July 30, 2016 

I apologize for not posting more photos to the blog. It seems to be hit or miss with the ability to do this, so if you have access to Facebook please check the posts by Jamie Anderson, Alysia Masters, Joel Sarrault or John Scobie for photos. 

We are traveling from Managua as a team, accompanied by Francisco, a liaison from the Nicaraguan Lutheran church, and being driven by Hamilton in a 16-passenger van with all of our luggage loaded on the top and roped into place. It is 135 kilometers from the capital city of Managua to the city of Chinandega, the third largest city in Nicaragua. We have driven through Leon, the second largest city. If you looked at a map, you would see our route is northerly, roughly following the same direction as the Pacific Ocean, which is about 5-10 miles to the west. How long do you think a 135 kilometer drive should take on a lovely Saturday morning? As we dodged a gas semi driving in our lane, slowed for biblicists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, street vendors and the had a young man come out in the street to wash our clean van window,

we slowly made our way safely north in a bit over 3.5 hours. Oh, we did need a potty break so invaded a gas station convince store and bought a few different brands of plantain chips to do some taste testing. Cindy shared her peanuts and John his bag of "Chicharroner con Limon y Sal" pellets de Harina de Trigo (pork rinds.) Tom tried his first Nicaraguan candy bar.  Hamilton engaged in the local custom of flashing his lights at oncoming traffic if there had been a police car he'd passed.