We were out of the gate at 7:00 am this morning with our faithful Rotary companions Maria and Rodrigo.
Our trusted driver Freddy headed for Esteli, a three-hour drive due north of our hotel after skirting around the east side of Lago de Managua.
As we neared our destination of San Pedro School, which is about 800 meters above sea level and therefore cooler than steamy Managua, we picked up a young local volunteer named Cesar who spoke very good English which he acquired watching American television. In his day job he works for a company called “Movistar” which in itself made us feel we had our own personal Nicaraguan celebrity in our midst all day who did a Superman’s job on site with the other twenty or so local volunteers keeping everything running very smoothly.
Once again, on arrival, we were greeted by yet another 500 smiling children’s faces, had the pleasure of being officially welcomed by a young girl and were entranced by another two young ladies who performed local dances for us which set us all in an excellent mood for our task at hand.
Most of today’s children came from about 4 or 5 other surrounding schools many of which took three hours or more to get to the distribution site by what ever means were available, meaning that a number of them were up with their families by 2 a.m. to get to the site on time. At the end of the distribution, we gathered our things and headed with ravenous appetites straight for an excellent steak restaurant, still accompanied by our own personal Movistar.
Somehow each successive day seems to progress more smoothly than the last and judging by the lively banter in the vehicle back to our hotel, the team is becoming more and more cohesive and effective.
By the beginning of next week we should be nothing short of invincible.
Life is good.
Greg O’Neill
for Team Nicaragua 2011
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