Travel Day To Nicaragua

3:00 am came early on Saturday, August 8th - but what an awesome day to travel - 8/8/15!  (8's being my favorite number!!)  I don't think we look too bad at that time of morning!!  And check out our t-shirts that we were required to wear for travel with the BMDMI logo on them!

 I think there were around 18 of us flying out of Denver - in all there were 54 people flying in from different states and most of us met in Houston where our layover was.  I had to settle for a Starbucks coffee in Houston as there sure weren't any Caribou Coffee's there...................

Our flight was good and we landed in Managua, Nicaragua mid-afternoon!  Customs was a breeze!  Short lines - easy paperwork!

And then we all headed out to 2 buses - it was HOT and HUMID waiting while they loaded all of the luggage on top of the buses and covered them with tarps!  And then we were off to The Mission House which is the base house for all the mission trips!  The Mission House sits kind of at the edge of town up on a hill so there was no way to get a picture of it from the outside - but it was a neat place to stay.  Apparently it was a former embassy so it was large and very comfortable!  All of the bedrooms were decked out with bunk beds so there was plenty of room for everyone to sleep - yes, I got a bottom bunk!

 The view from the balcony is gorgeous - it overlooks Lake Managua and in the distance is a volcano but it's hard to see as it was hazy outside.  Lots of vegetation around with beautiful plants and trees!

 I loved the balcony at the Mission House - especially the green chairs!!  It was fun to sit out there and relax (not that we had much time to do that!!)

 I call this room the "ballroom" - this is where we ate our meals, had our worship services and our meetings when we were at the Mission House.  The views again were fantastic out the windows but I was so surprised when evening came and by 6:15 it was pitch black!!  I was used to and hoping the sun wouldn't set till much later in the evening but they're too near the equator for that!

 In the living room area they also had white wicker rockers - so fun to sit in and visit with people!

 A few of us went for a walk before it got dark that evening.  Notice the entire wall of vegetation on the right of the picture.

 This was a neat tree and I loved how the roots went right up the front of the tree!

 After a wonderful dinner that evening, a few of us headed to the on site pharmacy in another building on the premises and started counting out vitamins to package...............a long process!  We all sure got good at counting!!  Most of us were counting by 1's when Jaime informed us the easiest way is to count by 10's - and I do have to admit she was right!

 We were all smiles when Jaime packaged up the final bags!

It was to be an early morning so we all headed to bed early - note to self - bring a face mask next time as there is a LOT of light coming into those bedrooms!!  And so ends DAY ONE!  To be cont'd......