Scott, Kitty and Elli Visit for Christmas!

Having visitors come see Nicaragua with us has been a big highlight of our time here! We have been anticipating Scott, Kitty and Elli's visit for a while and were so excited! They arrived on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we got up early and started right in on the adventures! We had to leave the house at 7:00am to arrive in Granada by 8:00am. We arrived at the Chocolate Museum and met up with our guide for the day, Tony. He was born in Managua but as a toddler moved to Fresno, CA and was raised there. 6 years ago he returned to Nicaragua and now lives here full time. He took us on a boat out into Lake Nicaragua and we got to tour some of the 365 tiny islands at the base of Volcan Mombacho. After seeing the isletas we arrived at the shore right at the base of the volcano. On land we made a short walk up the steep bank to a tiny farm house at the edge of a plantain and cacao plantation. At the farm house we all jumped on horseback and made our way up the trail through the plantation. This horseback ride was different than other horseback rides that we have done because the guides set each of the kids (except Layne) up on their own horse and set them free! I was a little nervous about it but they all did great!

Reid loves to sit back with the boat captain and drive the boat. He has figured out throttle and steering already.

This little girl is a natural on horseback! She just loves it up there and controls the horse really well!

We got to see many acres of plantain farms and also many acres of cacao trees. It was neat to see the "chocolate trees." Cacao harvesting season runs from December-June and we did get to see some ripe cacao pods. Tony picked one and let us try the raw cacao beans inside. They are suspended in a soft, kind of slimy, white pulp that tastes kind of sweet and tart like lemonade or mango. When we got to the hacienda and out buildings we left the horses in the shade to rest and made our way toward a pavillion for lunch. We rested a while and enjoyed some magnificent views of the lake and the lush forested volcano. After the horse back ride back down to the farm we were pretty saddle sore but it was a beautiful morning ride!

These are raw, fermented coffee beans set out to dry. They will later be roasted to give them the dark burned color and flavor.

A cacao pod and the cacao beans inside with the delicious white pulp too. Mmmm.

This dude greeted us from his private island, yes someone built him a shelter there and he lives on the island full time. We tossed him a couple of bananas and he was one happy guy!

The boat captain took us back to Granada. Back in the city we enjoyed seeing the beautiful Cathedral there. The one that stands there now was re-built between 1905-1915 after Granada was burned during a civil war between Granada and León. I was hoping to find our favorite carriage driver for a carriage ride after the cathedral but serendipitously, he found us! It was perfect. After a carriage ride around Granada we started for home. Of course, it wouldn't be a truly great Nicaragua visit without eating pupusas so we enjoyed our favorite pupusas for dinner then made it home for the night.

Thursday morning it was back to Granada for us with another full day of fun! First up, a cooking class. We learned how to make chicken tortilla soup, the Nica way, and we made homemade tortillas. These tortillas were fancy since they had garlic, onions, tomato, peppers and spices mixed in. The kids love to chop, slice and stir and be involved in making the meal. It was delicious!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

After lunch we went straight to the marina to catch a boat out to a resort on one of the little islands in Lake Nicaragua. Our boat captain gave us a great tour of some of the 365 little islands! We saw some beautiful homes, hotels, restaurants and the elementary school out there. The rest of the day we played and relaxed on the island. We made good use of the pools, kayaks, paddle boat and hammocks.  **between all of our cameras we took no pictures on the island! Ugh! Too busy having too much fun in paradise!

Friday we were very blessed to get to participate in some Christmas service. A few weeks ago we assembled Christmas bags for 300 needy children. On Friday we got to go to the municipal dump to deliver the bags to 150 children there. The other 150 bags were given to the preschool student and alumni the next day. When we arrived the kids were so excited! It was loud and chaotic! We got set up and some of the older kids helped get the younger kids into somewhat of a line. The kids each got a ham sandwich, a piece of cake with ice cream and a bag of gifts. They were so sweet and loved receiving their bags!

Most of them took the bags out to the street and immediately started playing with the toys. It was fun to see the streets filled with smiling kids flying kites, assembling toy airplanes, looking through toy binoculars and punching balloons. It is humbling to see how much joy comes from just a little extra love in their lives. The Christian charity we worked with feeds the kids at the dump daily all year long, they run a day care for the teen moms so they can keep going to school, they run a preschool (at no charge to the poor families) and feed the preschool kids every day. It is a wonderful organization, see more info here.

With luck and a quick phone call I was able to coordinate a last minute boat ride out to a secluded beach in Las Penitas to release some just hatched baby turtles that evening!! Baby turtles are just so magical! Sunset, on the beach, holding and releasing hours old baby turtles and a boat ride under the stars. If I were a poet I might be able to express in words what a dreamy time we had. Before heading back to the hotel we enjoyed a pizza dinner outside under the stars. Perfect!

Saturday morning we enjoyed an awesome breakfast at a restaurant called Desayunazo (translated that literally means "awesome breakfast" haha!). After breakfast we divided up to meet everyone's needs. Scott, Kitty, Elli, Mitchell and Reid went to the cathedral to look around and go up on the roof top. Redick, Layne, Audrey and I decided to do something else they would be more interested in. We took a bicycle taxi ride and then found a lot of fun things to do at the city square. They jumped on a trampoline for 20 minutes then fed the pigeons in front of the cathedral. I used my mom ninja skills and somehow sensed that Layne was going to throw up only a moment before he did. I managed to aim his face toward a dirt planter and neither of us got dirty at all! Poor guy. We got head colds and he tends to puke when he has too much mucus. After a nap in the car he was feeling great though. We spent the afternoon volcano boarding at Cerro Negro, one of our favorite Nicaragua activities!

Bicycle Taxi

La Gigantona

Pepe Cabezon

Sunday morning was early church at 8:00am! We got there early so I could play some Christmas carols as the ward members were arriving. *I am the ward pianist by default since no one else can play. I do what I can, some songs better than others, lol! At church Grandma Kitty surprised each of the kids with a personalized photo book! Oh they are so wonderful. There are pictures of them, pictures of Mitchell and me each as children, pictures of the kids grandparents, great grandparents and other relatives. They are each such a treasure!
After church Mitchell and I took a much needed nap. While we were resting Aunt Elli, Grandpa and Grandma, and the kids practiced a nativity play to perform for us! It was awesome! They had costumes, props, narration from Luke 2 and even a couple of songs! Kitty and I agreed that a simple meal without a lot of prep work sounded nice this year so we enjoyed a Christmas Eve meal of spaghetti and meatballs, salad and garlic breadsticks. Yum! And easy! The kids enjoyed decorating gingerbread houses and then we all sat down together and sang some Christmas carols to get in the right spirit.

It seems like I always have at least one "nudy rudy" around the house! Clothing optional when 87* feels cold!

We watched the video of the nativity play again, it was so cute, and then let the kids open a few presents. For those who recoil at the blasphemy of opening gifts on Christmas Eve [GASP!] **I'm referring to my wonderful, if scroogy, husband** It was necessary because our Christmas morning schedule was a little tight and we didn't want to have to rush the kids through Christmas morning. Next year we will resume the strict: No-snitching-gifts-until-the-25th-policy-for-Scrooges. Haha! Once it got dark we went downtown to walk up the main boulevard and enjoy the creche scenes set up for several city blocks. Starting in late November they start setting up these elaborate, stage sized creche scenes. Each one is sponsored by a municipality or other organization. It is a really neat community tradition.

Monday. Christmas Morning! Santa came!

The kids were up early, dressed and buzzing with excitement! We opened the rest of the gifts, ate a yummy breakfast and headed out to San Juan del Sur for the day. Even though it was a 2.5 hour drive we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful green hillsides and, of course, great conversation on the long ride. Our first stop was the zip line. Elli especially loved the zip line and was pleased to be able to cross off a big bucket list item! Yay!

We had our white Christmas at the beautiful white sand beach Playa Majagual. The waves were great that day, the kids were all happy, the adults were all relaxed. It was an unforgettable Christmas day. The only negative was that the sun went down too quick and we had to go.

We had a long drive after dinner up to a town called El Crucero. We stayed the night there in a guest house since we had an early ATV tour for the next morning and it would give us a head start in the morning. However, unfortunately, we had a really rough night! One by one we have all developed runny noses and coughs. Thankfully nothing worse than colds but we all coughed all night. Layne puked again at 3:00am and by morning we were a little ragged. We discussed options and decided to cancel the ATV tour plans in favor of some extra rest. After we showered and cleaned up a bit the whole crew, except me, went to Masaya. I must have had the worst night because I got in bed and slept for 3 hours straight! Everyone else enjoyed seeing the lava at Volcan Masaya and perusing the Masaya Artisan Market. Tuesday was Mitchell's birthday so we got to celebrate together. We had pupusas again, so good! Then at home Mitchell got his requested birthday dessert: pancakes with butter, nutella and whipped cream. 

While I was taking a much needed nap, everyone else played 4 square with Redick's new 4 square ball. Pretty fun!

Unfortunately there was too much smoke to be able to see the lava way down inside the volcano. Bummer.

The long anticipated birthday pancakes!!

He says the pancakes were every bit as good as he hoped. Happy Birthday Mitchell!

On Wednesday, our final day together, we decided to go "back to paradise" as Kitty called it. We returned to the Granada Isletas for another relaxing and beautiful day at the day resort. We went to a different resort for variety and thoroughly enjoyed the calm day. As soon as we got to the island Audrey found a group of Nicaraguan girls swimming and immediately joined them. In true Audrey form, within 5 minutes she was the leader of the group, organizing games and directing the activity. It was fun for us to observe her in her element; completely un-phased by speaking Spanish to a group of 3 or 4 older girls. We spent the majority of the time relaxing in hammocks, enjoying the breathtaking views of Lake Nicaragua, kayaking around the island and swimming in the pools. A blissful way to finish up a wonderful visit! The final hurrah was taking our guests to our favorite fancy Peruvian restaurant.

The volcano in the background is Mombacho

Scott, Kitty and Elli: Thank you so much for making the trip to visit us! We absolutely LOVED spending time with you and showing you around the Nicaragua that we have made our home. Nothing strengthens relationships like shared experiences and we were so happy to share some incredible experiences with you this week.