Hey all,

so thursday after classes i return home to find that the driver that the Cuadros sent is there, and has been since 8 that morning. Apparently this is not even a problem, but i felt pretty bad. The three hour drive was not bad, but hil was feeling pretty sick and had been sick right before we left. When we arrived at their house, we knew that we had underestimated what having money was…. or at least I had, as hil said hmmm i expected their house to be bigger. I have no idea what she was talking about because it was the biggest house in nicaragua that i had ever seen. It had a yard, two maids, and a bunch of drivers. Not only that but gardeners and the such. The maids were the nicest people i’ve met and they got us drinks and food once we arrived. It turns out that one of them was the nanny of Edgar Cuadro when he was a child. (Edgar Cuadro being the father of the family). Bertha and Edgard were still in school at that point, but they arrived home soon after. Once Bertha arrived she told us we were going to go the presidential building and have our pictures taken with the president. We insisted that this was not necessary, but Bertha said that her mother thought it was. So off we went with one of the drivers to the presidential building, we stopped on the way to pick up Carolina, the second youngest sister. Once we arrived and were in the first security building, one of the guards asked bertha for ID, she responded by saying that she was pissed off he would even ask and brushed past him. At this point hillary says ®I am going to be sick®, and bertha says ®No don’t do that®Luckily Carolina showed hil to the bathroom where she became abruptly sick. I just found it kinda amusing and thought that that can not happen too often in the building. Once inside we were brought to the office of the mother, who is the party planner for the president. Planning all the occasions and being a kind of people person for the president. We were asked if we wanted anything to eat or drink about a hundred times. Always saying that we were fine, but muchos gracias. After that we were brought to the weighting room for the president who turns out to be a very nice guy. We got our pictures taken with him and talked for a little while. After that the mother gave us a tour of the whole building which was very cool. We were basically the only people there. We stopped in the kitchen to get a drink and one of the better sandwiches i’ve had. After that we headed back to the Cuadros house, where we hung out for the rest of the night. The next day we went to the Mall with edgard, who is 16 and a very cool kid. We came back to the house, had dinner and then Bertha tells us that we are going out with her and a bunch of her friends. At about eight, we are picked up by the driver of one of her friends, and we go around picking up more people than you would believe can fit in an SUV, 12 not including the driver. It was edgard me hilly and 9 other girls. Two of whom were from the states. One from penn. and the other from good old texas. Anyway, we went to a club named Aqua where we hung out, talked and danced. It was a pretty good night over all and hil got hit on by the ex-presidents son. The son of Aleman. So all in all it was pretty interesting. The next morning at about 6 we got up and left for San Juan del Sur. Where they have yet another beautiful house on this hill, the only downside is there were more stairs than i ever want to see again. They live on a private beach in this private little community… did i mention the maid came with us, well she did. We hung out there, and swam and just took it easy. A very relaxing time. And the food was so good. So good, it was some very good meat and i couldn’t believe our luck at finding these friendly people. The next day we hung out for part of the day, swam and ate. After that we packed up and headed back to managua. We hung out at the house, ordered some Pizza Hut pizza, which was soooo good and something i haven’t had in a while and i played Halo with edgard. Then this morning, we had a driver take us to the bus station, and then took the bus back here, just in time for about an hour of school. Over all the weekend was great, and was a definite high point of the trip. Thank you very much to the Cuadros. Tomorrow is our last day in Esteli, i am packing up tonight, and we leave at 3 tomorrow afternoon. Tonight we are going out to dinner, and then tomorrow we are off to granada. It looks like a very beautiful city, and we have made reservations at this hotel that also has the best ice cream, the Cuadros recommended the hotel on our way back from San Juan, when we also stopped to sample this ice cream, and pick up Nacatamales, which are a great nicaraguense breakfast. We are spending two nights in Granada, but we are going to take a day trip to Massaya, which should be fun, and then we are going to head back to Managua, where we will stay at the quaker house and then we leave friday morning. The trip is winding down fast, and we will be back at the end of the week. Although i am sad to be leaving this beautiful country, i am also kind of glad. It has been a long trip and i miss my friends. I also think that we have accomplished what we needed to, being able to carry on conversations in spanish… most of the time. Anyway, i will email again before the trip is done.

Much love to all
Mateo