Epiblog

We lived in Nicaragua from July 2010 - July 2011. In November 2017 we returned to visit our friends and enjoy Thanksgiving on the beach. It was wonderful to see everyone and in some ways it was like we never left.

San Ramon

San Ramon is a town of 2,500 located about 20 minutes outside of Matagalpa. This is where we lived during our family sabbatical in Nicaragua.  Below are photos of our neighbors and friends, on the left are photos from 2010 and the right are some of the same folks in 2017.

                                                                                                                                   

 

Matagalpa

Matagalpa is the "big city" (150k residents) we lived close to in 2010-2011. Below are Aileen's former co-workers and their families in 2011 and 2017.                                                                                                                     

Cuate

Cuate (or buddy) was our dog in Nicaragua; we had to leave him with friends when we moved to Peru. He did not seem to remember us but it was great to see him. He was three months in the picture on the left and 7 years old in the photo on the right.

Esteli

Aileen and Jeff moved to Esteli in 1999, right after we were married.  The children below were our neighbors and now they have children of their own!  We had lost touch with them but got reconnected on Facebook and had a chance to see them in person. On the left is a photo from 2010 and on the right is the same crew in 2017.

Salale Montanita

When Aileen and Jeff worked in Nicaragua, we did a water project in this rural community. We became very close with the Valle family, who named two of their children after us. On the left is Rene and his oldest son Jerry in 2001, moving clockwise, we see Jefry, Aylin, Hannah, Emma and Jerry in 2011.  Rene, Maria, Aileen and Jeff are pictured below in 2017. Next is Aylin with Hannah and Emma in 2017. The village now has electricity, a bridge (we used to have to cross a river by horseback to get there) and everyone has phones. Emma and Aylin have been communicating via social media since we returned. Much has changed but our connection to this community is still strong.

Mechapa

In 2010, we took a vacation at Redwood Beach Resort in the northern town of Mechapa. In 2011, we went back and ran the hotel for a month while the owners were back in the USA. It was a great place to end this trip to Nicaragua. The top photos are from 2011 and 2017. The middle photos depict the bizarre resort tradition of sticking crabs in your mouth after catching them on the beach for dinner. The bottom photos are of Thanksgiving in San Ramon in 2010 and next to that it is our Thanksgiving on the beach in 2017. 

We had an amazing time visiting Nicaragua in November 2017. Leaving the airport and walking across the street to our hotel the first night flooded us all with memories - the sites, smells, and smiles were so familiar that it felt like coming home. It was wonderful to be back in this country we love so much, making new memories with old friends.