It was a little weird going through customs and everything alone. While I've traveled alone a lot, I've only traveled by myself domestically. But it was super easy and quick. While there are a lot of things kind of backwoods about Nicaragua, they do seem to be efficient in some areas. Of course I'm sure it helps that they probably have like one international flight come in every few hours, so there's not the backlog waiting at customs like there can be other places.
I didn't cry when I saw Davie and Eduardo for the first time. I just want to give myself props for that. :) At least right now I'm trying to take the stance that we've done this now, we're pros, and we should enjoy the time we have together and then part in six days without being sad because we know we'll be together again soon and in the meantime we'll be fine. I'm hoping that mindset lasts me through saying goodbye on Tuesday!
We got a cab to take us to the hotel as buses weren't running today because its a holiday here. The cab saved us time but cost us more money. It was convenient though, and I'm a sucker for convenience.
We stopped on the way at a scenic lookout on the shore of Lake Managua. Nicaragua has a lot of volcanos and there were two on the other side of the lake. It was nice of our cab driver to stop so we could see! I got pictures!
It got a little disconcerting when we turned off the main road onto a gravel road on our way to the hotel. While I hadn't expected the hotel to be in a "big" city, I hadn't realized quite how much it was in the middle of nowhere. We drove for what seemed forever once we got onto the gravel road. Cars here don't go very fast once they get off asphalt. I learned that last trip. Today was no exception, and I feel like we were probably going about 15 miles an hour, if that. It was also interesting in that the closer we got to the hotel the more we started seeing big piles of salt. Our cab driver gave us a little background. Turns out the people in this area harvest salt from the ocean water. (I don't know if harvest is really the right word, but it seems to fit.) I didn't quite understand how they did it, something about putting the salt water into big pond areas then drying out the water so the salt gets left behind. I'm not sure. It was pretty neat to see though. The salt made the dirt around the water ponds sparkle like diamonds. And some of the salt piles were HUGE!
Eduardo loved his first trip into the ocean. It was so fun to watch him. I was patting myself on the back for bringing him goggles and a life vest until we got him in the shower after we were done in the water and he starting saying his underarms hurt and then had a mini meltdown. :( The vest was chaffing and it burned in the shower. I felt bad! We're going to have him wear a shirt under the vest tomorrow though and that should help matters. I do still think the goggles and life vest were a good idea. :) He loves them and I think they helped him a lot. The life vest also helps me not freak out as much about having him in the ocean for the first time. Sometimes I don't know if I'm ready for this parent business!! It's stressful.
I'll write more about the hotel later, but for now I'll say it's interesting because the shower water and sink water in our cabana are salt water. It's very weird to shower in salt water. And really shocking to go to brush your teeth and realize the toothbrush is now full of salt water! Other than that though, I'm very pleased with the hotel and I think this is going to be a great trip!!!
One thing I forgot to mention, Asael and his family ended up not being able to come. :( Davie said Asael ended up having work, which is so difficult to get that it doesn't get passes up when the opportunity presents itself. I wonder though if it had more to do with the fact that Asael didn't want us to pay for the room. Which makes me feel bad, but hopefully we can all go on vacation on day!
The first two pictures below are of Lake Managua. The next two pictures are of Eduardo and Davie crashed out in the restaurant / reception area / gathering place while we were waiting for our food. The second to last pic is Eduardo doing one of the puzzles I brought him. He love puzzles! And the last pic we took on our way back to Managua of the salt ponds. The road is first and then the ponds are in the background. It's hard to see, but hopefully that gives you some idea of what they looked like.
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