Day 8, Thursday, June 19
Jinotepe: Orphanage and Match
By Nicole (Mouth) and Jordan (Negrita)
Today we left San Juan del Sur to go to the orphanage in Jinotepe. We left
for our adventure at 9:45 and were very excited to ride in an
air-conditioned bus! After about a two-hour ride with most people still
asleep we were finally there. First, we learned about the kids and the
owners of the orphanage while a little Nica kid, ³Ovier², quickly latched on
to ³Mouth² (Nicole) and was not about to let go. We all ate lunch with the
kids (the usual rice and chicken) while trying to have a onversation with
them. After lunch we all spread out and went different ways. Alexia, Gigi,
Marissa, and Taylor made bead jewelry with the kids. Taylor also rand around
the playground acting like a horse while little kids jumped on her. Brian
and Eric ran around outside carrying kids on their shoulders. Nicole and
Megan went into the nursery and Nicole held the one-month old baby. Megan
was too scared to hold it because she thought she might break the little
baby. Jordan was flipping around and teaching the kids how to do gymnastics
while they were showing off their break-dancing skills. Most of the adults
were coloring with chalk on the sidewalk. Rico was having a great time doing
puzzles with the kids. He also went around to each person and helped us
translate. Each kid at the orphanage found a buddy and would NOT let go! It
was really hard saying goodbye, most kids said ³Adios² but Ovier sat on a
tree stump and balled his eyes out. Nicole creed leaving because she felt
like she just abandoned him and that that¹s what they usually experience -
which is sad.
After our sad departure around 3:00 we went and played a game against the
Nicaraguan Junior National Team. The gym was basically outdoors but had a
roof. It was also all cement and really dirty. The younger kids played first
and lost 19-25 (not bad!). Then the older kids stepped in and lost 23-25 but
bounced back to win the next game 25-21. The younger kids finished the match
with a loss of 15-25.
We all hopped into the back of the trucks once again for a rainy fun drive
to our next sleeping spot. We unloaded our stuff as 15 girls stayed in ONE
huge room! Whitney and Shelby had their own room and we had to shower 5
people at a time. Coach CJ, Tim, Rico, and the boys stayed in a different
vicinity which had cool parrots that we played with. The girls then walked
to Tim¹s hotel and all jumped once again in the trucks for a 15 minute bumpy
ride to go get an awesome dinner. Then all went back to our rooms and had an
interesting night!
Many thanks to Doug and Julie and Brooke for taking us to the orphanage and
taking such great care of us in Jinotepe!
