Hotel El Club Granada

Hey Ma (2x)

Ma (Heleen)....ook de luitslagen van de laatste onderzoeken waren goed! Nu is het nog wachten op de gegevens uit San José, maar het was enorm goed nieuws! We zijn dan ook heel luxe wezen eten en hebben de vis lekker laten zwemmen in een goed glas wijn!

Ma (Michel)....van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag vandaag!!
We hopen dat je een leuke dag hebt gehad en volgend jaar zijn we ...

... we each had a few bits and bobs to take care of in Granada before we left. In my case I had to return to the laundry place to try to liberate my laundry bag - many laundries have misplaced many items of my clothing over the course of seven months, but I was damned if they were gonna lose my dirty clothes recepticle too!

Successful in my mission, I was all set to depart when the clouds burst and the tropical rainy season meted out its daily dose of extreme ...

... then bought the beggar a tamale, same as Sophie and I were eating. I returned to show the 2 boys and their family the pictures I had taken of them on my digital camera - it entertained them so much, they jokingly offered one of the kids for us to take home. I translated for Sophie to see her terrified reaction - we all laughed.

We are still figuring out how to joint-blog, so expect an entry from Sophie next!

Here is our spending list ...

... mortality in the community. This is an
extremely important topic, as well over 80% of pregnant women in the
communities have at least one or two risk factors for pregnancy
complications (e.g. mothers younger than 19 or older than 35, high
blood pressure, lack of access to health care facilities). We mobilized
community members to form committees that oversee the organization of
various activities concerning the health of pregnant women in ...

... told that Nicaragua was a nation of young people, but it was sad to see so many little ones all grubby and some without shoes. People give them food when they had finished eating in the restaurants lining one of the main avenues and they would sit straight down and gobbel it in seconds. Something defiantly needs to be done, though I am not sure what would be the best thing to do to help.

... sind. Wir kamen im Norden an, wo es eigentlich nichts besonderes (ausser zur Abwechslung vielleicht Vulkanbesteigen :)) zu tun gibt. In kleinen Schritten sollten wir uns den schönen Ecken der Insel nähern. Erster Stopp auf der Tour war Santo Domingo, am Isthmus der Insel, wo sich ein kilometerlanger Sandstrand entlangstreckt. Normalerweise. Da es sich hier um einen See und nicht das Meer handelt, gibt es zwar keine Gezeiten in ...

... interior gardens (patios) and airy corridors.

Parque Central is officially called 'Parque Colón' (Columbus Park). Horse-drawn ...

... the Ojo de Agua, horseback riding (yay!!), hiking a steep, muddy volcano, taking pictures of livestock, and searching for howler monkeys. I loved every minute on this island. You could be as active as you wanted to be or you could veg on the hotel porch, watching hummingbirds visit the garden flowers. The 9-hour volcano hike was probably the hardest, and I had already decided I wasn't going to do it when I met Esther, a girl I had met in Leon, at the front ...

... time on the caribean side as its been plauged by bad weather and no one seems to know where and when is which rainy season. After san juan i´m into Costa rica and hopefully can break up the trip by stoping in monteverde which is suposed to be really nice. between costa rica and panama i should easily be able to burn up whats left of my trip and from the sounds of it my pocket book as they are the 2 most expensive countries here. thats all folks B out