Nicaragua! Part Two ~First Days in Matagalpa~

Nicaragua! Part Two ~First Days in Matagalpa ~

After two days of constant travel, we were ready to get going with our work. Wake up time was a little early for me personally, since I am NOT a morning person. At all. Ever. I actually got pretty used to waking up early, and within a couple days it felt totally normal. I really shouldn't of titled my post "First few days in Matagalpa" instead I should of called it 'First few days using Matagalpa as our home base". (But that's too long and drawn out for a title!) Our first destination was the town of Muy Muy, about an hours bus ride from where we were staying. The landscape we passed looked like something out of an animated movie. The mountains looked unrealistic in their unique beauty. After winding (or should I say zooming and falling out of our bus seats)  through the countryside, we reached the town. It happened to be Nicaragua's equivalent of Independence Day, and tons of people were out on the streets havin' and good ole time, and lighting off fireworks. (We never did understand the point of lighting off fireworks in broad daylight, and their celebrations got nothin' on 4th of July back home)   The roads were very muddy and narrow, but of course our bus driver didn't have any trouble navigating them. Everyone split up into 3 groups: Outreach, Vacation Bible School and Construction. I choose construction. Our first church was a little slow going since most of us didn't know the drill yet, but people caught on pretty quickly. The one-day churches are very simple and easy to construct. It was the rainy season, and torrents of rain would randomly come, but disappear in a few moments. The rain wasn't really a problem, but it made the work site very muddy. By the end of the day, I was a couple inches taller 'cause of all the mud stuck on the bottom of my boots. Little kids would crowd around, and some invited us into their homes. My second day in Muy Muy, I went into this one little girl's home, and sat in there for about 30 minutes with her and her Mom and brother. They didn't know a lick of English, and my Spanish is pretty limited. We still communicated the bare minimum and did a lot of smiling and pantomiming. It was very sweet, because the little girl brought out one of her only toys and tried to give it to me. I didn't take it, but was touched by her generosity, and really saw a glimpse of God in her. I wished I had something to give her, so I left her with one of my bracelets. I came to Nicaragua with an armful of bracelets, and returned with only one. Meanwhile, in these first few days, our group started to become really close. I have to say, I miss all of them (most of them) a ton. 

A pretty nice house

Typical Nicaraguan home 

Loved the scenery

Church #1!

Holding the trusses! 

Workin' hard. :)

These boys were so cute, they gave me one of their  marbles. 

Kids everywhere!!

Team Matagalpa in front of completed structure #1. Woo!

Nicaragua! Part One (the Journey to Matagalpa)

About 10 days ago, I arrived home from Nicaragua. The trip was incredible. I made countless memories. I want to share on my blog about my experience there, but I have so much to say I'm gonna split it into a few different parts.

Nicaragua! ~Part One~

The Journey to Matagalpa

I left Charlotte, NC sometime in the afternoon on July 17th. After a 3 hour layover in Miami (and some entertaining rides on the SkyTrain) I met up with other Ultimate Workout kids. I instantly made connections with some of them, and we were fast friends. After clearing customs and getting through the passport checks in Managua, Nicaragua, we were greeted very loudly and enthusiastically by other UW's. By now, it's nightime and we were all exhausted and very hungry. Finally, a group of us loaded up on an old school-bus (the favorite Nicaraguan form of transportation) and started the trek to a SDA school, where we spent the night. We had out first taste of Nicaraguan bus driving, which we would all come to love and actually prefer to safe, boring American driving. We arrived at the school, which was off of a crazy dirt road (we ran over a chicken on the way...) and settled in for the night. It was hot as all get out, and huge moths and other large bugs terrorized some of the girls. Screams were heard throughout the building, and the boys tried to heroically kill/catch/destroy the bugs without much success. The next morning, after a dubious breakfast, our group loaded up on a sketchy bus (there were pictures of the Twin Towers blowing up and Osama bin Laden smiling down from heaven on the back...) and got stuck in the driveway for about 20 minutes. The bus was overloaded and bottomed out. Not a good way to start out the trip, but it was pretty indicative of the way it was gonna be the rest of the way. The bus ride was only supposed to be 3 hours long. ("Supposed" to be) Within moments, a heated discussion was under way as we all argued about which was better: USA or Canada. That remained a hot-topic for the entirety of the trip. Anytime there was a moment of silence, somebody would bring up the odd Canadian accents, or the funny southern accents, American ingenuity vs. Canadian ingenuity, Oh Canada vs. Star Spangled Banner. Football vs. Hockey. ect. ect. (All I can say is "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free!!!")
The bus broke down about 2 hours into the trip. We were stranded at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere for 5 hours. (It was a rather odd place..drug paraphernalia was scattered on the ground) It was a bonding experience! We found ways to entertain ourselves and all got to know each other. Finally, after the bus was fixed we loaded back up and continued on to Matagalpa, our destination. Once again, that's easier said than done. Along the way, we passed beautiful, lush, green countryside. Soon, if began to rain for the second time that day and we all got a little worried. To get to the school where we'd be staying, the bus would have to ford a river. We reached the river, and lo and behold it was too deep for the bus to cross. After and hour of waiting (During that time I traipsed around the woods looking for a place to use the bathroom) our luggage was brought over in a pick-up truck, and a lot got soaking wet. Next, all 30 of us crowded into the same pick-up tuck (at once) and we were all transported up the river to the our final  location. Bonding experience. We all were thankful to God that we made it to Matagalpa in one piece. haha

Getting ready to load up!

As I said, the bus was rather sketchy.

Typical Nicaraguan countryside.

Hangin' out for 4 hours in the while the bus was repaired.

The river our bus couldn't cross and drive up.

The front of our unique bus.

30 people in the back of one pick up? Oh yes. We are MATAGALPA!