaving from GR airport

 Bluefields airport. Flew in on a 12 passenger plane.

 purchasing our fruits and vegetables at an outdoor market

Our Kitchen

As I write this note, It is 3:00pm and it has been raining most of the afternoon. Ana and Dave are working on math, Peter is reading Percy Jackson and Jack is sitting on his bed playing with Hero Factory.  Everyone is starting to settle in, no crying (except maybe me) and getting use to life in Bluefields, Nicaragua.  We arrived on November 11 in Managua, Nicaragua.  As we stepped off the plane, nurses were checking everyone's temperature, scanning for a fever. The airport shuttle was there to meet us and took us to our hotel. It was a very nice hotel. Peter said "Why don't they make hotels like this in the US"?  I said, "They do, but they are so expensive in the US we don't stay in them." The next morning, we boarded a plane to Bluefields.  After weighing all our luggage, and ourselves;  we boarded the small 12 passenger plane.  Bernardeth and Adrian greeted us at the airport. It was so good to see them. After 3 different people hand wrote all of our passport and flight information (and took our temps once again), we were allowed to leave the airport building.

They brought us to our apartment, really rental bedrooms and kitchens on the 2nd story of a family's house. We are renting 2 bedrooms and a kitchen area.   The family is very kind and whenever I need anything, I just go downstairs to ask.  We live in the Loma Fresca neighborhood.  It is a 1/4 mile dirt road off the main road to our house.  We arrived and there were sheets and towels in the rooms - but no water or Toilet paper.  After unpacking, we strolled down the street looking for a little store to buy both products.
Later that day, Bernardeth and Adrian picked us up and we went to buy groceries at a bigger store.  But the stores are still small. the grocery cart was no bigger than the personal carts at Meijer's.  So Peter and Ana both took a cart to fill up on powdered milk, butter, cheese, bread, jelly, coffee, cereal, meat and pasta.  Then we went next door to the outdoor market where I bought oranges, potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers. We also bought 2, 5-gallon jugs of water.

While falling to sleep to the buffalo, (yes there are 6 buffalo that roam this area) and waking up to the rooster - we were ready to conquer another day.  We started out with school work .  Later, Adrian picked us up to go to the Comedor.  The Comedor is a lunchroom in a very poor neighborhood in Bluefields where the Moravian church feeds children a lunch and provides medical care to anyone in the community.  Bernardeth coordinates the medical clinic. we played with the kids, helped serve the meals and clean up.  The children loved to throw a football with Peter.  They played with Ana's red hair. Jack is a little nervous - but will warm up soon. We will probably go there every day at noon.  We lost electricity this afternoon (11/13) for about 3 hours. It is dark by 5:30 and started cooking dinner over the stove by flashlight.  I'm sure this will happen again!