Feliz Cumpleanos a mi' (Happy Birthday to Me)

July 18th...welcome to the thirties Heather! Yep, I awakened that Saturday knowing that my 20's were gone & I was now..over the hill. Smart as a whip, I planned my trip accordingly so that I would be out of the country during the momentous event. I knew that I would be able to avoid all the fuss & escape the birthday being a big deal. I am so glad that I chose to go to Nicaragua over my birthday. I could not have had a greater celebration. For me, a lack of celebrating my birthday is a grandiose occasion. Haley & I were ready to head out for the day but had to wait on the gentlemen to shower & get dressed. Having not really "seen" much of the neighborhood, Haley & I took a walk around so that I could see everything. We then left for the City of Leon. Again, we saw more old church buildings, etc. Another beautiful town. Trying to think up other activities, Jesus' remembered visiting a waterfall as a child. He & Luis began asking around to try to discover where the waterfall was located. We kept driving, driving & driving & finally turned on a dirt road headed back into the fields. I was beginning to get a bit concerned & eventually asked Haley if all of those they had spoken with were pointing us in the same direction or if we were getting conflicting stories (obviously I did not understand a word that was being said since they were speaking Spanish). She said that everyone was saying the same thing..."It's back this way." We kept getting further & further back & I wondered if we would be able to get out once we were back there. We were passing shack after shack, countless numbers of wild animals & yet, I did not see a river, a lake, a stream or even a dribble of water. We came upon a man & Jesus' learned from him that the waterfall that we were in search of was in the yard of the home of a man nearby. We had passed the house already. We turned back around & found the proper house. Luis got out & approached the home & returned moving the fence in front of us so that we could pull into the yard. In the yard, were dogs roaming around. I love dogs & am used to dogs. I, however, am not used to being on property with pigs. Yes, there were pigs. The grass was tall & the place looked dirty. Everyone jumped out of the vehicle & I posed the question, "Are we really getting out here?" Haley laughed & said, "Yep!" I then became aware of the fact that to get to the waterfall, I was going to have to walk through the weeds. For me, doing so is not an everyday occurrence. I don't consider myself prissy or high maintenance but I certainly would not refer to myself as an outdoors woman. Having not put any insect repellent on thus far in my stay, I figured it was probably an appropriate time to do so. Once Haley got me all sprayed, we were ready to go take in the fall. We quickly had a whole slew of kids around us. They were all staring at us as we got out of the car & the very minute I flashed my camera towards them, they took off hiding. They'd peek around to check on us & just laugh. Haley invited them to come have a picture with us. Once they did so, they stuck to us like glue following us all over the place. They would strike poses waiting for us to take their picture & then hurry to our sides to see the image on our digital cameras. When the image would appear, they'd erupt in chuckles at themselves.Off into the woods we went...with the kids tagging right along. Ahead of me, I saw a downhill slope & wondered how I was going to make it down there without tumbling. You must know, I'm not the most graceful individual & I move at a snail's pace. To come across a hill is to me, the equivalent of having to walk on ice--I'm unable to do that also. Nice as he could be, Luis climbed back my way & gave me his arm & helped me down. Pathetic, I know...just like a little old lady (maybe I was just living up the expectation of my body falling apart since I was turning 30). And then we arrived & the sight of the waterfall left us speechless. It was a sight like I'd never seen before. I've never been to Niagara Falls but I can't envision it topping this waterfall. See...here it is: Yeah so, Nicaragua had not had enough rain for there to be enough water to produce a waterfall. Not quite the scene that Jesus had remembered it being. So, we drove all that way to see that! Ridiculous as it may seem to have done so, our time there was by far, my favorite memory spent in Nicaragua. I had hoped that I would get into an orphanage to work with some kids or at least be surrounded by Nica children at some point. That was the only time that such happened. For me, that was all the birthday present I needed. Watching those gorgeous boys & girls smile & seeing their innocence filled my heart with such joy. As we walked back to the car, one of the older girls was encouraging the younger kids to use what little English they knew. The kids repeatedly said, "Hello" & "Thank You."After more pictures, we got in the car & waved goodbye to the line of kids that were gathered to say farewell to us. Though we had no intentions of winding up back in the sticks with people we did not know, it was a huge blessing & delight.