Day 17: The Heat Goes On & Lightning's Striking Again

Every day seems hotter than the one before! Today we met with Paloma in her home office to discuss our proposals. We have several that are somewhat nested: one for Los Pipitos to ensure a sustainable clinic; one for the College of Nursing to partner with Los Pipitos; and one that will include a relationship with UPOLI's School of Nursing. Paloma has been working on the Los Pipitos Granada website and I agreed to help with the English language portion of the text. 

Working in Paloma's Office

We went to the Los Pipitos school at 11:00 because the psychologist uses the clinic until then and we have no other center of operations there. When we approached the school, two young men whom Christine and Lily had met were there, since we had invited them to see the clinic. One of them is interested in going into public health. So, we spent some time talking about how we are working to make the clinic operational when we leave, trying to ensure that there is some health professional available to see to the health of the children. Before they left, they took photos of us with all of the children and staff who were there today in front of the school. 

Family on the Road

We didn't leave until around 2:00 p.m. and were pretty hungry. I wanted to find a bottle of wine to take to Nancy's house tonight where we were invited for dinner, so we walked to La Colonia, the "foreigners' supermarket." It was getting late, since we knew we were to be at Nancy's at 5:30 p.m., so we decided to buy some rolls, sliced turkey, and some cheese, and we had a kind-of picnic lunch in front of the bread counter in the supermarket!

Picnic in the Supermercado

By the time we left, it was 3:30 and we went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. 

Garden in Front of Nancy's House

Nancy's place is in a residential section of town and it's very quiet and surrounded by fruit trees. 

Nancy is a versatile person with rich experiences! She was a flight attendant at one point and was in the Peace Corps. She has been in a huge number of places, and her house reflects that. She brought her front door from Bali and the tile with the name of her house (Casa Paloma) from California. Here in Nicaragua, she owns a couple of hotels and is a real estate agent.

Mexican Beef Stew and Accompaniments

Nancy in her Balinese Doorwa

In addition to the 3 of us, Nancy invited her personal trainer, Michal, an Israeli who has been traveling and living in different places for several years.  We had a great time! Michal had some interesting (and very funny) stories about her time in Thailand and teaching yoga. While we were enjoying dinner outside, the daily rain began, and we were all terrified when the lightning seemed to hit right on top of us! The thunder made us all jump and scream out! Thankfully, nothing was knocked down and the power wasn't even interrupted. 

Susan, Michal, Christine, Lily & Nancy

Tomorrow, we will frame the posters we bought for the clinic and try to screen the children who need to be seen by the doctor, who will be coming to the clinic on Thursday.