Sorry not all the pictures are on here yet, but we will keep trying little by little.

We met Andrew and Jenny Lathem at the Laguna de Apoyo. They were down in Managua at their sign language district convention so we took advantage of a chance to go visit them. It is a beautiful lake in the middle of an inactive volcano crater. The water is very clean and very peaceful.

Shane rented a little sail boat, aHobie Cat day sailer.

Jenny, Shane, the instructor and I went out for the first hour. Shane was wise and modest because although he has sailed before, he told the owner honestly that he felt more comfortable with a lesson first. A pair of older men denied taking a lesson and told the instructor that they knew what they were doing and didnt need a lesson. The were the proverbial Skipper and Gilligan. They rented the largest, fastest boat and took off. When we got in our boat, the instructor, Alberto, told Shane he was sure the men were going to dump the boat over. And after we sailed out far enough after them, we could see that they had. They flipped it completely over, with the mast submerged under the boat.

He sailed us over to them and explained how they should right the boat, but one of the men was panicked and the other wasnt strong enough. Shane swam over to try to help, using the technique that Alberto said, but even he couldnt lift the boat. One problem was that normally the boat just goes on its side and the sail floats on top of the water, but Alberto said that the man who was panicky tried to cling to the mast and that forced it down completely under the boat. The other problem was, once the sail goes under, you have to untie it from the mast and rigging otherwise as you try to tip it upward it tried to drag all the water upward with it. Alberto said they needed more men. We went back to shore and Jenny and I got out and Andrew and another brother, Sebastian, got in.

By the time they got back to the boat the wind had drifted it to the shallows and the mast and sails were smashing into the rocks underneath. They worked for five hours and finally got the boat to turn upright. It was hard because after so much time upside down, the pontoons filled with water. Then all six men had to ride back with only one boat sailing properly. The wind was too light and the boats were heavy, so it took them until dark to get near the hotel. Once they got close, the guys offered to jump out and swim to shore and walk the road back. Alberto said that was a good idea and he and the two men who caused the whole upset sailed back without them.

Heres a picture of "Skipper and Gilligan" coming in after their "three hour tour."

The good part of the story is Shane got a FULL day of sailing for the price of a "one hour lesson," the shipwrecked men and the instructor bought the guys beers and Shane is promised another free hour next time he comes back.

The bad part of the story is Shane got Dengue after being bit by so many mosquitos.

San Dionisio.

We have also been spending more time in San Dionisio where the special pioneer couple, Jese and Mayling are serving. We can see monkeys there.

Here we are with them at the house of a couple who are studying, Norlan and Janeth. He is a nurse and she is a teacher and the fact that they are studying has moved five more people in town to start studying plus their children. Many of them are at the meetings already.

The funny part of the story is that Norlan said he used to hide from witnesses on the rare occaisions that they came to his pueblo in the past. Not because he is shy, but because he thought they would trap people and then talk and talk and talk and stay a long time. One day his front door was open and his back was too it, so he didnt see a pair of brothers approaching until they said "Buenas," which is how you greet when you come to someones house. He said he knew it was too late to hide so out of Nicaraguan politeness he had to invite them in. Once he realized he could ask them his questions about the bible, he started firing off one after another. So, humorously, his first visit with them did last a very long time, two hours. Those two brothers were only temporary in the pueblo but now that Jese and Mayling are there they are studying regularly and we had a meal with them when we came. .

This is the shower at Jese and Mayling's. Its outside in the fresh air and you have to use a bucket, but we dont mind it at all. After all, look how happy Shane is to be clean.

Here I am picking corn off the cob with a knife. Yes, I thought I was going to hurt myself. But we needed the kernels whole, so it was they only way to do it. We made atol. Its corn custard. They make Sooooo many things with corn here.
I liked it but its a lot of work. First peel the corn, they pick off the kernels without cutting yourself, wash the kernels, pick out the corn silk, take it to the mill down the street. Then boil and boil and boil it over a fire. And add lots of sugar.

Now I understand why they invented jello pudding.

This is a coffee cooperative. The coffee just came in from the mountains, now they are gonna spend some time drying it.

They spread it out on big slabs of concrete and turn it from time to time so it doesnt get burnt. They paid the coffee growers something like 50 cents a pound. A middle man will get it out of Nicaragua and make a huge profit by selling it at $4.00 a pound, out of the shell but still raw ("in gold" as they call it, because there is a little shiny slip of gold between the shell and the bean.) Then a coffee roaster buys it, roasts and bags it, then sells it for $8-11.00 a pound.

We had some guests from Canada and two girls who are living here. There were six in total. It was so fun. In honor of Andrew and Jenny we did a Jump Picture. Some of us were over achievers.

One of the brothers gave the public talk, but in English and Shane translated. It was great. Everyone was really paying attention. You could tell because even though they didnt understand what Peter was saying, when they say him make the slightest move toward the bible, they snatched up their bibles and were waiting for Shane to tell them what verse to find.

Jose and Kati Betances came to visit. They are sp. pio. in a town called Muy Muy. They came in before the meeting on Saturday and he gave the talk. Then we all left after the meeting and went two hours back to their town. Sunday, we went in the ministry and Shane gave the public talk. It was really really hot that day. But they have a good sound system and it was good a loud, so you didnt really feel like falling asleep.

And I was in the kitchen learning to make flan with Kati and Silvia (in the blue shirt a local sister) and Lizbeth, a crazy girl from a congregation in Managua, she was a lot of fun. All the ingredients for flan go into the blender which makes it really easy. Except for the carmelized sugar, that you have to melt on the burner until it changes from white to brown. But surprisingly, it wasnt that hard either. Everything then goes into a pressure cooker and 13 mins later you have flan. It is excellent. Less complicated than a cheesecake and her recipe is so good. I think that, for as long as I've been without cheesecake...dare I say this...that I like it as much as cheesecake. Oooh, I know some people arent gonna like that I said that. But look at this picture!

It is really really good. Compared to this, what they sell in the mexican restaurants are just refrigerated cups of goo. And you can make coffee flan, or chocolate flan too.

After Muy Muy, it was time for the C.O. visit, Brother Ruben Aguado. We all went first to Jese and Mayling's so he could see the work they had been doing over there. The group is going well there. But he said they usually start out with a bang because so many people are curious and there isnt much prejudice. The real test is what happens in time, if people really want to serve Jehovah long term.

Jese and Mayling made us all really comfortable at their house.

For our privacy they put up this tent and made it so cute.

And they put this sign on it. We saved it and now its on our front door at home.

Brother Aguado said the San Jose group is doing good too. He said it has a positive spirit and good participation in the meetings. Which is true, they like to comment based on the additional scriptures.

A few more misc. pictures:

I wish I could have caught a picture of this when the horse was coming toward us. it was just a walking pile of grass that swished past us.

All our weather comes from over this hill. Right below the green and blue band in the rainbow you can see a white ribbon. That is a pretty tall waterfall and our towns only source of water. Its very pretty and junglelike. The only problem is that people eat picnics up there and swim in the water and then throw their trash in it. Shane talked to a man cutting coffee up there and lamented about the garbage. The man smiled knowingly and told Shane, not to worry that when the waterfall it will carry all the trash away for us. Where does it carry it? Right into the towns water tanks.

But in this picture we are proud of Nicaragua. Recycling and reducing packaging is in full force here. Primarily to save money, not the environment. But its still a positive thing. The bottle on the left you will recognize but its not Gatorade anymore, its how I buy our white vinegar. The Xedex is our laundry soap (they do sell larger bags too) and the Crema on bottom is our sour cream. The milk comes in bags too, but you cant have that flopping over in the fridge. So, we just pour it in a pitcher or better yet into a clean used peanut butter container.

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written by  Shane Perry on March 5, 2010 from San Jose de los Remates, Nicaragua
from the travel blog: Shane and Vanessa's Nicaraguan Adventure
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Love the new entry!! Can't wait till all the pictures are posted. See you soon.

written by  Virginia Mom on March 11, 2010

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