New Years Eve was quite the cultural experience. Families all celebrate together outside. It is a great celebration. They make a life-sized scarecrow (el viego - translated means the old man, stuff it with hay and FIREWORKS! At midnight he is set no fire and it is dramatic! As he burns, the fireworks explode and are literally chasing you. El viego is EVERYWHERE! The city (Leon) is alight with fireworks and fire. It was thrilling, and Ed and I believe it was the best New Years Eve we ever celebrated. It will be worth the trip to return next year! Another tradition they have is the Big Beautiful Lady. Here is a picture of her. Against the building she is approximately 30' tall. The dancing lady was about 10' feet tall and dancing in the square.

Today was very busy. We had great breakfast and lunch in Chacraseca.

Today we visited several micro-credit loan ladies. They seemed very poor and again, very grateful, as all do in this culture...soooo different than back home. Two of the ladies raised yuca (JEW-kah), the other lady pigs. Pigs are a lucrative business here.

Another interesting sight we saw today were children rummaging through the fallow and raped land of the peanut farms. They go through them to pick up whatever they can to sell. It is very sad.

The last thing we did today was deliver three wheelchairs to very old people who needed them. One of the ladies was 84 and another 72 (she looked 85). The other went to a gentleman. They were all so thankful it was hard not to cry. The 84-year-old lady appeared to have something terribly wrong with her leg or hip. She tried not to cry but was in terrible pain. Leslie is making arrangements to have her X-rayed tomorrow and then go from there. I have seen such compassion as I rarely see.