Wow, what a whirlwind of adventure we have already experienced, and we are only in our second week! Dave and I started off our trip in Managua, Nicaragua with a team from Antioch (our church) helping with a ministry that catered toward getting women and young girls off the streets and out of brothels and into rehabilitation and vocational training. We stayed there for a week and really learned a lot about Nicaragua in general and worked aside the women and children at the House of Hope. Dave and I blogged on the Antioch Missions website at: http://www.antiochchurch.org/_blog/Antioch_Missions_Blog/page/2/ if you would like to take a look!
After our time at the House of Hope ended, we headed to Isla Ometepe with our friends Kelly and Pete and stayed together with them at Finca San Juan de la Isla. The Island of Ometepe was beautiful and it is on a HUGE lake in the middle of Nicaragua. We took the ferry from Rivas for an hour over the calm waters of the lake. We ended up staying at a beautiful Finca, which had sweeping views of the lake. The lake water was warm and there were little islands off the coast from our island that we could swim to. On the island there are also two huge volcanoes called Maderas and Concepcion. The four of us decided we would summit the Volcan Concepcion which is a pretty steep slope. The concept of switchbacks has not yet made it´s way down to Nicaragua. After climbing up the volcano for 4.5 hours we reached the summit and peered over the edge into the INTENSE crater. We could barely sit down for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time because the ground was so hot and the smell of sulfur offensive. This was a raging active volcano...something that we did not know beforehand! It was eerie and beautiful looking into the crater and we were so lucky that the clouds blew away when we were at the top, granting us a fantastic view of the lake, island, and other volcano Maderas. A total knee buster. Oh, also...Dave nearly sweat his life out on this trip and was a walking sweat machine the entire time. The temperature was about 90 degrees with close to 100% humidity!
Yesterday, we took the ferry back off the island and headed to San Juan del Sur, a cool beach town in Nicaragua. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous last night and today we are going to take our chances at surfing! In just a few days, we will be heading to Costa Rica because we fly to Ecuador from Costa Rica on September 9th. Can´t wait to meet up with my cousin Spencer in Heredia, Costa Rica! Dave and I want to do some hiking, surfing, and rafting while we are there. Off to go surfing!
Until next time,
Liz and Dave
After our time at the House of Hope ended, we headed to Isla Ometepe with our friends Kelly and Pete and stayed together with them at Finca San Juan de la Isla. The Island of Ometepe was beautiful and it is on a HUGE lake in the middle of Nicaragua. We took the ferry from Rivas for an hour over the calm waters of the lake. We ended up staying at a beautiful Finca, which had sweeping views of the lake. The lake water was warm and there were little islands off the coast from our island that we could swim to. On the island there are also two huge volcanoes called Maderas and Concepcion. The four of us decided we would summit the Volcan Concepcion which is a pretty steep slope. The concept of switchbacks has not yet made it´s way down to Nicaragua. After climbing up the volcano for 4.5 hours we reached the summit and peered over the edge into the INTENSE crater. We could barely sit down for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time because the ground was so hot and the smell of sulfur offensive. This was a raging active volcano...something that we did not know beforehand! It was eerie and beautiful looking into the crater and we were so lucky that the clouds blew away when we were at the top, granting us a fantastic view of the lake, island, and other volcano Maderas. A total knee buster. Oh, also...Dave nearly sweat his life out on this trip and was a walking sweat machine the entire time. The temperature was about 90 degrees with close to 100% humidity! 
Yesterday, we took the ferry back off the island and headed to San Juan del Sur, a cool beach town in Nicaragua. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous last night and today we are going to take our chances at surfing! In just a few days, we will be heading to Costa Rica because we fly to Ecuador from Costa Rica on September 9th. Can´t wait to meet up with my cousin Spencer in Heredia, Costa Rica! Dave and I want to do some hiking, surfing, and rafting while we are there. Off to go surfing!
Until next time, Liz and Dave
