It has been a wonderfully heartwarming couple of days for me. The first thing to report was that baby Eir decided (with a little encouragement and support from her big sister) that it was time to finally let go of mum's fingers and walk on her own. There was much hilarity on the back porch of the farmhouse as the 3 of us played the "walk to mum, walk to big sister" game. I took a video of some of it on our camera and Freja has watched it over and over since i posted it on facebook. She laughs every time. This could also mean i'm in trouble though - now trying to keep an eye on 2 mobile toddlers!
Us gals spent yesterday morning hanging out on the finca, watching the walking video and drawing pictures. Freja was having a rainbow inspired day and i lost count of the number of rainbows we had to draw together. I don't think she'd ever asked me to draw one before so i'm not sure where the thought came from - but it did have some significance later in the day......
I had arranged to meet up with our friends Brendan and Jason for a bite to eat in town in the afternoon. They had just secured themselves an apartment for their stay here so we went to inspect. Its hard to keep driving around in the big and bulky VW when i'm just popping into town (although it can have its advantages when you have 2 babies in tow) so i had decided to walk. I've discovered though that walking here with the 2 babies requires a lot of time and patience. What should be a 10 minute walk across the river and into town actually takes around 3/4 hr! Between Freja wanting to walk on every raised kerb and Eir wanting to stretch her new found legs, not to mention the fact the EVERYONE we pass wants to stop and talk to these 2 "azules" (big blue eyes) it truly is a test of patience. However we made it eventually, met the boys and had a bite to eat. The other thing that happens every time we go into town is that the girls see the beach - and want to be on the beach. Yesterday was no different. I had managed to divert Freja into the restaurant and thought i might have got away with just heading home after we had eaten - but alas no - she had barely swallowed the last gulp of my sandwich (yes she ate all hers and promptly devoured what was rest of mine too) before the cries of mummy we NEED to go to the beach began again. There was even somewhat of a sit down protest staged in the front door of the restaurant. Eir joined in too - though she was more interested in trying eat the stones on the road. I agreed - despite the fact that i was totally unprepared, no bathing suits or towels or clean nappies - and as it was getting late in the afternoon we had a pact that we would go for half an hour then head home before it got too dark.
I thought i might be able to convince them to stay out of the water and that we could just build sandcastles. Who was i kidding? As soon as Freja got her toes in the sand she had stripped off and was in the ocean. Even Eir with her new found legs virtually ran after big sis and was up to her knees in water by the time i got to her to help her out of her clothes. They laughed and squealed at each other the entire time.
I bent down to help Eir out of a rather big wave. As i lifted my head to turn round I saw a very familiar face standing right beside me dipping his toes into the water. Mr Dieter Braun. A good friend of ours from Saskatoon. I knew he had moved to Montezuma, Costa Rica a few days before we had embarked on our adventure, but i sure wasn't expecting to see him on the beach in San Juan Del Sur. So after the "Dieter, is that you?" and the initial puzzled who is calling my name look i got in return, old friends were reunited on the beach in Nicaragua. It was really amazing to re connect with him. I had expected that we'd meet each other some how in Costa Rica in the future but never had i expected this. So we swapped stories of our adventures thus far and our hopes and dreams for the future as the girls frolicked in the waves. Then Freja ran up to me shouting "mummy,mummy, look!" and as i looked over my shoulder - there was a huge rainbow arching over the beach as the sun set into the ocean. It was beautiful. I felt as if Freja had somehow had a huge hand to play in the events of the day. Almost as if she had made it happen, from drawing rainbows earlier in the day, to convincing a reluctant mum to go on the beach - even for just a short time. Thanks Freja.
Thursday was to be art day for the kids in the little community surrounding the earthship. Our hosts Brooke and Tim have developed a fantastic relationship with the locals up there and every so often Brooke will spend some time with the kids doing some art stuff. Myself, Freja and Eir along with Brooke's friends who are here visiting were all super excited to be a part of art day. Brooke had realised as she had got to know the people that no one had any pictures of themselves or their families - no one has access to cameras. So over the past wee while she has gone crazy taking pictures of everyone. Her friends visiting had brought with them around 40 little wooded picture frames, and the idea was that the kids would each get a picture frame which they could paint however they liked, and they'd get copies of the pictures she'd taken to put in them. A kind of Christmas gift to them all. I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming excitement that met us as we drove in the truck out to the site. The kids knew we were coming and were patiently waiting for us to arrive. The ones who lived a little further away jumping in to the back of the truck as we drove past. One of the little boys broke his arm just a few days ago and seemed so sad as his friends piled on board. His mum was reluctant for him to come with us. He sat gloomily in his chair outside the house. Brooke went over to chat with him. I couldn't hear what she said to him, but i could tell from the way she stroked his cheek in comfort and gave him some stickers for his cast, that there was a wonderful bond between not only these 2, but with all the kids she meets. Luckily we had to take a detour and by the time we came back his mum had changed her mind and he could come with us - he went home with such a smile, and with his cast painted in bright blue. So we picked up more kids as we drove along the bumpy, windy, wet road and i thought that this was it - we'd be taking these kids to a house somewhere and doing some painting. Then we rounded a bend a huge cheer went up and as i looked to my left there was a whole community....kids, mums, some older men...all so excited to have art day too. Freja saw them too and "wow, look at all the kids, woohoo" was the response. There was a wonderfully warm and loving energy surrounding the whole place. So we piled out of the truck - Freja and Eir were of course a wonderful surprise and were met with the usual warm and welcoming smiles and chatter. But not only from the mums - the kids were all desperate to take Eir by the hand or pick her up and give her a huge hug, and Freja was whisked away in complete acceptance. It felt really really good to be talking Spanish again - i feel i've been horribly lacking recently - and i think people knew what i was saying - which is even better. Freja's Spanish improves everyday too. I think she already says thing i don't understand!
So after a few hours of painting it was time to go. The mums that were there seemed to enjoy the painting almost as much as the kids - after all so many of the mums are really just kids themselves. A drive back to the earthship was a real treat and you could tell that all the kids just wanted to be in the back of the truck for as long as they possibly could. It was fantastic to see them return to their parents with their new pictures, and their parents too seemed genuinely thrilled to be able see the newly decorated pictures and frames. Very possibly the only christmas presents the entire household will see this year. What does Christmas mean to those who have nothing?

Eir fell asleep in the truck on the way home, Freja picked the paint off her hands - both were thrilled with their new amigos . I was thrilled to have been a part of such a beautiful experience.