Nicaragua Day 5

I can't imagine what the rainy season is like if this isn't it. My guess is four inches in five days. Sounds rainy to me!
The entire team descended on the market today, putting together canastas (gift baskets) for the Hogar de Gloria staff. The market is full of honking cars, bicycles threading between passerby and merchants jammed together on the street. Occasionally a car passes with loudspeakers on the roof advertising anything, like a restaurant nearby. The smells jostle for attention- fresh fruit, grains, smoke and meat.
The items we purchased filled bags that contained wonderful gifts- flour, sugar, beans, rice, toothpaste and brush, toilet paper and more. I know if I opened those for Christmas I'd be thrilled. Believe me, the staff will be ecstatic.
Open air markets can be a lot of fun if you be brave. Buy an ear of fresh corn boiling at the sidewalk, cross the street and purchase a lime. Squeeze the lime onto the corn. Ahh! A delight to the taste buds. The money exchange can get dicey and the merchants may try to take advantage, so I relied on Raquel, our interpreter or Judi from the team. Keep shopping and buy a tamale, fresh banana, or mamon.
Momon grows in clusters and looks like oversized grapes. Pick one, bite it to break the skin, peel it and suck the fruit, as it is chewy. The pit is quite big too. Hence it will never sell in America, especially not being pretty enough and dealing with the messy skins and pits.
We returned to the orphanage at Hogar de Gloria. Sundy Morgan and I taught the older kids how to fill out job applications, then we did pseudo interviews with them. That proved to be very challenging with translators! The children learned that applying for a job is more difficult than they anticipated. Seeing them get serious and diligently work was inspiring.
One more day, one more adventure.
Oh, the big green bug on Bob David's head? It's a setup. A kid wove it out of a palm frond. Took him around thirty seconds. Bob showed it to Sundi and she screamed and jumped.