ACD en El Sauce

8/17/23

March 2022

First trip since Covid. A house in Los Guasimo.

December 2019

With Margaret, Guy, and John. We built two houses in el barrio Instituto with funds raised by the Newman Center.

5/4/19

November 2018

A trip to Copenhagen with Karla
Another baptism

5/11/17

1/14/16

My sixth visit to El Sauce was in May of 2015. I accompanied a group of funny, big-hearted, amazing middle-school students from the Allendale Columbia School in Rochester. They built two 4Walls houses.

It was also the occasion to celebrate the construction of the 4Walls Project's 100th house. Nearly 400 people from all corners of El Sauce showed up.

3/23/15

5th visit: English vocabulary exam

3/20/15

5th visit: Indio Viejo

Indio Viejo (the old Indian) is a stew made of meat, masa (something like polenta), and seasonings. It is a traditional Nicaraguan dish with roots in both native and Spanish cuisine. I love its mix of sour orange and mint flavors.

3/19/15

5th visit: My birthday party

On a balcony in the city of León with Nicol, Yasari, Francis, and Rebecca.

Nicol, Yasari, Rebecca, and Francis with lovely clean feet

3/15/15

5th visit: Granada

It might have been the first European city in mainland America, says Wikipedia. Granada was founded in 1524 by the conquistador, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba. He named it after the city in Spain. Pirates from England, Holland, and France invaded and battled here, trying to take over the area. (ATTENTION IAN DOLLOFF.)

It's a pleasant, breezy city with cool architecture and good restaurants. There are lots of trees and benches in the central park for sitting around doing nothing.

Candlelight and sangría

Where I drink my sangría

Did these señoritas dance with the pirates? Maybe.

Where the pirates landed

My hotel. $40 a night with breakfast

3/10/15

5th visit: El herrero

El herrero = the blacksmith. That bicycle wheel in the back somehow feeds the bellows that makes his little barbecue fire burn hotter. This is Angel, son-in-law of Angel who does the leatherwork. He's making un palo, a tool we use to dig post holes.

3/4/15

5th visit: Red red wine

Juan found out I liked red wine so he bought me a bottle of Manischewitz.

3/2/15

5th visit: Los Sabadinos

When kids have to work during the week, they go to school on Saturdays (sábados in Spanish) and thus are called sábadinos.

Darling Arelys Romero Mendoza

Darling Arelys Romero Mendoza is a sabadina who works in my house during the week. While I write blog posts and eat meals especially prepared for the gringa, Darling, like Cinderella, cleans up the dog shit, the bird shit, the rotting fruit that has fallen from the trees. She sings popular Latino songs while she washes laundry by hand and mops the floors. If no one is looking, she plays with Cristiana's toys.

Darling works in this house during the week and goes to school on Saturdays. She is 13 and was once a bufalito (see blog post below.) Darling is pictured here with Sandra and Juan Lira, my host family, and Kathy Doughterty, my Cardinal Mooney High School friend.

2/23/15

5th visit: Mountaintop picnic with 20 bufalitos

Los Pequeños Búfalos del Sauce are a group of kids I work with. Yesterday we loaded them up in two pickups and took them to Los Altos de Ocotal for an all-day picnic.