Broccoli

My comida china (not the cat Comida China) apparently had a little more in it than rice, shrimp, chicken, and pork. I must have gotten a bit of broccoli in it. That's actually pretty common for me at Chinese restaurants. When I got back to the room, my lips were burning, but I thought they were just chapped. From there it went to full on blisters on my lips and hives on my body.

 

Benadryl didn't do the trick, but it did knock me out for the better part of 2 days. The good news is that when I got to Costa Rica I was able to get the same meds that I take for this in the US. We'll see in a day or 2. So far it hasn't gotten worse.

 

Our last day in Managua we met a fantastic couple. They're building a school and I love the way they're doing things. The construction itself is great, but I love their philosophy even more. 

 

They decided to start at the K-3 level and decided that if a child doesn't start with them at K-3, they can't ever get in the school. I know that sounds harsh, but kids are different down here. They're raised differently. They're not disciplined. They run wild. They don't respect anything. This is a place where when people are done with their food they just throw their trash on the ground and don't think a thing about it.

 

So, this school is trying to change the culture of the kids from 3 years old up and so far it's working.  They fully believe that one day a future president of Nicaragua will come from their school and I fully believe them. We actually liked them so much a few hours after our meeting we went out to Pizza Hut with them and hung out a few more hours.

 

We got to San Jose after a 9 hour bus trip and arrived in pretty soggy conditions. It's pretty difficult to get oriented when you get to a new country. Our guidebook even said that the people in CR don't generally know where they're at, much less have the ability to tell you how to get someplace. After our 5th set of bad directions it was raining pretty good. I was uncomfortable with my hives and blisters, Cory had a stomach ache, and Jordan had a sore throat so we paid $15 each for a hostel. That's too much money but we are dry and it's clean and I think it comes with some sort of breakfast.

 

This morning (wed) we are probably going to take 5-6 more hours of bus rides to get to the Caribbean. That area seems to be where the doors are open and while San Jose is the nicest city we've been in since Guatemala City, I've still had enough of city life for now.