#puranica

I got back from the States Monday night at 8:30 and left for Nicaragua Tuesday morning at 4:45am for our visa trip!  Craziness!!  In Costa Rica you receive a visitors visa is valid for 90 days.  Since we are here for more than 90 days, we have to leave the country for 72 hours to renew our visas.  I technically didn’t have to go on this because I had been in the States for 3 nights, but the other interns needed to renew theirs so I went along for the adventure!  And what adventures we had!!  #puranica

Adventure 1:  The eleven hour bus ride to Managua, Nicaragua.  We sat in traffic for over an hour because there was an accident blocking the road.  But, good news, the driver put in Top Gun and we watched pretty much the whole thing before we started moving again.  Luckily, it was smooth sailing from there, including the border!

My go-to bus snack.
Platano chips and a Diet Coke.

Adventure 2:  Riding in the back of a pick-up truck from Managua to León.  Yep, the picture you have in your head is correct.  Four girls and our luggage in the cab of a pick-up.  For two hours!!  Now just add pouring rain and the four of us huddling under a plastic tarp for an hour, clenching it tightly so it wouldn’t blow away!  Haha, quite the experience!  Definitely not what we were expecting, but still grateful for Juan Carlos and Juan Carlos driving us safely to León.

Adventure 3:  Volcano Boarding.  That’s right, we wore bright orange jumpsuits and rode pieces of modified plywood down the side of a huge volcano!  Unlike the previous two, this adventure was planed.  The scenery around Cerro Negro was incredible!!  It looked fake.  Cerro Negro is an active volcano and experts predict it will erupt again at any time.  It’s crazy.  If you “dig” down 1cm at the top and feel the ground, it’s hot!

Adventure 4:  The behind the scenes, roof-top tour of the Cathedral in León.  The normal roof-top lookout was closed because they are repainting the church, but somehow we found someone to take us to the top.  We were literally walking on the roof of the church.  And not the part with the nice little railing.  I never felt like we were going to fall off, but it was very obvious that’s not where they normally let people go.  Regardless, glad we found a way up because the views were gorgeous!  360 degrees of the city and surrounding areas!

 


I love that for the rest of my life, I will laugh when I think about the events of this trip!  Despite its craziness, it was actually quite restful and I am grateful for that.  We have one week until WyldLife (YL for middle schoolers) camp, so we can all use a little rest!