Nicaragua pictures...Part 1

Finally, the pictures you've been waiting for!

This is the deck off of the top floor of the house we rented. Both bedrooms were upstairs, although the kids all ended up sleeping in our room...There was an amazing view from our room and from deck of the beach. A parrot lived on top of the roof and every morning he greeted us.


Here is Daddy and Audrey relaxing in one the three hammocks on the patio on the side of the house. This is where we took our afternoon siestas!


This is the downstairs of the house- all one open area for relaxing, eating and the kitchen area. I loved having the kitchen and am so glad we chose this one. I cooked every meal and it was great! There was a great little corner store on the property and everything was SOOOOO cheap! Monday afternoon when we arrived we hadn't eaten anything except snack stuff because the bus doesn't really stop long enough to get anything to eat. So, we were hungry. We went to the restaurant and ate a late lunch/early supper. It cost us $30 for our meals. I shopped at the little pulperia each day and bought just what we needed for each day, sometimes I went for each meal to purchase what I needed. I spent only $90 for the entire week for all of our meals! We were so excited to have saved so much money! The food prices were much cheaper there than here in Costa Rica. Some things like a snack size bag of chips (think Doritos) was about $0.16. Mangos were about $0.30! A pineapple was about $0.50! The pineapple we bought was white on the inside- very different and I thought maybe it was bad or something. But the fruit tasted so sweet without that sting that most pineapples have. It was delicious. One of the best parts of the trip for me was being able to take the time to cook good meals for my family. Lately we've been going and going and going and been eating out way too much mainly because by the time we are heading home it is past our normal supper time and almost time for bed for the kdis...so we've had to grab something fast. I do not like that and so my goal is to not have to do that anymore. This week was a reminder of how great it is to sit down and eat a healthy meal together and the harmony it brings to a family.


Here is Izzy playing in the water. She loved the water and of course collected shells all week long! She is a real stinker sometimes but I had so much fun with her this week .Both the girls were Daddy's girls though and they spent I don't know how many hours in the water together!


Ethan and Mommy. We got to spend a lot of time together and it was really great. I loved it! Ethan is such a neat kid and I am thankful for this week to just get to hang out with him. He played in the sand, the water and just watched the crabs. He even tried to save some crab legs he found to show his Pappy when he gets here in a couple of weeks- but they didn't last too long in the Nicaraguian heat.


We literally woke up and ate breakfast and then headed to the beach every morning. It was so relaxing to hear the waves crashing at night and then to wake up to them again the next morning. Matt and the kids really had some much needed time together. I am so thankful that God allowed us this trip.


Isn't this just an amzing picture? (Although I am sure Sonia would have done a WAAYYYYY!! better job!)


Ethan and Iz


Watching the waves with my babies


Mommy and Daddy at sunset


AWWW! Mommy and Daddy holding hands!


Family picture at sunset. We set up the camera to take this on our last night there.


One of the things we had asked for prayer for was our safety in getting to the hotel once we got into Nicaragua. Your prayers were answered! The border crossing experience was absolutely crazy and quite un-nerving. But, thankfully, we made it through. Once we got to the Nicaraguan side of the border, we were approached by a taxi driver and asked if we wanted a ride, instead of getting back on the bus for another 2 hours to the city of Rivas, where we would either have to take a different bus or a taxi to SanJuan del Sur and then catch a different bus to our hotel. All of which had to be done by 4:00, which is when the last bus out of San Juan del Sur went to our hotel. So, we had been thinking about this for awhile before hand and so when the taxi driver approached us and quoted us a price that was $20 cheaper than what we had expected it to be we took it! We were a little nervous becuase we had no idea where we were going and all the taxis there are "pirate" taxis, meaning they are not clearly marked "taxi" and are not necessarily working for a legitimate taxi company. It can be just some guy who uses his personal vehicle to make taxi runs, which was the case of Leonardo, our taxi driver. It turned out to be a great experience. He was friendly and gave us loads of information about Nicaragua, although we were so tired I hardly remember any of it! Matt and I are so thankful to have met him because he ended up picking us up Friday morning and taking us to Rivas to the "bus stop." Which brings me to this picture. You can see that the kids are sitting on the sidewalk in this picture. This is where we waited for about 1 1/2 for the bus to pick us up in Rivas. No building to sit in, not even a bench. Just plopped our bags on the ground, sat down and waited! It was so funny when Leonardo dropped us off. "this is the bus stop?" I asked. And sure enough the bus that came right before ours pulled over to the side of the road and stopped at the corner and picked up a few people then pulled back our into traffic and took off! After watching the traffic and just being in Rivas watching for that time period, we know we made the right decision to take that taxi. The "border buses" we saw we so jammed pack full of people and it did not look safe at all! The taxis were a joke- some of the most beat up cars I've ever seen. So, I am so glad we have Leonardo's number and he told us to call him if we are ever back in the area again.


The Tica Bus stop in Nicaragua! Oh by the way, I had to use the bathroom once we got dropped off at the bus stop, so I walked up to where the little building is to by your bus ticket to see if I there was a bathroom. There was and it only cost me $0.25 to use it! The creepy old guy working in the store charged me $0.25 to use the bathroom! It was crazy! But what an adventure!



This will be the last picture for this post. One of my favorite things of the trip was seeing the kids together. The girls sat in this hammock every day together listening to music or just swinging. It was such a relaxing few days and it really did rejuvinate us! We've been excited and full of energy this week and I know it was because we had such a great week to refocus and refuel! Thank you for your prayers and continuing to remember us financially!