Pine. Birch. Aspen.

Whirlwind

So I was on the farm. for nearly 3 weeks. and it was fabulous. and hard. and i have never felt so loved:

Long and sad story short, i got removed from my host family a week early due to some very difficult situations. Me and Doña Angela (Mami) got very close and she thought of me like a daughter…however our close friendship reminded her of some pain in her life…

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you see,  my Mami’s son committed suicide 7 years ago, and she is still deeply mourning. Unfortunately, she turns to alcohol to take away the pain. It was the most difficult week of my life, hearing her being dragged in, yelling “Donde esta mi hijo” (where is my son?) and “Laura! LAURA! mi chiquita! no te vayas!” (Laura, my little girl dont leave me!)

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what kills me is that I can escape this. but these people who love me so much can never escape- this is their reality. 

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I lived in the mountains and worked on a farm milking cows and making cheese it was fabulous….i really loved my family and didnt want to leave, but my program  said it was unsafe and took me back to san jose. i have never cried or hurt so much. i love those people.

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On the bright side, I had such a beautiful connection with my Papi, Don Ignacio.  this man treated me like his daughter- hugging and kissing me and giving me advice for the man he wants me to marry some day. And get this: HE GAVE ME A PUPPY as a gift….he bought me a little dachshund!

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However, I know god has purpose. and never cease to pray for Don Ignacio, Doña Angela and the family. there is a ton of pain there and they need your prayers as much as anyone’s.

NOW for one of my infamous lists:

Odd things:

-they told me that when my eyes are green I am angry. But I am most beautiful when I am angry. What?? haha.

-Taught the phrase “God Bless You” to some neighborhood kids to say after a sneeze. Now everytime I cough or sneeze or make some weird noise, I hear “Got Blez Joo”

-I woke up at 6am one day and was told that I was lazy cause I slept in. (their usual schedule is 4am-8pm everyday. whew.)

-I ATE HORSE SAUSAGE. MADE FROM A HORSE. HORSE MEAT. LIKE A REAL HORSE. AHHHHHH.

-I will NEVER eat “higado” again. EVER. note to self: look up an unknown word in the dictionary before you eat it….IT WAS LIVER.

-They bought me a puppy. enough said.

-Made cheese and packed cheese and rolled cheese and ate cheese.

-Saw 2 baby cows being born. and fed all the baby animals with bottles.

-The goats ate my bra. I know. I can hardly believe it either. 

Things about Papi:

- Papi said that “Woman are like guitars. Thats why their bodies are shaped the same way. Men need to learn to play women’s chords” uh….

-He had me weigh myself in front of everyone and they proceeded to talk about how heavy I was and how it was weird that I didn’t look like it. Oh goodness.

-Papi read my diary like 5 times. Then I switched to writing in english. Mua hahahaha.

-Papi would compare the cows udders to women’s boobs all the time to try and get me to understand the whole milking process. Oh. my. word.

-Papi told me that if I were to wash my face with my own urine, that pimples would go away. interesting…

-Papi nonchalantly shoved his hand up a cow’s hoo ha to check its repreductive system. That is one very secure man.

-Papi wreaks of old cheese and milk but I still love it when he hugs me and treats me like his little girl.

-He woke up one morning and told me he had a vision from God: That I will meet my husband and get married at age 25, and have 3 kids. 2 girls and a boy. He told me he knew it was true because he felt all tingly after the dream. hahahaha. 

-One day, as we were driving up thw mountain to get hay, he stops the tractor, looks at me and says “Whoever marries you, my chiquita, will be so happy. You are so pretty and I know you two would have a ton of luck.

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God is good and I now feel like I have a second family in the mountains of Heredia.

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I will come back here one day

GLORIA A DIOS.

Voy a la finca.

So here I go.

Im going off to the mountains of Heredia, Costa Rica to work on a farm for a month.

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All that I know:

-My new Papi’s name is Ignacio and he is strong, burly and intense. Typical campesino!

-His wife is a petite, quiet Nicaraguan woman.

-I have to go to the mountains and ask around for “La finca de Ignacio”. Addresses don’t exist here. 

-The finca (farm) has chickens, ducks, cows, pigs, horses and “perros muy grandes.” 

-I have to wear big work boots and pants and long sleeves and work gloves and a hat.

-I am the first girl that will be working on the farm after a series of 6 men. Yippeeee!

-I will be mucking out stables, harvesting things, weeding and caring for the animals.

-I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!

-I am excited.

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So. BRING IT ON. Laura Ketchum is ready to be Laura Ingalls Wilder… in the most Latin American way possible….

one month of hardcore farming. probably no contact with any gringos. just me, mi familia, the earth and jesus.

GOD IS GOOD.

San Jose for a while…

I really hate reading long posts, but this probably will be one. so… brace yourself.

So after NICA, six of us went to parque nacional de CORCOVADO. It is the most biodiverse place on the planet with a huge concentration of various species of plants, trees, insects and animals. It is SUPER south on a peninsula and very hard to get to….BUT totally worth it.

 We took a 6 hour bus…then an hour long taxi ride…then a 2 hour boat ride…

it was storming out on the open ocean and our boat driver was FREAKING CRAZY so we were jumping huge waves and practically falling out of the boat. He even decided to gun it through two huge rock formations and we all thought we were going to die.

THEN we arrived at a secluded beach and they basically kicked us 6 out of the boat… a wet landing. i just jumped into the waves with my jeans on. no biggie. heh.

Anyway, we stayed at a phenomenal little hotel nestled in the jungle… we were the only ones there and our host was amazing: he treated us to the honeymoon suite (complete with ocean views, canopy bed and hammock) and fresh fish every night. 

We hiked though the park the next day and dined on random fruits our guide would pull off every tree we passed- the coconuts were by far the best, with starfruit a close second. then, just when we were headed back we spotted a PUMA. only 4 out of thousands of guests per year see one. it was amazing.

other festivities of the weekend included hiking up cascading waterfalls, playing telephone pictionary with the gang, celebrating our host’s bday, catching a fish, my friend pete playing guitar for us all, seeing a basilisk lizard (which nearly fell on my face btw) and just hanging with 5 awesome friends. God was sooooo good and it was the perfect rest before starting up again.

PURA VIDA.

A few random things in my stream of conciousness:

-classes and more classes! 

-I am glad however- my spanish class is quite helpful and enriching.

-We are learning about “Liberation theology” in my other class. heavy… no comment.

-I really like the down time- i love trekking through the city solo.

-more time with my church here! LOVE IT THERE.

-played pictionary in spanish with some tico friends…. and our team WON! (SO hard for me but so good!!!)

-i miss fall a lot. pumpkins dont exist here. mehhhh.

-went to a department store today and was greeted by mountains of christmas decorations accompanied by loud christmas music. too soon. TOOOOOO SOON!

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK:

I made american desserts for my host family this week: seven layer bars and funfetti cake cookies. I stashed a few pieces of each dessert in the oven to save for my host brother and sister. When they came home, I was so excited for them to try it that I quickly blurted out “Brenda y Michael! Hice postres americanos y ahorita estan en el inodoro para ustedea!!!” Note to self: “horno” means oven. “inodoro” means toilet.

I told them there was dessert in the toilet for them. BAH HAHAHA.

needless to say i will never live that one down….

Nicaragua

and i fell in love…

We learned about Sandino, the Liberales, history and culture.

We visited a “zona franca”: a free trade sweat shop.

We stayed with host families for a week.

We ate our weight in rice and beans.

And boy am I content. 

I feel like this was the first time that the Lord gave me true joy and peace and understanding and patience all at the same time. I lived with a wonderful family in the campo and shared life with them: helping cook over a fire, talking in spanish 24/7, learning to wash my clothes by hand, playing with the kiddies and most of the time, just being. 

The Perez family, whom I stayed with, consists of Victor and Aura, the proud parents of Arely 18, Eliezer 17 and Jasón 16. They live in a house made of tin the size of my room in the US, with rooms seperated by worn fabric. Aura weaves hammocks. Victor collects trash on the dump truck.  No shower, just buckets. No toilet, just a hole. Not much money, just a whole lot of LOVE.

They were so welcoming and hospitable. Mami and Arely and i cried when i had to leave.

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THINGS I WILL NOT MISS

-the whole town peeking through the holes in the tarp while I showered outside.

-being called gordita all day eryday: meaning little fatty. haha.

-the cheese. imagine the most pungent smell ever and mix that with a pound of salt.

-finding an entire pig foot in my tamale with hairs still attached. mmmmm.

-sweeping the dirt and throwing garbage whereever whenever.

-being told i couldnt grate cheese properly, walk over puddles, mop correctly, wash my clothes, go to the bathroom, sleep, shower etc…

-Food deciding not to leave my body for 7 days. Yippeeeeee.

-Being asked to translate some of their favorite english songs only to realize half the lyrics  are the f word. bah hah!!

-having an audience everytime I ate or had to use the bathroom. how fun.

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THINGS I WILL CERTAINLY MISS:

-being hugged and loved and accepted even though I couldnt communicate effectively

-teaching my padres about where countries were located on a map i made in the dirt.

-having “Laura’s esculea de arte” with the kids and teaching them how to draw and paint

-being given the nickname peter pan cause I was the leader of the children

-Speaking and stumbling and slurring my way through spanish and recieving help and grace from my family.

-playing “libre” or tag with all the kids everyday

-having my hair stroked and braided by the kids

-being called “blah blah” or “lau la” by the precious two year old girls.

-teaching 12 year old ericka how to french braid

-my Mami’s humble and quiet demeanor and KILLER food.

-Feeling 100% at home and comfortable

-Realizing how special Nicaraguans are and how much they love their families

-Seeing the big burly men come home to kiss and hug their little fragile daughters.

-crying and laughing with my host sister who asked me to never leave.

-Learning spanish worship songs and belting them out with Arely

-being asked to “sleepover” in her bed ( a tiny single made of wood and fabric) 

-cracking jokes and being made fun of and LAUGHING AND LAUGHING.

-feeling my heart full of Jesus’ love 

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These people are so content and yet they have so little. 

The answer is Him.

Aprendi que la manera de felicidad es solamente a traves de Jesucristo.

Amen y gloria a Dios. Le alabaré para siempre.