The Mariposa Spanish School

Lunes Oscar
Today we had our first Spanish lessons. My teacher was really nice. She took us into town to get some Chips Ahoy. The shop was tiny and there was not much to buy.
In the afternoon we went to a cooking class. The lady dumped loads of dough onto a table and we had to knead it. Se poured in lots of melted butter. Then we all had to help roll sausage shapes. It reminded me of playing with Playdoh. We made hundreds and then had to turn them into circles like doughnuts.
Then we made empanadas. We had to make flat circles about 8 cm across then dollop some cheese and sugar in. It was a really strange combination but it was delicious when hot. Then we had to fold it to make a parcel and then use cling film to mould it into triangles. I made sausage roll shapes instead.
We put them all in large trays and then took them to an outside oven. It was really hot and made of fire.
When they came out we ate some and them took some back to school in bag.

Martes Oscar

Today was the best Spanish lesson ever. We played cards. It was fun. Then we went to the Vulcan Masaya. We looked around the visitor centre. I could see the volcano. When we got to the crater my throat hurt because there were poisonous gases floating around. Then we hiked to the old crater to watch the sun set.
After that we went into a lava tube. We had a torch and helmet. There were bats flying all around! i was a bit scared especially when they turned all the lights off and you couldntvtell if your eyes were open or closed.
Finally we looked into the top of the volcano. We had to put a fleece over our faces to protect ourselves from the fumes. We saw the glow of the red hot lava.


Miercoles Lex
Today we had Spanish lessons as usual but played hide and seek (Escondido). We also fed the monkeys. We accidentally made them really aggressive and they pulled Oscar's hair.

Jueves
Lex
Today we went on a trip to see handicrafts being made. The first place we went to was the basket weavers. When we arrived there was bamboo everywhere. I realised it was the basket material. One man was cutting the wood into strips but he was cutting towards himself so we all thought he was going to cut himself.fortunately he didn't. The second man wasn't so lucky. He was weaving the bamboo and cut himself. Between the three men that make 8 baskets a day and each one they hope to sell for 2 dollars.
Next we went to a potters workshop. We had a little talk about clay and watched a demonstration of how to use the potters wheel. Me and Oscar were eager to have a go. I was first. It was much harder than I expected because you had to spin the wheel AND shape the pot.
Finally we visited a stone carver. He made statues like the ones on Easter Island in Chile.

Viernes
Lex
Today after lessons we went to the zoo. I took my wildlife guide and I spotted half of the animals on it. There were macaws,ottery things,wolves, toucans,mammals,big cats, and more.They were all in tiny cages compared to their size. It surprised me that lizards seem to have bigger padlocks than the lions and both were smaller than the lock on my suitcase.They had three lions in a cage the size of a modern bedroom. There were also boys trying to feed rubbish to the monkeys despite a sign that said they could die. Around the corner I saw three owls that reminded me of the mariachi band of owls in the film " Rango". The event I remember the most from the zoo was the encounter with the tapirs. They were trying to get them to mate but the female just kept running away. Some men were chasing them in circles and had to dive to keep out of the way. It was really funny.



Sabado
Oscar
We went to Jinotepe on a minibus. There were 26 of us inside. Mum had no room for her head and I had to sit on a lady's lap. The market was crazy and I didn't really like it. We found a pizza restaurant though and the pizza was delicious. After we played in a park on concrete slides.

Domingo
Oscar
After breakfast we went on a hike. We saw thousands of pineapples and also ate some. In the afternoon we went horse riding and my horse dragged me through a bush.