Visit with family

Our driver!


This past week we were blessed to have a visit from Steve's second cousin, Karen.

She flew in on Sunday night and we drove to nearby Masaya and spent the night in a little hotel. In the morning we drove to see the Laguna de Masaya, visited and shopped around at the new market,


drove to the overlook at Catarina (below, the laguna de Apoyo behind us)



then drove to the Masaya Volcano and toured a bat cave, then headed home to Matagalpa in the afternoon. We all had supper at Roberto and Candida's house after making introductions and enjoyed a nice round of conversation. With sleepy eyes we bid good night to them all, as Karen was staying with them.

Below, the bat cave...no sights of Batman around anywhere, though :)



In the morning Karen accompanied Steve, Roberto, and Abby for a tour of some work sights in the campo and especially enjoyed a surprise despedida (farewell party) for Steve, me and Abby. I was not able to be there, unfortunately, since Zach had woken up with a fever and I wanted to bring him to the clinic. Steve brought home some wonderful presents from the campesinos for our almost 3 yrs of work there. They included a hollowed out bowl made from wood, a necklace, and a hollowed out bamboo cane with a note of appreciation inside.

Wednesday morning Karen and I toured the city, visiting various fabric shops and trying to invent new projects with which she could use the fabric. After a delicious lunch of sopa de cuajada, we rested a bit, then everybody (except myself, I stayed home due to a flu-type sickness) joined up for a festive dinner at Roberto's house.

Thursday morning we woke up early and headed to the airport to drop Karen off. A wonderful visit!