Update on Margarita

Its not good news.  I kept her with me until she had her stitches taken out and there was one little place that was still open so the vet gave me some lotion to put on it with instructions to clean it twice a day.....and another 5 days of antibioticcs.   He said she would be fine returning ot her family if they kept up the cleaning and lotion.

I had planned  a 4 day vaca of sorts so I turned her over to her family ( she really wanted to be with them, she escaped from my house and went there whenever she could)  and when I got back, this morning, I went over to check on her and she was a mess.  Her entire stomach cavity was hard as a rock.  They said she ate and pooped yesterday but clearly she had not today..and she had vomit on the floor of the little place they had her penned in .  I am sure she would have died there if I had not come back. And I told them ( and I know they understood because they told me they were going to take her to the vet) that I would pay if she had any problems while I was gone, and they should not hesitate to take her to the vet.  Clearly, they hesitated !!!

Anyhow, I scooped her up and ran, once again, to the vet and he has hope that with more antibiotics she will beat this infection and be fine.  So, now I have her with me again and will keep her until Jan. 9 when I have another little vaca planned.  What a mess.  But, it was this or let her have puppies and god knows how that would have gone.  She still looks like a puppy herself...how could she have a litter especially with that mangy mongrel I saw her hooked up with ......yuk !!!!!!

What an experience this has been.  

I did spend a little time in Managua and Leon ( while Margarita was suffering, had I known!!!) but boy now I sure feel guilty about being gone !!!! But, it was nice to get away and I had the best night's sleep since I've been here last night in a hostal in Leon. 

I met some nice folks in the hotel in Managua and more in the hostal in Leon so that was nice.  I went to a Mirimba music show at the municipal theater in Leon last night and itt was interesting.  I sat with  a bunch of young people who were staying at the hostal, three from Suisse, one from US, one German and one from Spain.  When one part of the show came on, I leaned over and commented to the one from the US that Monty Python would have a field day with this.'  I was thinking "Life of Brian."

Here is the scene....two rows of mirimbas, one on risers behind the other, with about 6 mirimbas in each row and two girls or boys ( dressed in christmasie colors)  on each mirimba.  Mary and Joseph enter downstage carrying a baby who was literally glowing white and they moved around the stage to Latin Christmas music ( I think it was Feliz Navidad)  with a little sort of salsa step all the while staring down into this doll''s face. Joseph had his staff but it had a small green wreath hanging off of it and it was wrapped with green and red ribbon like a candy cane.  So, the three of them settled in the middle of the stage, in front of the mirimbas and on came a wise man carrying one of the gifts again coming on with a salsa step to the continuing latin christmas music, and this continued for three wise men and several other helpers of some sort.  Anyway, they all gathered around mary and joseph with a tiny girl standing behind them with angel wings and a litte wand with a glittery star on the end, and then all exited again, including the angel,  using that salsa step.  Very cute.

They did have a kid who looked like he was 7 or 8 who sang and had a very mature, beautiful voice.  And they had a guitar player/singer who a lot of the young people seemed to know and love, so all in all it was a big success. 

So, life goes on down here.  I'm back in my site until Jan. 9 when I hope to leave again for about 4 days and then school starts again at the end of January.  The kids don't start until the middle of February...don't know why.  Might find out more later.

One more thing, I got another little boy who cannot read in Spanish.  He seems darling, lots of energy, but I'm playing card games with him and letting him use the scissors and he is just thrilled.  Basically everything they do in school is with pencil and paper or getting to go to the board to put something up there with chalk.  But educational games...never !!!

Love,

This is my favorite tree....it covers half the mercado which is on the other side of those stores and then reaches over to this street to provide all that shade.  Its a "seba" but I can't find it on google.  Its a good ole gal !!!! You can see the brown leaves, this is dry season and they are getting ready to drop which means they'll burn them in the street and streets will be filled with smoke.

Music was blasting from these speakers mounted atop this tricycle carrying Mary thru town.  One of the helpers from the church was selling "rifa" ( raffle) tickets.  I guess just a fund raiser. I'd like to get them started with bingo.

This was a last day activity I got the kids to try.  They are a lovely bunch, very snall class ( 14) 5th graders and all very polite and good learners. The kid with the big smile is Carlos.  One day, after his teacher gave a presentation about something like civics or science, he had been listening intently ( they don't have any text books) and when she finished he said, " Gracias professora."

Pat