It's a plane, it's a bird, oh wait it's just us Ziplining!

After a couple of days without Wi-Fi we are now back online and reconnected to the world. It's amazing how 'lost' you feel when you aren't connected through the online world. Yet we all survived and its probably not a bad thing being forced to connect face to face with others and to unplug for a bit. Here is the blog we would have posted on day 10 if we had Wi-Fi.

Today marked our 10th day in Nicaragua. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here this long yet at the same time it feels like we haven’t been home in ages. Today’s breakfast was a welcomed change (for some at least) as this marked the first breakfast without rice and beans. After a later breakfast than the past week we set off for our fun-filled day. We first headed to a pottery store about an hour away. The drive up was so beautiful and obviously consisted of many off-pitched voices singing at the top of our lungs. These drives have been very loud and eventful as every team member has gotten in on the action. Once we arrived in the quaint town we headed downstairs of the pottery store. There we got a first-hand lesson on how they make pottery in Nicaragua and how they paint them using colors derived from rocks. Some of us even got a chance to make some pottery although we found it difficult as the spinning of the wheel requires coordination and power as it is down manually. All 3 participants got the hang of it and their pottery was ‘abstract’ as the teacher described it. After our demonstration we headed upstairs to buy some of their products. It was very cool to see how it was made. Our next stop was zip-lining. The zip-lining place is located in a rainforest which is pretty amazing to be surrounded by. Some were slightly nervous to get started but once we started going we were all having a great time. Some brave souls went upside down and even superman style. Zip-lining was a lot of fun and we got some awesome pictures of the forest and each other going down the zip lines. We even zip-lined through a tree full of monkeys! All this adventuring made us quite hungry so we set off for lunch at the Nicaragua version of KFC, called Tip Top. We enjoyed our finger licking good food then headed back out to Lake Nicaragua for a boat tour. Fun fact, Lake Nicaragua is the only lake in the world that has fresh water sharks. (don’t worry though they are very far out so we didn’t encounter any). The tour was cool as we got to explore different islands that had large homes on them. One island even had monkeys on it which to our dismay, never came upon our boat. The scenery was beautiful and was another reminder of the beauty of creation that we get to explore. God is so creative in his creation and how the world works. These small but beautiful islands were all created by a volcano erupting. Even after seeing all this beauty, I’m still amazed every day of the wonderful things God has created for us to enjoy and explore. I love getting to marvel at His creation. Our final destination of the day was visiting an old town called Granada. This town is quaint, touristy, historic and beautiful. It is filled with old and colorful buildings with so much history. You feel like you are in a small European town. We set off and explored. Some bought some more items in the market, others walked around and some found a coffee shop and enjoyed a delicious cup of Nicaraguan coffee. After Granada we headed back to Managua for dinner at an El Salvadorian restaurant. There they served Pupusas, which are sort of like flattened perogies but made from a corn tortilla. Jayden convinced the team to go there as he has been talking about how good they were since he was there last year. Let’s just say not everyone was as in love with them as he was but at least they got an opportunity to try something new. Our day ended with a debrief of the trip and lots of laughs and team time playing games.