When you’re on the World Race, even your days off are
adventurous. This week, Team
Wreckonciled and Team Rooted went to Granada, Nicaragua, for some down time and
fun adventures.
We started off at 5:30AM on Monday morning by climbing into
the back of a cattle truck for a three hour drive to Managua. Once there we
boarded a bus for one more hour of travel to Granada. Of course, when I say
bus, I am talking about the kind of bus that is used for long distance travel
in Central America – a school bus. But we arrived safely and was shown to our
hostal by a friendly guy we met on the bus. The Oasis Hostal is absolutely
beautiful, with a pool, several hammocks, WiFi, and good rates.
I spent the first afternoon walking around
the city centre and plaza, exploring, browsing at the market and eating lots of
good food. In the evening, Joy, Hailey and I took a horse-drawn carriage ride
around the historic area of the city and down to the beach of Lake Managua.
On Tuesday morning I had the opportunity to cross an item
off my bucket list when most of our group got together to go….ziplining! We
did a canopy tour through the trees on a volcano with 17 platforms, 11 zips and
3 cable bridges. It was the most exhilarating thing I’ve done in my entire
life! Zip-lining has been on my bucket list since I created it about ten years
ago, so it was super exciting to finally cross it off!
Tuesday night was girl’s night out. Team Wreckonciled Ladies
went out for dinner together. Living with such a big group of people it is
sometimes hard to keep up to date with everyone’s lives so it was a great
opportunity to catch up with my girls.
Wednesday was travel day. Started off with a bus from Granada
to Managua, then taxis between the bus stations in Managua. My taxi (in which
we crammed 5 people and our daypacks) was driven by a man with one leg. He had
a stick to push the pedals with! We thought we would have to take a school bus
from Managua back to Chinadega, but found a smaller bus (van, really) that
would take us for only a couple of dollars more than the public bus.
All in all, it was a great trip. I love ministry, and this
month has been especially great, but sometimes it is important to give yourself
a mental break from everything. We got a chance to relax, to get to know our
new teammates better, and to see the country we are living in. I got to cross
off a bucket list item, and ate a lot of great food. Anyone coming to Nicaragua
anytime soon? I would recommend a stop in Granada for sure!!!
Side note…
Sometimes on the race there are moments when we have to just
stop, laugh and ask each other…is this really our life? Over the last week or
so, I have had several of these moments during some interesting
conversations…
-
When trying to figure out transportation to Granada, one of the conversations we had was something like…..”23 people in the back of a truck for three
hours? Standing room only? Oh, and our backpacks too? Yeah, we could do that”.
(Not the option we choose, but it was definitely considered) - “So, we went to the dump this morning to drop
off our garbage, and you should see it! It’s beautiful, and there are so many
people living there. I’ve already asked our contact, and he says we can go
visit later this week.” (We are headed there later today to meet the people and
pray with them) - And, one of my favourite quotes from the last
month: “It looks like I’m
worshipping, but really I’m just airing out my armpits.” Originally said by
Megan in Peru, but has been quoted again almost every day here in the “Hot
City” in Nicaragua.
