Our (half) Day Off!

Seems like it's been a while since I posted here--things have been non-stop constant these last few weeks. With Mision staff members in the states, and other workers sick, it has been a hoppin' time.
HOWever, in the midst of all that craziness, Jonathan and I got to take our first real "day off" of the summer. We even had it at the same time!

We had some errands to run in the morning, and had to get the work "in house" started for the day--but by 11 or so we were off on our adventure.

We drove out to one of the "4-wheel drive" schools and wandered around the town of Chimboroso for a time. We listened to the howler monkeys in the trees and I finally got to see "the road to signal".

notice "the road to signal" includes nothing remotely like a road

It was great to get away from the megaphones in the market, and the bus station horns, and the crowds at the mission to hear quiet for just a bit. Chimboroso is an electricity free village--and the pace and peace there are something that must be experienced to understand. Living in a place like that is  a difficult way of life, no doubt about it--but it has some very rich rewards as well.

Later we went in to Matagalpa to some stores that handle imports and found items we have not seen before in Nicaragua, like pears and baking soda. It was very exciting.

We stopped for lunch at a terrific roadside spot with 3 walls and a line of people. It is called "the bean place on the way to Mataglapa" and everybody knows it. You get a big bowl of beans, an egg, fresh Cuajada cheese, cream, and a humungous hand made tortillia right off the fire. Simple, fresh, a LOT and  probably the best thing I've eaten since I've been here.  Even Jonathan couldn't eat it all, and for less than $2.

By far my favorite part of the day was the big tree.

That's the whole story. We saw a big tree.
Jonathan estimated the circumference of the base to be about 60 feet. I mean, a big tree.

peeking through a gap in the trunk

it's like a whole little world up there--now I know how they thought up tree houses.

We stopped to take pictures, and before long we had left the roadside, are walking through--well--a tropical jungle--to get closer to this giant tree. Spending the vast majority of my life inside elementary schools, I have seen posters and color pages and butcher paper replicas of this rain forest giant many many times. But as I stood there looking up at its massiveness, I was sort of star struck--I kept thinking: this can't be real. Yes, there were really hundreds of bromeliads clinging to every branch and crevice of the tree, even ferns and flowers growing up high in the branches. Constantly moving around the tree you could see birds and frogs, and lots of other crawly things. There was a whole platform above our heads vines and roots hanging down almost to the ground. We could hear the howler monkeys across the valley, and strange big flowers and weird bright fruits were everywhere you looked. Amazing.
On our (most of the) day off I realized how very alien this place we've come to is. And, I fell in love with a tree.

dirt? we don't need to grow in the dirt

this is just one lil corner of the tree