Past weekend

Friday was the huge octo celebration for the new building at the Nueva Vida clinic. IF you are ever in Central America AND are invited to an octo, you should definitely go. It was so much fun. It all started off (only 30-45 minutes late) with the band Guitarra de Madera Azul playing a small concert. They are fabulous and do a killer rendition of a Buena Vista Social Club song. Next we had the official welcome from Cesar, the Nica leader of the pack. The atmosphere was great. Every chair was occupied with a Nica or gringa and still more were standing in the back. There were sounds of children playing, people talking and a faint drum beat (high school band practice)? After Cesar's welcome the official from the Nica Ministry of Health for Ciudad Sandino gave a welcoming speech. The drums were getting louder and pretty soon people were running away from the octo and into the street. Next thing we know, the drumbeat is right outside and a drum squad enters the clinic grounds! They do a small performance and everyone cheers. They are the Ciudad Sandino drum squad and were awesome. The octo was filled with culture performances - dancing, singing, drumming... And afterwards, the clinic ribbon was cut and the children stormed the new building. By the time that happened it was 5oclock and I unfortunately could not show off all the syrups I had been making. Which is fine, I have a clean and organized laboratory, what else could I want?
Friday night we went out dancing in Managua with the Bucktown kids. It was ALOT of fun. I got salsa/merengue/reggaeton dance lessons from Donald.
Saturday we headed to Granada, about one hour northeast of Managua. We are trying to get a lot of saturday trips in to different parts of the country because it is very cheap to travel here. Our roundtrip busfare was $2 each. We ate in the mercadito for under a dollar for the both of us. Granada is beautiful and full of history. The weather was nice and we walked to Lake Nicaragua. The only downside of Granada is that it is gringocentral. We saw more gringos there than the entire trip combined. Therefore, the prices were higher and the merchants were more aggressive.
Sunday was a relaxing day.
And that is all!
I want to say THANK YOU to Anica and Dan for the beautiful package in the mail. (And thanks to Emily for a care package and my Bubba for always writing me, oh and Adina too! Thanks everyone!)