March 18--Day 1

We traveled today. We had to leave school at 2:30 am. Katie, Kennedi, Meghan, and Hannah spend the night with us Thursday night because they live so far away. All I have to say about that is that they giggled all night. We had to go to bed around 10:30 or so, but all in all, I think Chris and I got about 45 minutes or so of sleep. Travel went smoothly. Chris has to go through one of those X ray machine things at the Memphis airport...so they all got to see him naked. :) I tried to get some sleep on the plane, and I did somewhat, but it isn't quite the same as in a bed. When we arrived in Managua, Kim and James, Kora and jaden, and Summer were there to meet us. 3 of Summer's family members who were visiting were there too. When they picked us up, we went to eat. Yather took us to eat at Pollo Nancy's. It was really good chicken. Very juicy, and the rice was great! Day one of chicken had begun...

We went to a new market in Masaya. I really liked this market--maybe even better than the one in Managua. It was really beautiful out front. Stone entrance. We had about 45 minutes there. I bought a head band and a new wooden ring to wear as my wedding band. I really like it because it is Nicaraguan, and it will always remind me of here. You know, I was wearing the rainbow plastic one, but this one is so much better and sentimental. After we left the market, we went to the Masaya Volcano. We rode up the mountain our bus, and we got out at the top to look around. Just 3 days ago, they were worried that the volcano was about to erupt, but it didn't, and we got to visit it. :) It was a really beautifully tragic view. We also go to walk up some stairs to get a better view. I'm really glad I had my camera because it was breathtaking and unique. When we were finished and we had walked down the stairs, I HAD to go to the bathroom--SSOOO badly! Yather showed me where the bathroom was, and I proceeded to go there. They say a picture is worth a thousand words--so...see picture.
After the volcano, we rode back to Managua to drop off Summer's family and then headed back to Leon--well not back because we hadn't been there yet, but you know what I mean.

We all stayed at the Bracken's and Summer's house. Katie and I shared Kora's bed, and Amy and Carly slept on air mattresses in the floor. Steve and I blew up all the air mattresses. The ones we bought from Amazon had "built-in" pumps...yea, that was a bunch of bull. You had to step on it and pump it with your foot....but it was extremely ineffective. We had Hollywood pizza for dinner and PB&J. I can't remember when I have been so tired. Oh yea--shower. I have never been in a shower with such low water pressure. I don't even know if you could call it water pressure. I don't know. If you stood in one specific area of the shower, you could get wetter. So, I tried to keep my body contorted into that one area. I had to just stop worrying about getting the water in my mouth. I just wanted to be clean. Bed. Glorious day. More pictures to come...better than toilet pictures.

BB.