here we are with Esmir's mom and baby brother

at the waterfall

on our way to the waterfall in Esteli

Managua, Nicaragua

After close to five months of traveling we finally made it south of Guatemala! We've been in Nicaragua for two weeks now and have spent most of the time at the Quaker guest house where we usually stay. We stayed at the orphanage for two nights our first weekend here and it was strange to see how much the place has changed and how disconnected we feel from it now. Most of the kids that we were close with have either been adopted or kicked out and most of the staff has also changed. Even so, it was nice to see the kids we know and meet a few of the new kids. Marlon went with us (he flew in on the 18th) and I think it was especially fun for him to hang out with his friends that still live there.

This past weekend we went on our third annual trip to Esteli to visit Esmir's family. We took seven of the boys with us and spent two nights there. On Saturday we hiked to a river with a beautiful waterfall and after about half an hour it started raining so we hiked back up and since we didn't want to wait the three hours until the next bus, we walked for two hours out to the main road. The landscape was really pretty and after spending so much time in the city, it was nice to spend some time in the country and breath fresh air!

We're planning on spending another two weeks in Nicaragua and then either going to work on a WWOOF farm in Costa Rica for a few weeks or go straight to Panama. It's still up in the air. We did, however, buy our tickets back to the states. We're going home for 7 weeks (from July 25th-September 13) to visit friends and family, work, and Leah and I each have a wedding to go to. We're flying home from Panama and then from NC we are going to fly to Peru. I'm sad that we're going to skip Ecuador, but it makes the most sense in terms of time.

We've been really busy the past two weeks, but it is hard to explain exactly what we've been doing since every day has been different. A lot of the work has been related to Opening Doors. David, who we've been working with for almost four years graduated from high school in December and decided to take a year off before starting university. We registered him for English and computer classes and are hoping to help him pick out with university he wants to go to before we leave. We also tracked down our friend Engel who is now living by himself in a one bedroom room and working in a sweat factory. His life has been really hard, but he never ceases to amaze us with the philosophical things that he says. We are hoping to get him registered for the next school year for Saturday classes so that he can continue working during the week. Here's just a little update on what we've been up to and hopefully I'll post some photos soon!

xoxo, Katie
P.S. It is soooooooo hot here. I miss the climate in Guatemala.

Leah, Rachel and I with Paty (the teacher in my class)

some of the girls from my morning class

Guatemala

I'm sorry I've been so bad about writing entries lately! We arrived back in Guatemala two weeks ago after spending almost a week in Oaxaca and then a night in San Cristobal de las Casas. After spending two and a half months at the project before, two weeks felt like almost nothing! It was fun to be back in classroom, but I wish we could have had more time. Leah and I had some conversations about going to Nicaragua and then coming back to Guatemala and spending the rest of the year here and skipping South America. Everyone we talk to advises us to keep going and to come back here for a year after our trip is finished. I feel really torn because I really want to stay, but at the same time I don't want to give up this once in a lifetime trip. I think we will keep going, but with the idea that we'll spend some more time here at the end of our trip.

Tomorrow we are going to spend the night with friends in Guatemala City and then on Tuesday morning we'll take a bus to Nicaragua. As sad as we are to leave Guatemala, we are also excited to get to Nicaragua and see our friends there. Marlon will be flying into Managua on Friday so we'll pick him up and then we're planning on spending next weekend at the orphanage. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the climate change....Nicaragua is soo hot!

xoxo, Katie
P.S. Happy Mother's Mom!