Today we are working on painting the outside of the dining hall.  Adam may be a little bit color blind so what was supposed to be a dark blue dining hall is now an indigo/purple color.  Purple is supposed to be the color of royalty, so we are just going for it.  We painted the lower portions of the building very quickly and now they are working on covering the higher portions of the building by using scaffolding.  The students are working very hard in the hot sun and spirits are high.  They did a great job on the bathroom/bodega yesterday.  We have decided to name that color “daffodil sunset”.

To give you a picture of how things work around here, yesterday in the dining hall we noticed that the fans and upper lights were working but the fridge and freezer were off.  After more exploration we noticed that all of the outlets in the building were off.  After a quick look at the breaker box, we saw that no circuits were tripped and stood about scratching our heads as to what the problem might be.  We got the best electricians we have, Dave and Adam, on the job.  They finally went out to the pole and found that a sagging wire was cutting off half the electricity to camp.  What is the fix you ask?  Well, you obviously take a block of wood and pry the (live) electrical wire up and then leave the block of wood there so that the electricity stays connected.  Of course we noticed that the power was off right before bed, so Dave and I ventured out in the dark to see what we could do.  The wind had blown the block of wood out.  What was more apparent in the dark was the flash of light as the electricity “arc”ed inside the box and it made the stereotypical “zapping” sound.  Dave and I looked at each other and felt so fortunate for our simple lives in America.  Then Dave started dancing around and I wasn’t sure if he was getting juiced, but he yelled “Fire Ants!” and took off hopping.  We are hoping that the electrical company can come out today to look at it.

We did have one small scare after we ate out.  Morgan knew she was allergic to lobster, but she didn’t know she was allergic to shrimp.  After a couple of doses of Benedryl, she is right as rain.  We think that we will lay off the shrimp for the rest of the trip.  We have had a couple of minor injuries.  Dawn stubbed her pinky toe and broke it, Heather has a splinter in her foot (Janeth dug it out), Jonathan cut his hands after doing an impression of monkey for the campers in a tree and we also have an assortment of a few burned necks.  We brought a nasty cough with us from Maine and it seems to be making its rounds.  We even have given it to Oscar who is the caretaker of the property.  We really love to give to the locals.  Adam and Rachel are having so much fun with us that they both hope that they get sick after we leave, if they get sick at all.

This afternoon most of us piled into Adam’s truck and Peter’s rental car to see how most people actually live in Nicaragua.  The area we visited has no electricity.  The family had to draw water from a well with a bucket.  Noah enjoyed tugging feverishly on the rope to raise the water.  Everyone was surprised with the wood-planked two room house.  They just added a small brick building, but it is still disconnected from the rest of the house.  The family shared one bedroom, two adults, two children with a third on the way.  The outhouse was very modest, a hole in the ground surrounded by tin roofing.  Adam pointed out that the toilet was so close to the water supply that it was impossible to keep contaminents from entering the well.  Chico, one of our translators, spoke with the women and we discovered that her husband makes about $2 a day milking cows.  This is a pretty common salary in Nica.  On the way back we took an “alternate route.”  Adam took off down the beach and then cut the wheel heading straight for the lake.  Peels of laughter echoed across the lake.  Jonathan tried to follow their trail, but Peter’s rental car did not fair so well in the crashing waves.

Everyone had a little time to relax before hitting the books.  Dawn graciuosly provided brain food for all, butter and coconut cookies.  They were devoured in minutes.  Bethany prepared an excellent braised pork for dinner.  The meal left us all full and satisfied.  Plans for the evening are still up in the air.  There are rumors of a movie or a possible second study session.

Adios!

The Group