Bats, Caves and A Volcano

Last Saturday night we took the night tour at Masaya Volcano, which is 20 minutes south of Managua. A friend of ours from AsoFenix, Dave, invited us to join him and his friends on the tour and since we had never done it we thought why not. We have visited the volcano during the day several times. There are four craters, but only one is active and constantly emits sulfur gas. The tour starts before it gets dark, so we saw the volcano in the day time as well as hiked to various lookouts of the craters. As it started to get dark we headed to the caves that were created by lava flow a long time ago, which bats now inhabit. At this point we were given flash lights and hard hats...which you can see by the picture. While in the cave we saw a lot of bats. All of the guys beside Seth and Dave were scared of the bats, so that was funny because the bats did not bother the two girls in the group. There was one part we went in that had bats swarming the entrance, so we just sat below them, I took several pictures and luckily one turned out. The tour ended back at the active crater where the guide showed us the lava, which was a reddish glow. The crater is 250 meters below the rim, where we were standing, so it was hard to see the lava other than a glow of red in the smoke (I was not able to get a picture). We had a great time and enjoyed doing something new, which was a good reminder for us to continue exploring Nicaragua.

Weekend at the Beach

Last weekend we spent a day and half at a beach(Penitas) on the north west coast of Nicaragua. There is a small fishing village that is slowly developing into a popular tourist destination. It is a two and half hour bus ride, but it was worth the ride. The water was not the best for swimming because the waves were so forceful they knocked us over, but it was beautiful watching the waves. Luckily there is a river that feeds into the ocean and we were able to swim there. We went with a fellow MCCer, Beth, who was the one who came up with the idea to go to the beach. Beth has been in Nicaragua 5 months, so she has not had a lot of time to explore and enjoy the beauty Nicaragua has to offer. We had a wonderful time at the beach and hanging out with Beth.

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY!

It seems weird to think Seth and I have been married that long mainly it is because we don't feel any older then the day we got married (July 9, 1999). However, as we thought back over the past 10 years it was obvious we have been married ten years. We have so many wonderful shared memories and as a couple we have grown, which in turn means our marriage has matured...it is no longer a young marriage. Young marriage is a beautiful thing, don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time in our first years, but the focus was more superficial. Superficial in the sense that as a couple you are trying to figure out how to make life work together. Whereas, when you have been married longer you have figured out each others quarks more or less and the focus is more on getting to know your spouse better. Every year we learn more and more about each other, partly because we are not the same people we were when we were 21 as we are today. So as we change as individuals that allows us to learn new things about our spouses and also keeps marriage exciting. I have loved being married to Seth and thank God every day for allowing me to find him so early on in my life.
We wanted to do something extra special this year for our anniversary, but we did not have any vacation time left after being in the states, so we are planning a vacation to Belize next year to celebrate our 10th and 11th anniversary's. We still needed to celebrate this important milestone so we went to a movie and dinner at a beautiful restaurant (Intermezzo del Bosque) that overlooks Managua. The restaurant is located on a hill on the outskirts of Managua, so as we were driving there we felt like we stepped into Costa Rica because it was covered in forest and the air was cooler. The food was wonderful, the scenery was beautiful, but the best part was had the entire restaurant to ourselves. It was a wonderful evening to celebrate 10 years of marriage and think about our future.

The Continuation...

Now that everyone is aware why we were in the states for longer than we said I can update you all on our actual time spent in the states.

We spent the first week with my entire family (Brian, Marci, Levi, Andy, Lisa, Connor, Becki, Michael, mom and dad) in Colorado. We spent the first weekend in the mountains and got to see snow...it felt wonderful to be cold. We loved the scenery and being around family, it was a great way to start our time in the states. The rest of the week was rainy and cold, which we were grateful for, but it made it hard to do things outside. We mainly spent time hanging out with family, eating good food, playing games (Lisa loves them) and playing with the nephews (Connor and Levi) as well as celebrating my moms birthday June 4. We also had a lot of fun going to an indoor water park as a family. In addition to my family, my grandmother, aunt Charlotte and cousin Aaron came in from Nebraska to see us for part of the time. It was wonderful to be together as a family, but it went by too fast.

During our time in Denver we caught up with some friends (Andy and Donna, Andrea & Phil and Jodi) as well as Kat, a girl we have known since she was 5 (now 16). Andy and Donna have started a multi-ethnic church in Denver and it was neat to share our experiences with each other and realized we were all going through similar things. It is always great to see Kat and see what a wonderful women she is becoming. We also enjoyed seeing our good friends Phil and Jodi. Phil is Seth's old time friend from elementary school. It was wonderful to talk with them and hang out like old times. We saw Andrea, a friend from ECHO, on our trip to south Dakota since she is living in northern Colorado. We had not seen her in three years, so it was great to catch up with her.
We spent the following two weeks in Rapid City, South Dakota with Seth's family (Kyle, Suz, Carson, Madeline (our new niece), Evan, Roz, mom and dad). It was great to see them, but we also got to see our dog Mani after a year and half...yeah, he remembered us! The weather was cooler and it rained most afternoons, so we had to do outdoor activities in the morning. We went four wheeling, hiking, played golf, I got a pedicure with Suz, Seth got to go climbing/bouldering several times with Evan, Seth also went kayaking and biking with his dad and brothers (Evan and Kyle) and we celebrated Father's Day and Evan's, Suz's and my birthdays. The rest of the time was spent hanging out with family, playing with Carson (nephew) and holding our new niece, Madeline. Of course, Mani went with us every where. Oh yeah, minor detail I had root canal surgery...but all is good now. It was sad to leave, but we were grateful for the extra time. Mani road tripped it back with us to Denver.

The last week was spent with most of my immediate family (minus Andy, Lisa and Connor). During the week we played miniature golf, badminton, croquet, spent time with Mani, went hiking, went to Water World (my favorite water park), had a bond fire at Brian's and Marci's house, roasted marshmallows and ate at several ethnic restaurants (Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Thai, Italian). My sister, Becki, and her husband, Michael, bought their first home and Seth and I got to be the first guests to stay with them, so that was very special. Also, I got to celebrate my birthday with my family. The day started with my sister taking my mom and I to get massages, then we ate lunch and shopped. Later that afternoon we had a BBQ with my family and Phil and Jodi at my parents house and Seth made my favorite desert, Heath Meringue Surprise, yuuuumy! It was a wonderful birthday and a special time with family. By the end of our trip we were ready to come back to Nicaragua, even though it was hard to leave our families and Mani we knew that Nicaragua is where God wanted us to be.


P.S. Check out our photo website to see more pics from our time in the states.

Traveling Excitement

Well we are officially back in Nicaragua after a month in the states. I know some of you are thinking, your previous blog entry said we would be in the states for three weeks, what happened? Well...

Our trip started out with us missing our connecting flight from Miami to Denver, so we had to stay the night in Miami. Actually the plane left 55 minutes early, our flight from Managua got in 15 minutes late, our luggage was not checked all the way through and when we got to the United check in counter it was closed because the last flight of the day left. We had no US cell phone, no US change to make a call and the pay phone would not let me charge a collect call to the number I was dialing. Luckily, we got the 1-800 number for United reservations and were able to use the pay phone. So Seth spent an hour on the phone trying to get our flight schedule for the next day.

Meanwhile, I was using the internet trying to find a hotel nearby that had a free shuttle to the airport. This task was not difficult, but I had to pay $5 to use the airports wireless internet for 30 minutes...which is a rude awakening when you only make $70 a month. After Seth confirmed our flight to Denver he decided to check on our return flight. Yet again there was another change in our flights. The airline had canceled half of our flight, so we had to reschedule. The airlines must not fly as much as they used to because everything was booked up until June 29. We were supposed to return to Nicaragua the 23 of June, so we were able to stay an extra week. We were not upset since that meant an extra week with our families, but it meant we missed out on the Nicaragua MCC team spiritual retreat.