Final day of Nicaragua 2018!

With the end of the morning yesterday, our time of construction ended! On a personal note, having worn the same pants all 5 building days, it was very nice to put on something clean this morning!

First up was the Masaya volcano. It is an active volcano, but not erupting at the moment. But the lava is boiling (you can hear it!) and lots of gasses are being emitted. So from a distance you see a beautiful volcanic cone with "smoke" coming out!

Up close it's really neat. The wind was helpfully at our backs, which kept the fumes away and gave us a better view. As shown by pictures we saw from another group, at night the lava makes the gasses glow and you can see it jumping up!

The park also has a nice museum with some history around the volcano and geographic information about what we just saw.

For lunch we joined the other 3 groups in country this week on a boat ride into Lake Nicaragua to a beautiful island. There we had lunch and enjoyed some real R&R with kayaks, a pool, and comfortable chairs in the shade! Not even a bit of rain at the end could spoil it!

Before we headed back to Managua we stopped at a chocolate museum and store. There we had an extremely outgoing guide, Alejandro, who walked us through the process of making chocolate and its history in Central America. Plus, at the end were samples, including chocolate rum, liqueur, and tea!

We then returned to our first hotel because our flight is extremely early in the morning. But we had a farewell dinner out with Humberto, our assistant for the week, and Nelson, our driver for the week. Both have been friendly, outgoing, and very good-natured with our wacky crew.

Pr. Tom gave out mini flashlights to each of us, celebrating how we have let our light shine for others this week.

We hate to leave behind our new Nica friends, but we will be glad to see our families and our own beds and showers again!