Meeting Michael Jackson!

Today was our last full day in Nicaragua! It seems like just yesterday we were landing in Managua, excited for the week ahead. Yesterday we said our goodbyes to the kids and finished up at the worksite. Today was our free day where we got to explore Managua! We met for breakfast at 7:45 (without a reflection to start the day off) and left the retreat center at 8:30 for our sightseeing day. For breakfast, we had rice and beans, scrambled eggs with sausage, cheese, bread, watermelon and orange juice!

At 8:30 we boarded the buses and headed for Masaya Volcano, one of the lesser active volcanoes. We visited the museum and learned about the volcano, then climbed back in the buses to head the top of the volcano. At the top, we were met with clouds of smoke surrounding the crater.

After taking many pictures of the crater and the great view of the plains, we headed to the market in Masaya. We split up into groups of three and started perusing the outdoor vendors and what they had to sell. We were able to barter with the vendors with our amazing Spanish skills and made sure we weren't ripped off at all! After an hour and a half of shopping at the market, we left for lunch.

We ate lunch at Monna Lisa, an Italian restaurant in Granata. We had delicious pizza but were a little disappointed that the owners had missed the oppurtunity to name the restaurant "Monna Pizza". Besides the naming blunder of the restaurant, we had a great meal. 

We headed to Lake Nicarauga after lunch, which was only a couple blocks away from the restaurant. We crossed the very unstable docks and boarded two separate boats for our tour of the lake. Our drivers lead us to a group of islands where we were able to see many nice island homes as well as Michael Jackson (the monkey)!!!!! There was a smaller island where a group of monkeys lived and one with a missing tail was named Michael Jackson! 

After the boat we had an opportunity to try fresh coconut juice! Sam got one and her whole van enjoyed it!

After the hour boat tour, we headed on the buses to the hipermercado in Managua. We were able to experience real Nicaraguan ice cream as well as buy some last minute groceries for the trip tomorrow. After buying many bags of Nicaraguan coffee, we loaded the bus for the last time to return to the retreat center. 

When we got back to the retreat center some of us posed with our machetes and then tried to cut the coconut!

After a nice final dinner in Nicaragua we discovered that Maggie's room was infested by an ant nest, and the Kusner's room had a fly nest in it. So Maggie, Sara, Megan, Mary and Madeline all moved rooms just in case. We then packed up to prepare for our early morning departure.

Adios Nicaragua!

Maggie Burlingame, Sam "LL Cool J" Hill, Molly "Michael Jordan" Walton