Basketball, Bingo and Bartering from the ‘Bois’!!

Basketball, Bingo and Bartering from the 'Bois'!!

Day Five – Nicaragua 2016!

Yo fams and famettes, its yo bois, D.J. Khaleb, The White Mamba, and Jared. Today we woke up at the last second as always and barely made it to breakfast on time. The bois were back to town and the beans and rice were there to greet them. (Along with eggs and ham, not the green kind). We got to meet another Woughter, Lindsey, their daughter, and she joined us on our journey back to La Concha for the second day.

Unfortunately, R Mac wasn’t feeling well today so she sadly could not join us along with Momma D who stayed back to take care of her. On the bright side, they both were able to catch some Z’s, and she was feeling better by the time we returned.

On the way to La Concha, The White Mamba almost completed his BINGO page of common Nicaraguan sights. He spotted a man carrying a bundle of sticks on his shoulders, a sign saying ‘Hay Nacatamales’, which are different foods wrapped and cooked in banana leaves. Now all he needs is to see a ‘Hay Queso’ sign. Everyone was more prepared for this ride, besides Victoria.

Back on track, we started playing basketball with the kids at the church in La Concha almost right away, and struggled through layup lines and language barriers. Fortunately, Lindsey was able to communicate with the kids in Spanish while Hailey repeatedly yelled “Ballon” and various French phrases at the poor, innocent, confused children. Layup lines included one person (who shall not be named) bending the rim with a ferocious slam dunk, but this same person was able to fix it. Then we moved on into the next portion of our time at La Concha.

We gathered inside the sanctuary, and began our time with “Gracias Senior” (if you haven’t heard this one, you will, when we get back), stories in Spanish, and activity pages. The aforementioned individual also managed to snap a chair with his enormous strength of his forefinger and thumb before the service was done. The kids started doing worksheets as The White Mamba made a work of art out of cookies with DJ Khaleb (although it took many tries). After we ate a delicious meal of rice and chicken, and the aforementioned individual managed to flip his chair (and his food), and laid in it for a few minutes, saying “This is not my day”.

What followed was some soccer and no-rules basketball (the ball carrier was tackled, double dribbles were ignored, and a pump fake now includes jumping and twirling), as well as the clean-up of food. We then made our way back to the van and headed to the Mercado.

Once at the Mercado, the Woughters gave us our boundaries and let us loose on the shops. We also took a quick trip through the meat aisle, and our noses will never be the same. We then learned about bartering on the fly, getting a lot of good deals, but also some not so good deals. We stayed here for about an hour and a half, which was plenty in that stuffy heat. After being followed to our van by some creative grass sellers (weaving grasshoppers and hearts), we headed back to the camp.

We got to the camp and jumped straight into the pool (The White Mamba doesn’t change), while eating many, many freeze pops. A little later, we had a huge feast of Pizza Hut pizza (yay), provided by the Woughters. We investigated a few wildfires, and then concluded our night with our typical devotions and Tony Campolo video. We also said goodbye to the Woughters, who we will see for the last time tomorrow morning at breakfast.

Signing off, these are your bois, DJ Khaleb, The White Mamba, and The Aforementioned Individual.