Some more baseball, a lot of gallo pinto, and snorkeling off the coast.

As the resident “grown up” on the trip, Tom Lincoln filled in and completed the blog for the last few days. He modestly left out that he played in the double header and made some great catches in the outfield! Not too shabby Dr. Lincoln! - Jeff

Thursday June 3

Harking back to the night prior  to the group discussion of impressions made during the trip, I was impressed by guys chewing on the issues of voluntourism, and the opportunities that education can bring in the US and Nicaragua.

Filling in the doings of the last several days, Thursday’s main event was the double header with Big Corn and Little Corn teams. The team was raring to go with our final games and the support a few of the Big Corn guys ready to help out a player. Particular thanks to Hendel from Big Corn playing AE center field who brought a bag of mamoncillos and sugar mangos for the whole team which were much appreciated. Selah particularly conveyed on our thanks. Mamoncillo are the the perfect dugout treat, and should have a place in dugouts the world over, though the Big Corn kids had a great time with sunflower seeds brought by Brendan and Zach.

Game 1

Zach lead off pitching, to Ben catching. Brendan took over catching and Ethan took over pitching. Again the Nicaraguans dominated.

Ethan, Selah, and Doug depart to catch the plane back to Managua and the 1st two to the states who were missed for the rest of the trip, and we join up with Doug a couple days later.

Game 2

We had more Nicaraguan players join us including on the mound, and faced a younger team.

Zach recorded two hits, but we still ended up without a win.

After the 2 games, we really wanted to go to the beach, and the guys energy bounced back with volleyball and frisbee. Dinner on the beach.

Friday

Another great breakfast at Ike’s with gallo pinto, eggs and coconut bread, then we headed out to the reef in front of Ike’s on the north end of the island. We struggled with the waves and gear swimming out to the reef and didn’t see much before heading in. We headed out to watch FIFA futbol Brasil v Columbia. First stop for helados (ice cream) before the rest of the game at Fisher’s Cove. Rooting for Colombia but again disappointment so some of us nursed our wounds with more dessert from the fine Island Sweets Bakery before dinner at Comedaria Mari with lobster and other seafood. Lobster is a major export from Caribbean Nicaragua including Corn Island, with diminution of the stock but the season opened when we arrived on the island. Because of the cost, locals are not able to eat the regular catch but only the damaged.

Saturday

In the morning we set out for more snorkeling and Dan set out to spear lunch. This in the same waters off from Ike’s we found the better sites, and snorkelled among cliffs off coral, overhangs, multicolored fish for hours, before heading to the plane to Managua. We caught the end of the Belgium v Costa Rica world cup in the airport. Nicaraguans more on the the Costa Rican’s side. We unfortunately said bye to Ben who was heading back to the states later. Then the van to Laguna de Apoyo as the sun set.

Sunday, awoke to a view of the blue crater lake in the midst of jungle shrouded volcano rim. Took a drive up to the town of Catarina, passing many plant nurseries, and up on the rim overlooking all, then back to the Hostal Paradiso, with the rest of day with swimming, talking, eating, windsurfing, kayaking, hammocking, reading, ping ponging, wifi-ing, but Zach, Brendan and Sam never did figure out the name of the song that goes tip tip tip tip tip. Back to Managua tomorrow, to head back to MA after midnight.

-Tom

Thanks everyone for following!

Ben exchanging jerseys.

The milky way from above Ike's Place on the Corn Islands.

Big Corn Island!

Editor (Jeff’s) notes in italics.

Hola! Today we rose early at Oasis at around 3:30 am for our flight to the corn islands! Although this feels like ages ago, this morning was very tiresome. We got to the airport at around 6:30 for our 7:15 flight to the Islands. Most of us fell asleep on the plane rides so they went by very fast. When we took our taxis to our Hotel, we settled in quickly and went directly to the beach. Sadly, all of us got sun burnt today except Selah. After the beach trip, we came home and got ready for game 1 on the island. Sadly, we suffered a terrible 10-1 loss and even worse first inning where they scored 5 runs off of Plu-dogs (Pluta) inability to play defense…embarrassing. Even though we lost it was a lot of fun.

Today, I was blown away by the Corn Islands. The beach looks like it could be a computer wall paper. I am very excited to keep exploring the awesome corn islands.

Zach

Pluta sucked today at the game with about six (one) errors (error) all in the first inning where the other team scored 10 (five) runs. I had to pitch today and I didn't do that bad except the first inning, where I had one earned run. Then I shut down after that having one strike out. I am having a lot of fun here and Nicaragua and the Corn Islands is probably better then the main lands except for driving because it’s like Fast and Furious Corn Islands.

Ben

Today’s Box Score (Don’t listen to Ben)

Lincoln  0-3 BB, caught a great game

Crisfulli  0-4   decent at bats, he just can’t find that first one!

Pluta      1-3 BB, RBI  (seems like I contribute to the offense, with our only RBI!!)

Roach    0-2

Dalomba 1-3  BB

Young      1-3 BB, nice single up the middle off a good pitcher

Bruscoe    0-2, 2 BB (I’m never going to hear the end of how Ben should be leading off)

Taylor       0-3

Garth       1-4, R

New porch, native dances, and the USA v. Belgium match

Buenos Noches!

After going to bed early the previous night, I was ready for a full day of work at the school. We got to the site around 8:30 and started making cement for the new porch. It was the first day of work when the kids were in school, so we were able to meet new children, and say hi to the kids we met the previous day. At around 12:00, the teachers of the Nicaraguan school gathered everyone together and the children performed native dances for us. They gave us certificates of gratitude for the work we had done, and we said our final goodbyes to the children. After eating lunch and working for an hour more, we went back to the hostel to take quick showers so we could catch the USA World Cup game. Of course, everyone was disappointed with the loss, but no one was more disappointed than Zach who may have shed a tear or two after the final whistle was blown. We had time to spare between the game and dinner, so some of us went to get shaves and haircuts down the street. Now we are back at the hostel so we can pack up our bags for the Corn Islands and change for dinner. As much fun working is, everyone is excited to relax on the beach for the next few days.

As everyone else has said, this trip has exceeded our expectations. Every single person I have met on this trip has been so nice. Everyone has thanked us, but I feel like we should be the ones thanking them. The ball players have allowed us to play baseball in their stadium and face better pitching than we face back home. The people we work with have allowed us to practice our spanish, and experience what it is like to work hard and build a connection with the people around us. Personally, I want to thank the children. It’s been an eye opening experience to see the differences and similarities between the children here and back home. The children are not greedy, and they take every opportunity they can get to try something new. They want to learn rather than sit around. The biggest difference I learned today is that while in the U.S., there is never an abundance of schools, in Nicaragua, there are not enough schools for all the children the want to learn. I just want to thank everyone who I have met during this trip, and I’m excited for the new experiences I will have on the Islands.

-Ethan