26 de julio-mike's last day

i know that some of you are wondering about daily life here, like people, what the city looks like, etc. it's funny to me how all of these third world or developing countries all kind of have the same set-up. of course all of these are my impressions.

there are many narrow streets in the cities, the shops are all very small and sell only a few items. grocery stores don't really exist because like barbara said, where would they park and what would they carry that many items in? the first "big" grocery store just opened this week on main street and it was quite a commotion. i went in and actually found m&m's that melissa was looking for! the size of it is like a third of the size of a walgreens to give you an idea. of course everybody stares at us here, we haven't seen any other caucasians yet (except for the wood family) but that's to be expected because ometepec isn't really a tourist attraction. but i think it's lovely and the people are very nice! air conditioning is very much a luxury, my internet cafe doesn't even have air conditioning but most of them do.

most of the people in the city dress like they would anywhere else, jeans t-shirts, tennis shoes and sandals. the most popular sandal is made out of old tires and then has leather strapped on top. the women wear TIGHT clothes. i'm always amazed how they can fit into them. here, we can wear jeans or capris but no shorts (except at the deportivo, and we are still the only women in shorts). we also wear long skirts and scrubs to the clinic and hospital.

the town is a bit sleepier than the states, most people are at work by nine and take a long lunch around 200-300. my friend, areli, doesn't eat until 500 and then has dinner at 9 or 10!! we eat a little earlier at like 730.

that said, mike and i went to clinic again on monday at nine. it was the same routine, where we followed dr. yanez most of the day and watched another birth which was exciting. that evening, areli came over to give us a tour of the cities churches. there were many beautiful catholic churches. one was just finished a couple of years ago and it was magnificent, with beautiful blues and yellows. all of the churches were very brightly colored. instead of a crucifix, it was usually an actual mannequin of jesus standing at the front- that seemed a little weird, but that's the tradition here. as always, we walked A LOT that day, and did i mention that ometepec is full of hills? one time when we were walking, melissa said that she actually understands now how you can walk up hill both ways =) we saw where she worked and i showed the girls and mike the graves of the woods parents. i'm glad mike got to walk around town a little bit before he left.

mike and i ended the evening by sharing an helado-a nestle ice cream sandwich. nestle is by far the most popular chocolate brand down here-fine by me!! i'm going to miss him a lot but i'm glad we finally got to share a mission experience together a bit. this was really short but it was interesting to travel together, at least he knows the people that are in my stories now. it's nice to be able to connect that way. please remember to pray for him while i'm gone too, that he can concentrate and have time to study for his upcoming kansas licensing exam. thanks for reading all of this!

may God bless!