Managua Tour--First Day

Dear Followers-
     Today's blog is being written by Jamie (14), Kimberly (14), and Lynn (their mom).  Our day began bright and early because it gets light at 6ish and our bodies thought it was 8am anyway! Several enjoyed chatting with coffee, sitting outside on the tree stumps and others were fascinated by Bella, the pet monkey at Jubilee House. She will eat mangoes out of your hand. :)

We then enjoyed a very delicious breakfast spread including beans and rice, scrambled eggs with onions and peppers to fill a tortilla, fresh fruit, and warm homemade bread. After breakfast, Mike, one of the Jubilee House members provided a background of Jubilee House and its purpose and mission.
      Luis, our driver, picked us up in an air conditioned van that we spent the better part of the day getting in and out of!
     We enjoyed an historical commentary of Nicaragua and in particular famous sites of the city of Managua by Maria. She stopped the bus to view various monuments dedicated to historical revolutionary figures.

 In the same square with the monuments for famous Sandinistas, there was the old Catholic cathedral which was destroyed in two different earthquakes. (Managua sits on 14 fault lines, so it is frequently affected by earthquakes!).
     We then made our way to a traditional market. A place where most people buy their daily goods, including fish, meats, and even pig heads! It was a vibrant and busy place with lots of smells and sounds and sights (sorry no photos).
  We enjoyed a tasty lunch of an El Salvadorian meal of pupusas (cornmeal pockets filled with cheese, cheese/beans, chicken, vegetables, or jalapeno cheese), which were very yummy and filling. Before heading to the Forest Preserve, we stopped at a supermarket. Something that one might expect in an American city--it had anything anyone could want including an ice cream stand, bank, and the best part was the air conditioning!
   

Luis drove magnificently on the bumpy ride to the preserve in paths that could barely fit our mini-bus. But the drive was DEFINITELY worth the experience. Complete with blue butterflies, butterflies whose wings look like owl eyes, a waterfall, green parakeets, and the wonderful sights and sounds of the congo monkeys. We tried to upload an audio file so that you could hear the parakeets and the low barking/growl sound of the congo monkeys but it wouldn't upload. It was definitely a "roaring" sound that none of us will forget

Tomorrow is another long tourist type day to visit a crater lake and volcano, so we may not post again until Monday.

Look carefully for the "owl eye".