estoy creciendo in nicaragua

the verb ¨crecer¨ in spanish means to grow. and i think i am growing. we are doing well with our family, eating three squares a day. beans are common, as is rice. Gallo Pinto (made with beans and rice) is a staple here. Christine is laying off the meat, so our family compensates with things like fried cheese. FRIED CHEESE. I love it. We were fortunate to be placed with a family that is very interested in healthy foods. they eat virtually nothing packaged, make all of their own fruit juices, and almost never have desserts around the house. We´ve been forced a few times to make secret missions to the ice cream shop for little treats. Ice cream makes you happy, like this little boy that we met at an orphanage we went to with our school. He ate ice cream and became my best friend.

Breakfast, or desayuno, is each day at 7:30, and consists typically of beans, rice, eggs, sometimes fruit, and coffee. we come home for lunch, or almuerzo, which is the heartiest meal of the day. it typically includes rice, beans, a fruit drink of some kind and a meat. We get every kind of meat - pork, beef, fish, chicken. i even ate liver the other day. Christine didn´t have that.

Dinner, or cena, is around 6 pm and is typically rice, beans and a small bit of meat (or, for christine, fried cheese). we typically have coffee again for cena.

no snacking here in nicaragua. somtimes at school we slip a snack in though. but rarely.

ian