For your amusement, I wanted to share excerpts from my travel log. (See Travel Log: Traveling to Puerto). Yes, the bus ride was an adventure. So we thought we’d take the “easy way” back. Flying. Or was it so easy??
FROM PUERTO CABEZAS:
I got up early. I wanted to say one last goodbye to the kids at the orphanage. I had some little gifts for them (some shorts I’ve barely worn, some nail polish, bookmark, etc… little gifts I collect in other countries). Their school started at 7 a.m. And how could I forget to say goodbye again to the construction guys? They gather for morning prayer at 7:30 a.m. I said my goodbyes (The kids and guys are so sweet! I will miss them TONS!), packed the remaining things, spent some time with the Lord. We were supposed to leave at 9:15 a.m.
About an hour later than planned, we began loading the bus. That’s about par for Nicaragua. Actually… that’s on-time for Nicaragua, or perhaps even ‘early’! Our plane was supposed to “arrive at noon.” Yes that’s right. They base their times not off departure time, but based on when the airplane is scheduled to arrive from Managua. Their’s a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd flight that goes out of this tiny airport each day. We were on the 2nd flight.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time. We unloaded on the main road. The airport was surrounded by a little gate with a few security guards. I think a couple were armed. We walked about 50 feet to the terminal, dumping our bags on the ground. We were handed very used, often bent plastic signs that said “To Managua” on them. These were our tickets and boarding passes. The airlines weighed our checked luggage, two at a time on each needle-metered scale. Next it was time to weigh our carry-ons…and us! Yes, that’s right: “Bring your purses and carry-on baggage and step on the scale.” We each took our turns, laughing. That’s the first time they’ve weighed ME at the airport. So much for my trick to meet the checked baggage weight limits. You know the tricks–wearing the heaviest shoes and clothes, packing all the heavy books in your carry-on, etc.
We walked about 10 feet to the metal detector, handing our carry-ons through a window that had an x-ray machine. (We were ‘taking bets’ on whether there would be equipment at all.) We found out bottled juices and water-filled nalgines were OK to carry-on; aerosol bug spray was not. We boarded our extremely tiny airplane, simultaneously laughing and praying as we boarded. The ride was quite bumpy (common with small planes) but otherwise uneventful, thank the Lord! We landed in Managua, loading a some-times-working bus for the hour ride to Granada. We only stopped once to cool the engine with water. Just another day of adventure on the World Race.
Thank God for His protection during our journeys and throughout the race!! Thanks to yal for your prayers!
