Mud, Mud, glorious "Lodo"!

“Lodo”, “adobe” y “muchos pintos” are a daily occurrence for Zulu 7. We’re powering ahead with our building work, getting stuck in with the mud-stomping and, having completed the brick layering, are rendering the walls and fitting the roofs.

Our agricultural community at Miraflor National Park have provided ample opportunity for fun outside the building sites. Perhaps most notably, we’ve enjoyed our trips to the tranquil waterfall which, in light of the alternative which involves balancing a bucket of water behind a plastic sheet at the bottom of the garden, has proven itself a an extremely refreshing showering opportunity. So much so, that a bottle of Sian’s eco-friendly shampoo had to be rescued by Ting after Jess’ particularly unsuccessful throw from the top – thankfully the shampoo survived. As I’m sure you can imagine, after a day’s work under the pounding Nicaraguan heat, a light swim on the calm waters between the dry sun-scorched hills of this area is the ultimate treat enjoyed by all.

We’ve also been fortunate enough to attend two parties in the school room – special mention must go to Jerry, our Nicaraguan DJ whose unique remixes fill the dance-floor with ease, Sav for single-handedly boosting the Brit’s poor dancing reputation and Pamela who can literally dance Salsa with her eyes closed.

The phase has not been without its dramas however. Arguably most dramatic, was Sam and Rob’s cake-making incident. Their Nicaraguan mother, clearly delighted at the boy’s enthusiasm in the kitchen, agreed to their creation of a British classic; the Victoria sponge. With Diana, their female housemate working hard on building the houses outside and only an open fire at their disposal, the cake was tragically smouldered. The burnt remains were later spotted being fed to the dogs – we hate to think what impression we’ve given of our great British cuisine!

Stay tuned for further news of our Easter celebrations, Diana and Sam’s birthday, and of course our hopeful completion of the houses