Traveling With My Girl Kristie

Man I love this girl! We have some great times traveling around. What I admire about Kristie most is her positive perspective ON EVERYTHING and in EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE.  Before we left for our trip it was pouring down hard with rain. Her comment was, “I think this is just going to be one of those days.” My response, “Well what do you mean?” Her reply, “One of those days where everything goes wrong.” Because of the gray I couldn’t help but laugh and agree.  Even though it was thought to be a dreary and wet journey to Leon, her attitude was all in.  I have a tendency to think about the bad things for longer periods of time. She however accepts them as reality and chooses to face them with positivity. Our interaction and time together is helping me grow in this way.  Btw, the weather turned out to be sunny that day. Perfect weather for a perfect day!

This was the water bottle that Kristie insisted we turn around in our taxi for. She left it at the hotel. While climbing Mt. Hood Kristie took a 30 ft fall and this water bottle attached to her hip kept her from breaking her leg. It was a sentimental thing. I had to give her a hard time about turning around. So here I am posting about it to the world.

This was in the van packed with 28 people. I think during this photo 4 had left. Personal space is not a thing here. We have to stack our legs in order to fit!  In addition some man's three duffle bags kept me from being able to move. It's quit the trip.

One of my favorite parts of our trip traveling to Leon and back was when we were in a micro bus.  Public transportation is a big thing in Nicaragua considering not many families can afford a car. It cost us 80 cordobas (that is about  $3) to travel from Dolores to Leon (approximately 120 kilometers / about 75 miles) by public transportation. We took micro buses, which are 15 passenger vans.  Even though these buses hold 15 passengers the Nica workers pack as many as they can in order to make the most money. I always like to see how many they can fit, and how many people are wiling to be squashed. This trip back to Leon, 28 fit in the van. It was a record for me :D  It was so packed it was hard for the worker to even shut the door!

This weekend we are traveling to Camoapa, Nicaragua. About 150 km drive by bus, aka a 2.5 hour ride squashed on a school bus ;) We are staying the weekend with two of the teacher's from the school. They live in the In2House with us during the week and then head to their home back in Camoapa on the weekends. I am excited to spend time with Isnia and Indira and to get the opportunity to stay in a real Nicaraguan home.