Friday, February 4, 2011

The Journey to Nicaragua.

On Tuesday we ended up spending quite a while in Omaha due to bad weather in Houston (Our layover). So we read books and grabbed some food (Our last Taco bell).

It was about 1:40 pm when we left so we were a little late getting into Houston. In Houston, we still had a little bit of time so we were able to eat a little bit and fill up our water bottles. The flight to Managua was not very long, about three hours. The airport i Managua was pretty dead, but even still there were a few people outside to get us to pay them to help with our bags.

We got all our stuff and crossed the street to the hotel that we were going to stay at. It was pretty nice, it even had air-conditioning which we did not use (By 'we', i mean Jeff-Jeff and I), because we want to start getting use to this weather. We all explored the hotel grounds a little, since it was still early like around 10 or 11. So after we had found the pool, we came back and went to bed, because the pool was closed.

The morning came and we all woke up. we ate a good breakfast ad then took a short swim. Like in most 3rd world countries, everything is on a different schedule. So our bus showed up in the afternoon. The guys on the bus were a little surprise because Jeff-Jeff, Ryan and I, jumped onto the top of the bus and starting to help them pack the bagged, this way it didn't take quite as long. Once we were done packing, we all got on the bus and started the trip.

I decided that i would read the 'Hot Zone' book on the trip since it was going to be a really long trip. I fell asleep many times, but i think that was once it gotten dark. the seat that i was sitting in broke in the back and the seat wasn't really good, but what seat are good on these buses anyways??? eventually we stopped for dinner, which made me happy because earlier that day, we had eaten at Subway, which is okay, However: I'd rather eat native food. I had my favorite beans, rice and plantains; It was so good!!!!

After that, we got back on the bus and there were extra cushions from seats that had been broken in the past. In this location, we put some backpacks and laid on the cushions over the tires and slept there; I think it was me, Jeff-Jeff, Brittney Nunez, Aron, Ryan, and David Skua. It was alot of fun trying to sleep since the roads was just dirt and had many many potholes in it. So i think i didn't really fall asleep until about 3 and woke up around 7:30. We kept driving and driving; so we kept taking short naps and reading. At some point; most people went back to their seats. I stayed in the back and continued reading. The roads were very dry at this point so there was a lot of dust coming in through the cracks in the back of the bus. I fell asleep reading my book, so when i woke up and sat up everyone looked at me and laughed because i was covered in dust, expect for where my sunglasses were, It locked quite silly. Brittany ended up joining me, but she didn't get covered as me.

We came to a big river and had to take a ferry across. When we all got off the bus the local people gave me some funny looks. We crossed the river to a small own, then got back in the bus. They told us that it was a supposed to only take 30 minutes to get the the next town, Puerto Cabezas which would mean that we were only 3-8 hours from Francia; this however: was not the case. it ended up taking more than an hour. once we got there, Ryan and I were sent to a hardware store to but building supplies for the mission. Un fortunately, most of the stores were already closed at this time. It wasn't bad though, we got to practice our Spanish and explore the town a little bit. After doing that, we came back and Jeff joiner told us that we needed to go to another store, which was also closed, but oh well. Then we got to eat dinner. Galle Pinto (Rice and beans), Cabbage salad, and fried plantain chips (Really Good). After that we loaded the bus with all the supplies we had bought (mostly food that had been bought by the other members of our group). David and i tried to sleep in the back again; horrible idea, at least for me. the road was so bumpy and I'm to tall. We were laying on bags full of watermelons, pina and other things so the bumpy ride did not feel to good. I ended up curling up around some boxes and tried to to stay more on the backpacks that were in the back too. We eventually arrived in Francia ad the pastor cam down with his truck t pick all our stuff.

Over the past few days we done a quite a few different things. O Friday when we woke up, we worked in the new building moving materials around. we ate lunch later that day and after that we organized our stuff. Sabbath was great because we went to church and i got to help translate for children's sabbath school. I also translate the sermon for my group that i was sitting with. After church, we ate lunch then went on an hour hike to a river when we jumped in and went through the eddy's and holes. it was a lot of Fun. When we came back we ate dinner.

After dinner most of us stayed up for a while; then we all went to bed early. Our lights out/no noise is at 9 pm; we don't necessarily have to go to sleep, but in reality it's not that bad since there really not that much to do that late. Sunday, which was yesterday, we worked on the septic system, digging a drainage ditch (that was Chris Block, Jeff-Jeff and I) After Lunch, we took some siesta's, then sprayed the new building with a diesel/chemical mix that keeps termites and other bugs from getting in the wood. After Finishing that, Jeff-Jeff and had it all over, so we took a bath in the creek where the locals bathed. Many of them who were passing by, gave us some weird looks. When we cam back, we ate dinner then just read books and chilled. Some people studied, however it wasn't required because today is the first day of class. This morning, we went running and it was really fun; we race some guy on a bike up a hill and then kept running for about 20 minutes and then we turned around. We are now waiting for class to start, It goes from 10-12 and then from 2-4. So we'll have a good day of classes.

P.S- Oh, Yeah- our Internet isn't working well yet, they are trying to get the satellite working so that students can have more time, it should be up within the next week.

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