Day 9 - up at 5am to get to the airport. Here we go. It's time to go home.
Pastor Ed & Ligia have been extremely hospitable and gracious to us. It is hard to say goodbye to people who are now friends and we have shared so much with. But it is time to return home to family in Canada.
Flights are a bit strange here in Nicaragua. Our ticket says the flight is at 7am. We call and they say, it might be or it might be later. The problem is that the plane goes from Managua to Bluefields and then on to Cane Island. Here's the problem. If no one is on the plane to go to Cane Island, it returns to Managua. That's our 7am flight. If there are passengers then it goes to Cane Island and then returns to Bluefields - that's our 8am flight. Of course if you show late and it does the first, you have to wait another couple of hours to the next flight. So best to be safe and just wait in the airport.
The first flight comes and goes and then returns. By now it is almost 9am. Not too bad - we aren't in any real rush. It was great to see Humberto waiting - we went out to the plane and he was still standing there waving goodbye. He waited until the plane was well off in the distance before leaving. Thanks Humberto!
We arrived in Managua and was met by LaRue. Things were all set. We went to the hotel, checked in and then went for a drive to Granada. Had a few things to do there. A bit of mild culture reintegration before heading back to Canada. Managua is a big city and helps you feel back in the civilization mode. Granada is like a small spanish town. Cobble streets, colourful houses and store fronts. Very friendly looking like a city in Spain, or some Caribbean ports. We had lunch (where again?) and then headed out for a boat tour of the islands.
We arrived at what seemed to be a "national park" where you had to pay admission to get in ($2 for the van). We headed to the tour operators for the boat tour. Nice gentle ride (Panga boat again... but no explosions this time!) We toured the various islands and saw many grand homes out there. One small island had a few monkeys on it - the monkey hopped on board. We tried to feed him a banana... he threw it overboard. His paws are quite soft (he crawled over me a few time) but he really just wanted to pose for the other boats. Sorry, I should have said SHE. Her name was Lucy.
We then returned to the van and headed back to Managua. We figured we'd save the market until we got back. Unfortunately the van broke down part way back - coolant leak :( what was supposed to be 1 hr drive became about 4 hrs. The van wouldn't start on it's own and had to either be pushed or rolled. Water was continually being added. I normally don't get car sick but this time I was! Whether the various fumes or bumpy ride or just all of it, I felt sick (and didn't get better until Monday!)
we returned and made it to the market just in time for closing. Emran bought lots of stuff... this one little boy kept following us around trying to sell us a ring. In the end someone gave him 10 Cordovas (about 50cents) and he left (and this was while we were already back in the van leaving!)
Our ride back to the hotel was again plagued with ill travels - a friend of theirs came in a pickup truck. We went as far as possible in the van and then at one point it was the end of the line - everyone in the truck. oh well. We finally made it back to the hotel. The team gathered for dinner (while I crashed in the room still feeling ill).
Time to sleep and another 4am wake up call for Sunday morning...
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