I'm officially a Certified Open Water SCUBA Diver!

I have spent the past four days in an intensive Open Water SCUBA certification course. These are pictures from my last day of dive class, on the dive that qualified me to have Open Water certification:

This is me before getting ready to get in the water. The temperature was about 83F and the water was 78F. This is the site, called Las Palomas, where we did our 4th dive:

I broke the mask, which thankfully doesn't disqallify me. :)

Over I go...

And I'm in!

Here are some fish that I saw:
(if the link doesn't work, try copy and pasting it into your address bar)

http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos/kngangel.jpg
http://www.gran-canaria-diving.com/dive-photo/Common/slides/Bluefin%20Damselfish.JPG
http://media.beautifuloceans.com/course1/pic/1.6_High_water_mixing_occurring_on_a_reef_crest_900pix.jpg
http://www.elasmodiver.com/Sharkive%20images/Round-stingray-07.jpg
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=9450&rendTypeId=4
http://www.ukdivers.net/life/rs/trigger%20fish.jpg
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/maskedbfly.html
http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/OCT05/images/Abudefduf_vaigensis.jpg
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Nature/Underwater/Horrors/SpottedSnakeEel.jpg
http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/1/109368/t/733844-Hourglass-Moray-Eel-0.jpg
http://www.advanceddivermagazine.com/PhotoG/tisg/ti0105.jpg
http://www.zerovisibility.co.uk/Gallery/Belize1/images/new_seafan.jpg

Welcome to my town!

I finally found an interactive map so you can see where I live. Click the link and it will take you to the map. My house is in the middle of the block to the South (right) of the Church. From Pelican Eyes (#12) go two blocks down and 1 1/2 blocks right.

http://www.san-juan-del-sur.com/map.html

How to find out what's going on in SJDS...

Here are some ways for you to find out what's going on in my town:

• www.san-juan-del-sur.com This is the local, gringo-opperated newspaper that comes out twice a month. Don't count on it for any crime info, only happy, tourist-friendly articles.
• www.dancesar.com These are the pro photographers in town. If there is an event, they will cover it. I am in photos on their site often. See Superbowl Party, Lbee's Birthday party.
• www-usa.laprensa.com.ni National newspaper of Nicaragua. It is in Spanish, sorry.

Art festival and Childrens event

I, along with Annie, Dr. Jim and the A. Jean Brugger foundation have been organizing the 2nd annual Art and Childrens festival to happen on April 19, 2008. We have been inviting artists from all over Nicaragua to sell their wares (ceramics, paintings, weavings, jewelry, flowers, etc) and we are hoping it will be sort of like a farmers market. In addition to the art festival, there will be art classes for children (jewelry making hosted by Annie, along with a mosaic class, finger painting a mural and others yet to be determined).

We try to do an event every year that supports the San Juan del Sur community and creates a link between the "gringo" community and "nica" community. The vet clinic and the foundation are non profit entities, but usually when we do an event we try to make money to support what we do. In this case, we will not be making any money. Two activities we have planned for the children include two raffles: one for bicycles and one for trees.

We get the trees donated by Delta Airlines and the bikes from Rally USA. Last month, the bike fatory in Managua caught fire and burned to the ground, and the bicycles we were promised went up in flames too. It has been quite a headache for me to try and get bike donations from people. Often times they want to donate, but it is a matter of tracking them down and actually getting the money into my hand.

The reason we do bikes is because they are an excellent way to commute in this small town. You wouldn't believe how many people can actually ride the same bike at the same time. Also, they give kids something else to do besides sling-shot animals out of trees or expriment with drugs/alcohol/eachother.

Thanks to my mom, we have at least three $60 donations from back home in Seattle! :) I'm not asking anyone for donations. I just wanted to let you know what I've bee up to. To those of you have donated, I really appreciate the generosity.

Once the event happens, I'll post pictures. Check back before hand, though. You never know what i'll post!

At the beach with Tiger

Okay, Okay, I Know, I'm slacking on the pictures.....

These are the kids that live next door to us: Darling, Maybeline and Douglas. Darling is Douglas's aunt and they live together in one house. Maybeline is an only child and lives on the other side of our house. The girls are both 6 and Douglas is barely 2. This is our photoshoot:

It turns out that these kids don't have any books! I couldn't believe it, so I went to the library and checked out some books. We have been reading every day together and Darling is getting better and better at it. Douglas is more into the pop-up books, but his vocabulary has grown since we began reading, too. Isn't amazing what books can do for children?

Douglas is my new "novio" (boyfriend) His grandmother jokes around that we're going to get married. He is the sweetest little thing and LOVES his "-IA!!" (that would be me). Maybeline lives next door with her mom Sonia and her dad Erico. Her grandpa Don Julio is the owner of our house and we share a side yard. Her dog just had puppies and this is one of them.

I don't think Darling's mother could have chosen a better name for her. She is absolutely beautiful. I find I learn so much more from the kids than the adults.


She is holding one of the water guns I bought for them. With the heat, it is one of the most fun ways to cool off- Get attacked by kids with squirt guns! :)

These are scenes from around my neighborhood:

This well is in the yard I share with Maybeline's family.

Sorry for the delay...

Hi there!

Sorry it has been over a month since the last post. Things have gotten busier and busier here in San Juan del Sur. Right now I am getting ready for an event on April 19th called Art in the Park. We have invited artisans and craftsmen from all over Nicaragua to join our art festival. Although the clinic is a non-profit, we do occasionally do events that benefit the community without making any money. This event is one of them. We will be raffling off bicycles for children and giving away trees for the schools. Originally we were going to be given 35 bicycles by the bike company Rally, but a month ago it burned to the ground, and now we are stuck asking for donations from the local restaurants, hotels and shops. Wish me luck! I have two weeks to go and a whole lot of ground to cover. I promise to post soon! Love, Maria