Back home again!

Hello to all!

Well, this blog idea didn't work out so well while we were there.  I guess it was too much effort for me to get access to a computer and then figure out loading photos, etc...so I'll just catch you all up now from the comfort of our own home.  In the previous post you can see some photos, I'll try to explain some of them.  There are photos of the crazy gringos enjoying their first tropical downpour - everyone thought they were crazy for dancing in the rain, but they had a great time.  I chose to stay dry and take the photos, haha!

I tried to put the photos of Hogar Infantil first and the ones of our house at the coast at the end, our little house is so cute!  If it weren't for the mosquitoes and unbearable heat, I'd be ready to move in for a year!!  Neto's mom has planted lots of coconut trees, three mango, guanabana, lime, nanche, caco, and I'm wanting to get some avocado, more mango and citrus trees started.  I figure that by the time Neto and I retire down here we'll have a regular food forest!    We took one last trip to the beach with 8 Hogar kids and my sister and her two youngest, it was a fun day trip!  The beach was glorious and breezy, had lots of fun swimming and playing in the water.  It was so great to see Neto's family again and say goodbye.

Let's see, we mostly spent lots of time at Hogar Infantil just playing and doing crafts.  There are photos of both sets of my family who came and overlapped trips for a couple days.  One bummer was that by the time my sister Mary and her two youngest, Kate and Ruth got there most of the children had gone home for their summer vacations.  About 20 kids, mostly middle and high school ages, were left at the ranch - they either had no where to go for vacations (either deceased, absent or uninvolved parents/family).  It's great to be there during vacations, doing activities with the kids who stay on, as they tend to get bored and watch lots of TV.  So our beach trip helped, and then we took the rest of the kids on a trip to a local ecotourist sight of a sinkhole that's inhabited by a huge colony of green parrots, we went for a hike and had some snacks at the restaurant, and watched some brave young guys repel into the bottom of the hole to walk among the forest down below.

The photo of something blurry on a hand is the tiniest frog I've ever seen, so cute - about the size of a cricket.  Also you can see Anna and Olivia ready to devour a bunch of rambutan, the addictive fruit of choice for the trip.  Yum!  We tried to have lots of fruit on hand: pineapple, papaya, tiny finger bananas, rambutan, avocado, oranges, etc.  Mango season was over in the area but we still scored a few on occasion.  We also splurged on some apples (from Washington!) although that's not very consistent with my "buy local" philosophy, but whatever.

There's so much to tell, it's hard to write it all up now.  We had lots of play time, card games with older kids, knitting with all ages, legos with boys mostly but sometimes the girls, sculpey clay, etc...even with all the activity there were many art supplies we didn't get to use yet, so we left them with another U.S. volunteer who happened to be there, so she can organize some activities for the rest of their summer break. 

My favorite part of the whole experience, aside from seeing my children and teenage nieces explore and blossom in a new culture, was catching up with old friends and kids who we'd known since they were little.  Many have their own families now or are expecting babies, and it was so wonderful to reconnect and reminisce with them.  Lots of great conversations, which you know I love!

I'm going  to get going and finish unpacking and folding clean clothes.  Also thinking of scoring some blueberries this weekend, hmmm.  Great to be home, but already looking forward to our next trip!!  Next time we'll make sure all four of us go - the kids and I missed Neto so much, and I think he's really glad we're home, too!   Thanks for checking in about our trip!  Love to all -

Katie