Buenos Dias!

Today is Friday, the last full day of our trip. I write this frantically as we are about to leave for a pottery cooperative, Esperanza en Accion's Fair Trade craft store in Managua, and a sweat-free t-shirt shop, the Nueva Vida Women's Sewing Cooperative. It is really inspiring to meet so many people that are benefiting from the cooperatives and fair trade, especially in a country where jobs are scarce and wages extremely low.

Yesterday, we spent time at the Women’s Pottery Cooperative of Ducuale Grande, and watched the magic as a slab of clay turned into a perfectly shaped bowl in minutes, guided by the hands of a potter with decades of experience.

The pottery is intricate, beautiful and the women who work hard at their craft earn a fair price for their art.

We stayed two days in the beautiful countryside. Kim, a pastor from Montana, and I stayed in the home of a farmer -- a simple four room house with dirt floors, and no electricity or indoor plumbing. Jose built the house with the help of his sons. Critters abounded, a friendly and quite large spider greeted us each night at the front entryway. Jumping crickets and other bugs lived in our sleeping area. I remember in the darkness, following Jose, crawling under a barbed wire fence and hiking up the hill to the home under the cover of darkness, thousands of stars twinkling above.

The rugged terrain and lack of material comforts did not matter one bit. We enjoyed the laughter of the children, and the shy smile of the wife, Angelina, as we presented her with pictures of our homes and memories of our friends, family and church. We had a wonderful time spending time by candlelight with the family, admiring the beauty of the countryside and the fruit and exquisite flowers that grew around the house, watching children dash through the front room, and seeing the chickens and kittens scurry in one door and be shooed out the other.

We were touched when she put our coffee in delicate matching tea cups with saucers, the best of their tableware reserved for the visitors, while they used the random mismatched pieces. I remember the smiles on their weathered faces when I told them that on my church grounds there is also a Spanish-speaking church, attended by the large Hispanic and Central American population in my community. Ah si!

It was wonderful to spend time and stay in their home, to catch a glimpse of life on the farm, in the country, among the crops and animals. It is also a blessing to know that the farmers are guaranteed a fair price for their crops, will not be exploited by middlemen, and they have the support of a cooperative, access to markets and opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to them. But life means hard work, in the house and in the fields.

The country was beautiful and green, alive with chickens and cows, and flowers and fruit trees of all kinds. Roosters crowed, birds sang, cows mooed.

Perhaps the most magnificent times were gazing up and seeing the thousands of stars in the night sky and sitting in the morning and watching the day begin in the lush countryside, the mountains in the distance covered by fog and mist.

The trip has been amazing, beautiful and we have met a host of wonderful people. I have enjoyed the time with the group, we had a fantastic time together laughing and learning, and laughing some more, and learning some more.

I will be sad to say goodbye to this beautiful country.

¡Gracias por todo, mis amigos!