Still in the northern part of the country today. We had a chance to drive a bit further into the mountains. It is a beautiful place! At one point, our hosts pulled over, and we walked up a short hill to a beautiful view. The view was amazing. Green as far as you can see, just one mountain after another. You can also appreciate how difficult it is to travel here off the main roads. The mountains are not tall, but are very rocky and steep. During our day, we took a dirt road over several of these mountains, and there were several times we were certain we’d need to get out and walk the rest of the way. In fact, we expected to, as our hosts told us the road is usually not drivable after about the ½ way point. We were all surprised when we were able to drive all the way to our destination. If it had rained at all this week, we would not have been able to! We had asked if we could go to another site, but found out the only way to get there was a 2 to 4 hour burro ride. Less if you could ride the whole way, more if you had to walk large parts of it. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow us to go, but my wouldn’t that have made for an interesting day!

We learned a lot about the health programs here. We’ve met several doctors on this trip, and I’m amazed at how young they all are. In Nicaragua, after a doctor completes medical school, they have to do 2 years of “social service”. Basically, each is assigned through lottery to the various rural and urban health clinics throughout the country. They then work there for 2 years, and are then allowed to move onto a specialty, private practice, or another government health job. The doctors we met were in their mid to late twenties, and all are living basically by themselves in some very remote outposts. The good news is their facilities are reasonably equipped, but they still have much to deal with. The one we visited today only recently had a latrine built on the property, and still does not have access to clean water. The doctor must bring the water in from the next nearest town.

We also had the opportunity to visit a school within the community where they do many arts programs. Singing, dancing, drama, and painting are just some of the areas taught at this school. The kids put on a great performance for us, showing off their skills. We also each received a canvas painting done by some of the older kids in the drawing program. The paintings are amazing!

A few other interesting things from this evening. The town is having a Star Trek convention this weekend. Gotta love that! I also learned that sherbet can be made out of about every type of fruit there is. Our hosts took us to an ice cream store that hand makes sherbet from many of the different types of fruit grown here. Can you believe there were 20 different types to choose from? I chose watermelon, and it even had seeds in it.
Tomorrow we will work again in the area around this small town, and then back to Managua for our last full day here.