Days 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14

This is Abbey & Quinten's school.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Last night we had cooking classes and they were really fun. We made casado which is rice and beans and veggies. We cut up all the veggies and the little ones got to make cookies. Josette brought a bottle of wine. There was a large raft used for rafting down rivers and the kids had a great time jumping all over it. The walk to the cooking class was really hard because it was pouring rain. The picture above shows Kasondra putting some of the veggies she cut up into a bowl.

Today, after school, Abbey and Quinten got to go canyoning. I went with them but I walked down the side of the canyon instead of descending through the waterfalls. They descended waterfalls and went on zip lines through the rain forest. I was able to see them at a few spots. They went tandom with the two guides whose names were Andres and Raul. They were very good and made sure the kids were safe. Below is a picture of Abbey getting ready. It was really scary to think Kasondra and Jenna did it be themselves. The other picture is Quinten zip lining through the rainforest! Yikes!

The kids had a great time. After canyoning, they made their way to the warehouse where I was and we all had hot chocolate. The guides sat with us. Everyone is sooo nice to the kids. We finally made our way home just before 6pm and had to hurry to get to dance class. I learned the cumbia, I think. Or my version of it anyway. We were really tired. Jenna had stayed with Josette while I was canyoning and Kasondra had stayed with Leehia at the house resting. We finished with dance class and went home to have dinner about 7:30pm. After dinner we had showers and finally into bed. Oh, yeah...I forgot....at dinner I asked Leehia if everything was okay for the trip tomorrow. She said it wasn't going to work out because her son's wife's sister wanted to come home and she drove so there was no one to take us. What a pain! Telling me this on Thursday at 7:30pm! So, I went upstairs and called David, our driver from Allajeulah and asked him if he would be able to drive us. He said he could and it would cost $150 each way. I said okay. Then, I called some hotels in Puerto Viejo hoping we could get a room for the weekend. After trying 3 hotels which were full, I finally found one that had rooms. The name is El Pizote which in English means The Slouth.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Went to school again. It started at 8am this morning. David is going to pick us up at 3pm. While in school, I started talking to another mom named Sonia. She lives in North Carolina and has two girls, Olivia and Gabby ages 14 and 11. She wanted to come with us to Puerto Viejo. She said she would pay half the cost of travel. Perfecto! So, they came to. After school, I went home and packed our things and at 3pm we were off. The drive takes about 3.5 hours and is on some mountainous roads. About 2.5 hours into the trip, Abbey got sick and threw up out the window. Some got on David's car but a least not inside. Then Jenna started to feel sick and I had her sit up front for the rest of the trip. We arrived at our hotel, okay lodge, at about 6:30pm and it was raining very hard. We put our luggage into our bungalows and then let the kids go swimming in the pool (at night and in the rain). Finally, we went to our bungalows to sleep. We only had two double beds so the first night Kasondra, Q and I sleep together and Abbey & Jenna slept together. The beds were the hardest beds I have ever seen. They were like a board. Needless to say, we didn't sleep very well.

The lodge is fairly nice and really pretty. Other than the beds, everything was great. It is owned by a family and the father and two boys work there. Quinten took a liking to one of them and was always by his side. Abbey and Q both ran all over the reception area including the kitchen and behind the desk. Quinten was helping to check people in. The one brother even played soccer with Quinten in the reception area. Like I said, the people here really enjoy kids.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Today we got up early and went and had breakfast. Kasondra slept in. Breakfast was good. After breakfast, the kids changed into their swimsuits and we walked into the town of Puerto Viejo which was only about 500 meters. We got into town and asked about surfing lessons for Olivia and Kasondra. One very American surfer guy told us to go to the next beach Playa Cochles. We took taxis and found a teacher for the girls. The boards they were using were soooo big. Real long boards. It was tiring but fun. Olivia really wanted to do more.

While the girls surfed, the rest of the kids played on the beach. The waves were great for the kids to play in. After the surf lessons were finished, we walked down to Hotel Cariblu for lunch. They let us swim in their pool before lunch. It was perfect because the kids could get the sand off and be more comfortable. We had lunch and Quinten fell asleep at his chair. I laid him down next to the table while we ate. After lunch we walked looking for some booths Sonia had seen. She thought they were very close to Playa Cochles. Turns out they weren't close at all and we ended up walking 1.5 kilometers to Playa Viejo. Finally we got into Playa Viejo and did some shopping. We also found a great ice cream shop (shown below). Playa Viejo is on the Caribbean Ocean and lots of Jamaicans live there. Abbey got her hair braided (trensas). It took a long time. We finally walked back to the hotel just as it got dark.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Woke up early again. I can't believe how uncomfortable these beds are! We got up and had breakfast. Kasondra and Jenna slept in this morning. After breakfast, we are going to the beach called Playa Negra. It is just across the street from our lodge. We got our swimsuits on and off we went. Playa Negra is a black sand beach and the sand is very fine. Here is a picture of everyone standing on the sand and a picture of Kasondra and Quinten out in the water. The kids kept stepping on sand dollars out in the water.

We went back to the lodge about 10:30 so we could take showers before David came for us at 1pm. I needed to go into town to the pharmacy and try to get some dramamine for myself and the kids. The pharmacies were closed but the grocery store had something that worked. We went to a Jamaican place for lunch and the kids had great fried chicken. Kasondra and I had arroz con pollo which is really like chicken fried rice. It was good but we should have shared because there was so much left over. Finally, we started for home.

We got back home about 6pm and I gave Leehia our dirty laundry which was all wet and smelly. Everyone was tired and we got ready for bed early. Leehia went to the bus station to pick up the two new students that are staying at our home. Theirs name are Karri and Hannah and they are from Indiana. They are very nice. Finally, we dropped into bed and now my bed seems VERY comfortable.

Monday, July 21, 2008 - Day 14

School again. We get new teachers. I am in a classroom with one student this week and her name is Elise. She is currently living in Oklahoma taking post graduate classes in genetic counseling. After class today, we are eating again at Betty's (of course) and Kasondra and Jenna are going horseback riding. We need to meet their guides at 1:30pm at Soda la U. Jenna didn't wear long pants and so we had to go back to the house for her to change. The guide drove all of us home. Yeah!

After Kasondra and Jenna left, Quinten, Abbey and I went to the bank to change some money. I had none left. The teller told me I understood Spanish well (that's because I was saying okay). He was very nice. Quinten stood over by the guards and checked people in with them. He really likes their guns. After the bank, we went to a camera shop to see if I could get the pictures transferred onto a disc so I could upload them in this blog. He said he did it but when I tried to open in on the computer, it didn't work. I finally figured out that the computer has a place for the camera cards! Duh! That's why you all get pictures now. After that we went to a ice cream place called Pops that everyone has been talking about. The ice cream is really good. Quinten was being a butt and running far ahead and not listening so we went back to our house to rest.

Quinten and Abbey started watching Bob the Builder in Spanish and I took a nap.

Kasondra and Jenna got back about 4:30pm and woke me up. They had a great time horseback riding. They even got to lope for a long while (which is going pretty fast). Kasondra definitely wants to go again next week. They rode the horse through sugar cane and a village. It sounds like a lot of fun except for the horse part (in my opinion). Tomorrow, the girls are going rafting down the Rio Pijeballe. Quinten can't go because they have a 5 year old age limit. So the girls are going with Sonia and Quinten and I are going to a swimming pool with another family that just came in today. Their names are Cindy and Craig and they have a 3.5 year old girl named Alisa. They are from New York. Exlornatura will take us there right after school and buy our lunch from the cafeteria and our admittance into the pool. It should be fun. Sonia will make sure the girls get home okay. Well, I better go now. I will be able to blog again on Wednesday.