We took a hotel taxi to the Bus terminal. Man was that an adventure! The minute we stepped out of the car we were flocked by Nicaraguans yelling strange words at me.... "Jinotepe Jinotepe Jinotepe! Leon Leon Leon! Masatepe! Juigalpa!" Aaaah! Little did I know these were bus drivers and they were wondering where we were headed and letting us know which routes they drove. I was completely frazzled and I just looked around at Brock and pointed at him... ready to dive back into the car and hide. He told them to go away and turned and saw someone he knew! So I was half hiding behind him as he started talking with his old friend who happened to be a bus driver on the route to Jinotepe! Brock took my hand because I had NO idea what was going on and led me onto one of many old-fashioned buses. I was hesitant to let the men take my bag because I had no idea who anyone was. But they took good care of it at the front of the bus :)
As we waited for it to leave, I observed many different people walking around to all the buses and standing at the windows trying to sell snacks, drinks, and jewelry. And some people were just begging for money. It turns out this behavior is extremely common and totally normal in this country. I was fascinated! So then the bus left and we had about an hour and a half drive to where our hotel was in Jinotepe; it was called "Hotel Casa Mateo." We checked in and hauled our luggage up the stairs to our room. It was kind of a cool hotel! We had a balcony, and the main area was outside. They had a bunch of pet parrots that were super loud... at least they were pretty! Haha it was fun :)
So then we went and walked around the city of Jinotepe for a bit, got Nicaraguan money out of an ATM, went grocery shopping, and bought a cell phone. The streets in Nicaragua are always just packed with people selling different things. No one needs a business license there so they just make stuff and sell it. It was cool to see! I bought a cute Orange and White purse for 4 dollars :) Love it! Then we took stuff back to the hotel and caught a bus out to Masatepe where we would start visiting people!
The first family we visited was the Castellons: Norman, Sabrina, and their adorable little daughter, Kelly. We sat and visited for a while, (well, they did. I sat playing with Kelly and trying to practice the tiny amount of Spanish I knew!) and then they fed us an amazing lunch! Then we went to visit a bunch of other families all around Masatepe. Walking around the country that first couple of days was interesting. I will admit it, I was kind of terrified. Haha, I loved it and it was incredible, and by the third and fourth days I was WAY more comfortable there, but those first two days I was clinging to Brock's hand constantly. And I was a total mute. Speaking a little Spanish here and there in the States does not go very far in a Spanish-speaking country! Haha and there were wild dogs all over the place that I was just terrified of! I would jump every time I saw one! But then I realized that they usually just mind their own business and leave people alone if they don't feel threatened. It is just a very different culture and atmosphere there and I was uncomfortable at first just because I wasn't used to it. But it didn't take me very long to realize how wonderful it is and to really love all the people there!
One thing I quickly learned about the people in Nicaragua is that they are not nearly as stressed and fast paced as we are here. Everyone was home, relaxing on chairs just chatting away! Everyone we visited had as much time for us as we had for them, and were very happy to have us in their home. I wish we were more like that here. Whenever someone comes over unexpected in Utah, it's like, okay stand in the doorway and talk for a second. Then you're done and you say Bye. But it wasn't that way at all! I think a more relaxed life style is healthy! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, even though I could hardly communicate with them at all!
Another thing I noticed about them is that they really know what's important. They don't have a whole lot of luxuries. Most of them don't have cars, there's only sometimes running water, and their homes are small. But they are so happy. They have food, they have their family, and they have the gospel. And they are completely content with just that! It makes you rethink your priorities when you see such a wonderfully happy people who have so little. I was definitely humbled.
Anyway, so after walking around Masatepe visiting people we headed back to Norman's house. On our way there we saw some missionaries! Haha they were kind of weirded out when we called out to them and wanted to talk to them, but then Brock told them he used to be a missionary, they were excited. It was fun to see them! We actually saw missionaries in almost all of the areas we went to; it was really cool!
So then we went back to Norman's and they fed us a delicious dinner! I was blown away with how nice they were and excited to have us. They were so sweet. We brought Kelly some hand-me-down clothes from my little sister, and she LOVED them! We gave her a little Cinderella dress and some cute purple PJ's. She tried them on and was posing for pictures.... it was so adorable!
After dinner we went back to Jinotepe to the hotel. The sun pretty consistently rises around 6 and sets around 6 every day, and the streets are not very well lit at night. So since we're two tall white people walking around, we decided we kinda stick out a little much and it was safest to not be out much after dark. So we were in the hotel pretty early every night, which was good because we got plenty of sleep even though we were getting up really early every morning!
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