Filed under: 2008 Winter Trip
Hola Everyone!
We almost all made it. Janeth had a slight kerfuffle with her passport at check in. It was going to expire at the end of June and the ticket agents wouldn’t let her go unless her passport was good for at least 6 months after her date of travel. To make a long story short, she spent an extra night in Boston, pulled a few strings with the Columbian embassy, and she is on her way to meet up with us, tracing our route just 24 hours delayed. We are eagerly awaiting her arrival.
The trip down went very smoothly. The roads were surprisingly good for the terrible forecast we had the night before. Linda did an awesome job driving the bus. All of our 42 bags got loaded onto the plane and we were off. Our two “first time fliers” did magnificently. One even commented the he “loved it, especially the take off.” He arranged for a window seat on the Miami to Managua leg of the trip. We may have created a couple of world travelers.
When we arrived at the Managua Airport the student were super excited. They were so helpful in hauling the heavy bags from one pile to another and then finally getting them onto the bus. We all piled tiredly into our bus and headed for Campo Alegria. It was about a two hour ride south. We finally arrived exhausted at about midnight our time. Every one tired but of good cheer. We got into our bunks for a well deserved rest.
This morning most students were up with the sun, some even got to see the sunrise as it came up over the volcano on Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. We had a casual breakfast of cold cereal and delicious fruit. After breakfast we did some cleaning and unpacked all of the donated clothes and supplies we brought. It is amazing how much you can fit in 22, 50 lb bags. We are excited to be able to hand out new outfits and shoes to our campers when they leave camp to go home. In the afternoon everyone had an opportunity to go for a swim and take a quick rest before we geared up for the camps that we are going to run. We have had a “slight” change in plans and have found out that we can only run camps during the weekend without special permission. So we are starting our first camp tomorrow (Friday) and it will run through Sunday. We are going to be busy right off the bat! So keep us in your prayers.
Everyone in the group is doing fine. They all love it, they had a great time swimming, no one got sunburned and besides a few sniffles and cold, we are all in great health.
For the Group-
Bethany