Nicaragua Day 6/7: More Than Futbol

Last day in Nicaragua… It always goes by so fast and at the same time feels so long because there is so much packed into the trip. It's perfect. 

We woke up this morning and due to an uncooperative spatula, I kind of botched our breakfast eggs… but how bad can you mess up eggs really? ok, don't answer that….. the point is, we ate. After nourishing ourselves with sustenance, Luis picked us up and we all headed over to the center church to meet with Katia, "La Jefa" (that means: "the boss"). Katia is the Bishop's daughter and runs the operations of the center church. She also, always participates in the camp each year as "La Jefa" but this year when I arrived in Nicaragua I found out that Katia was in the hospital. It was a bit frustrating because they said the many of the doctors were on vacation. They are supposed to check her ever 5 hours and one day, when she wasn't responding well to her medicine, the doctors didn't even come by for over 12 hours! Everyone was very worried about her. I was shocked to hear that she was coming into the church to do some work on Friday morning. Even more surprised when I saw her and she looked great! She looked healthy and vibrant! She did say that she still needed to rest a lot. 

Katia has been an amazing supporter of the soccer program and extremely hospitable of me every time I'm in Nicaragua. Even if I have the vision, if I don't have the support of the church the program would not be possible. It is wonderful to talk to Katia and hear about her enthusiasm for the program and all of our big plans for for bright future. We spoke about how the camp went. We also spoke about the league that was jus started last October. 2 years ago we brought down uniforms, enough for 8 full teams of 15 with the hope of starting a soccer league for the youth. Finally, it has begun and the church has connected it to the HIV and AIDS mission. In order to participate in the league you must participate in the HIV and AIDS education. The church does a lot of work in communities affected by HIV and AIDS and is very dedicated to helping those afflicted by it as well as education the public to help with stigma and discrimination, education on risk factors, family planning, and STIs. 

Ride to the Bus Station after the game!

After our meeting we said "goodbye until next year and see you on Facebook!" and then we jumped in the truck and went to the market. After a little Nicaragua shopping we picked up lunch at Subway. I know that's not very authentic but I was playing in the big soccer match later and wanted to make sure that I didn't have anything that would cause an upset stomach. 

We went home changed and headed over to the turf field. There is a turf field in Nicaragua that you can rent for $15/hour so we rented it for 2 hours and had the youth from Managua and the youth from Caraso (40 min away- Enmanuel's home town). We had 15 players divided and played first to 2 goals wins then loser switches with the team thats off. Max 3 wins in a row. It was a TON of fun! I was so excited to get to play with everyone after watching and reffing all week! 

We went back to Mike's where Hellen was already cooking dinner. All of the central church youth were coming over for dinner. After showering up, people started to arrive and when the food came out I was so excited to see that Hellen had made chicken caesar salad! In an effort to keep the meal healthy in support of Luis and Alexander. As surprised as I was to be eating a caesar salad in Nicaragua, I was even more surprised that it was the best caesar salad I have ever had. The trick was that Hellen added a touch of balsamic vinaigrette- it was great (I'm definitely going to try that out pronto)! 

Every hung out joking around and then we started our evaluation of the camp and the league. Small critiques were made and then Hellen, Rabin, Chicho, and Alexander each stepped up and said something nice to me about our friendship and how I am more of a sister to them. They also gave me a Nicaragua tank top, and 2 engraved bracelets from the market- one that said "Ali in Nicaragua 2014" and the other said "More Than Futbol". It was so sweet. I thanked them and told them that they were more than friends to me, they were my brothers and sisters. I told them how much it meant to me to come down each year and spend time with them, that it is always my favorite part of the year, and how much I look forward to it. 

After the dinner was over everyone congregated once last time in the living room. They asked me to stand in the center and then they did the laying on of the hands one more time. They all came over laid their hands on me and then said a prayer for a safe travel home. 

That night I went to sleep, sad to have said goodbye to so many close friends until next year. I slept the most and best that I had all week, which was great leading into a long travel day. We woke up in the morning, packed up the car and Mike, Luis, and Alexander took me to the airport. Check-in was a breeze and after hugging everyone goodbye one last time I went through security to my gate. 2 cinnamon rolls later, I was on a plane to El Salvador to catch my connecting flight to Belize! 

Once I was on my connecting flight, I saw that there was a bunch of Amish men on the plane- that looked similar enough that I could tell they were Amish, but slightly different to the Amish we are used to seeing. All speaking dutch! Once we got to Belize they had 50 Amish waiting for them! The Amish settled in the US (PA) but there is also a huge Amish population in Belize. It is crazy because amidst the Belizeans they are all blonde with blue eyes! 

The customs man was not too friendly with me until he saw that I was a "soccer coach" by profession an then asked if I played professional soccer. When I said yes, you would have thought he was my best friend! 

Caitlin, Cille (Cait's Mom), and Deb (Cill's friend), all waited 2 hours after their flight came in for my flight so I would not have to take a taxi to the water taxi by myself and as I exited with my bags, Caitlin was waiting for me! We jumped in a taxi with all of our luggage and donations for the kids and were en route to the water taxi which would take us to the island… 

(We are here now safe and sound but I will save Saturday night and Day 1 in Belize for the next entry!) 

Welcome to Belize (Ferry ride)

Thanks for tuning in again and for all of your support!