Mombacho Revealed!!!

Royalti. Yesterday the Take Flight group and I woke up with excitement because Sunday was the day we were going up the Mombacho volcano to take a hike around the crater and canopy in the trees (zip line)!!!!!!! Before we set on our journey, the owner of the hotel told us about some legends about the jungle. There was a village of indigenous people who lived on the mountain, but there was a cave in that killed many of them. And the legend is if we took pictures in a certain cave in the volcano, images of people who weren’t in our group would appear. There was another where it says if we tried to take fruit or animals out of the jungle, we would get lost and never find out way out!  On our way up the mountain we stopped by a coffee shop where Tr. Kate explained to us that it was actually a coffee plantation nearby so that was probably the best coffee we were going to get in Managua. Naturally all the boys sprung to get some.  During the hike around the crater we saw lots of greenery and even more bugs. A very interesting thing happened on this hike of ours. Tr. Anthony and MyKyah strayed from the group, later we find out that a friendly monkey tackled MyKyah and Tr. Anthony was freaking out while she remained very calm. I guess it had something to do with the monkey socks she was wearing that day...

MyKyah's Monkey

Sabine: The most exciting event of the day was the cloud forest tour.  There was a course of seven zip lines that we had an amazing time riding.  We were between twenty-five and thirteen meters in the air for each line.  Some of the line were horizontal and we rode the line from platform to platform.  Another was more of a swing that we were strapped to and swung across.  That particular one was a surprise because the tour guide pushed us off of the platform as he was speaking so that we were shocked when we were suddenly dangling in mid air.  The grand finale was a thirteen meter repel down the side of the tree.  We trusted our lives to our tour guide named Eric.  Thank you Eric for not letting us die.  We appreciate that.  

Ziplining (or telephone pole repairing) here we come!

Ahmirah: While we were swinging around in the jungle, we saw a huge variety of plants, trees, and insects.  The bugs were so loud we could barely hear each other speak!  We saw epiphytes.  Epiphytes are plants that take root on the branches of trees.  There was a beautiful garden on the ground AND in the air.  When our peers were swinging and sliding in the air to the next platform, we each cheered them on and supported them. We had heavy gear on and wore hard helmets, which Tr. Lacey proved can still be pulled off. While we were getting ready to jump off for each zipline, the instructors just threw us all off expecting us to fend for ourselves. But overall, the zipline was fun and a great experience for everyone.

 
Charles: After the adventures on the mountain we went to a restaurant called Mi Viejo Ranchito. There we all had a Nicaraguan dish called Quesillos with plantains. The Quesillos were basically tortillas with cheese on top of it with some type of sauce on it. Sadly nobody really liked it, but the dessert was amazing. We had tres leche and flan de coco. The tres leche was a slice of cake soaked in milk with some sort of topping, and the flan de coco was like coconut custard.

***P.S. Tr. Rich, even though you are so many miles away it’s crazy how I still miss your crazy and sometimes mean comments. I miss not being able to mess with you inside and outside of class, and even not seeing your face and your bald head. And Royalti and Eamon say “hi” (Eamon says he’s kidding)

Sabine:  How are the Littlest Pet Shops behaving?***


Mystery During our last meeting we were trying to solve each other’s murder mysteries so I, Royalti, thought I’d share one mystery with you.

There was an old lady who started a diet against the recommendation of all her friends and family. She made pet owners in her neighborhood very nervous. No one knows why she ate the first one but she died by the time she ate the last one. What did she eat?

Mombacho Sneak Peak!

What a day! Our student bloggers are all tucked in, but they will deliver our full report tomorrow. Expect to hear about ghosts, a monkey surprise, and 100% participation on over eleven canopy ziplines! Incredible.

Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments - we read them aloud each day after every evening meeting - your words of encouragement and support mean so much!

Granada and Las Isletas

By Isabel, Charles, Emilia and Gerrit

Last night we went out to eat at Asados El Gueguense, it was really open and didn’t have windows. There we had all different types of meat; beef, pork and chicken. After everybody ate the fantastic meal a live band started playing music and we all started to dance. It was kind of embarrassing and I was just as much sad to leave as I was relieved, but the true embarrassment came when we got back. We read out loud the past posts. . . and comments. Everyone blushed as they heard their pet names called out by their parents.

The 21 Travelers

Today was the day that we went to Granada, and we were accompanied by Isabel and Lola’s partners from ANS, whose names were both Andrea. Granada is the oldest city in Central America. It was our first day where we experienced a little bit of shopping, because we went to a market in Granada. All the stuff that were being sold were all hand made, interesting, and really cool. For example there was a wallet that was made of a real frog. All the stuff were really pretty and nice, and it was hard to resist buying everything. To start the day off we began with a few questions given to us by Cullan and Ahmirah. the questions were to find out about a famous Nicaraguan singer or writer, and to find out a verse or two of the Nicaraguan national anthem, find out about a typical Nicaraguan meal, and to find the three best things about Nicaragua. To find out all the answers we had to ask local people. We sometimes had to ask more than one person to find out the answer because some people just didn’t know, and it was sometimes embarrassing.

While walking around we saw poverty, and also the opposite. While we asked people questions the boys all bought sunglasses and had swagg. At some point this was a challenge, but in the end it all worked out. After the questions we went on a horse carriage in Granada to tour the city. We saw a couple churches, a jail, a hospital, a old train station, the oldest house in the city, and of course we took swagg pictures at every stop. All the houses had brilliant, vibrant colors that amazed everyone. To end the beginning of our trip we stopped at a nice restaurant by the lake to get lunch called Puerto Asese. It had a pretty view of Mombacho, which is one of the biggest volcanoes. Eamon and Alex started chugging water and soda and by the end were both able to finish a full glass in less than 4 seconds (Eamon was better at chugging from a bottle, Alex was better from a cup). To pick from we had a choice of chicken, pork, and beef. All of it was very good.

Soda in a bag

This afternoon after this morning’s adventures we went on a boat tour of Las Isletas. It was so nice. We were all spread out between two boats. As we toured Lake Nicaragua we saw so many tiny islands, many of which were privately owned. We then all started to fantasize about buying an island of our very own. One of the islands had spider monkeys living on it! They swung from branch to branch, even coming to arm's length within the boat. And after that we went to the fort where the Nicaraguans defended the docks from the pirates. Half way through we stopped at a restaurant and got drinks and Alex and Eamon chugged theirs in a very short amount of time. On the way back we raced to the docks then got on the bus and came back to the hotel. And later on Cullan and Charles got one of the people that was staying in the hotel to prank Alex. To summarize it all up Alex was sort of shaken up and was afraid he was going to get arrested for being a terrorist.

 Lola the student meets Lola the monkey

 Celia paints a beautiful flower

 A view of Mombacho

Saying adios to the Andreas

Before we end for today Mykyah just wants to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her dear mother, and to have many many more.

Yummy food and goodbyes!

Hello Friends, and family,

Celia: Last night, the travel group went to “La Cocina de Doña Haydee.” We had a private room for all of us with a traditional Nicaraguan dinner with Chicken, Beef, pork rinds, and rice and beans. The food was all cooked over Nicaraguan“Jack-o-Lanterns.”After the great meal, a guitarist and a dancer performed traditional Nicaraguan song and dances for us. We were up super late, enjoying ourselves.

Shaniyah:Today we went to Chacocente and had a little “field day” and many people fell. As we were eating our lunch we met some friendly dogs who ate half of it. Then some of us watched the little children hit the piñata or played a soccer game with the Chacocente and ANS children. Before we said goodbye to our ANS buddies Logan and her buddy hugged and got claps from everyone, making her blush and laugh. Also Cully had gotten a kiss by an ANS student on the cheek.  Although we had a crazy, super-hot day and some funny moments, we had a enjoyable time at Chacocente.

Alex: Chacocente is a school founded on the principles of taking less fortunate families and putting them in houses and giving their kids a school. The school itself is a great place with a soccer field and a store. The people are friendly and optimistic. We had pull up contests, and a huge football game. We bought melted popsicles and coke as we ran across the field trying to knock the ball loose from ANS. People were so inviting that they took us in the first time we saw them. Both Chacocente and ANS. But in the end we were sad when the new friends we made left and how we won’t be able to see them again at least for a while, but in the end we met some great kids and overall great people, and we’re so thankful for the opportunity.

Indee: We all had a wonderful experience today visiting the students at Chacocente.  Our buddies from ANS also were joining us.  We got to interact with the students there by doing field day like activities.  Some of which include 3 legged races, Wheelbarrow races, and Sack races.  Although we all got pretty dirty we had a great time.  After our games we could either play soccer or watch the little kids beat a poor piñata for the candy inside of it.  

ICS Meets ANS

Sabine: Hello everybody!!!


We had a WONDERFUL time at ANS today!  We all really appreciate the warm welcome we were shown there.  


The students at ANS were so very, very friendly.  Everyone had words of welcome, encouragement, and kindness.  My buddy introduced me to a lot of new friends that I hope to keep in touch with via Facebook or email.  There was not a moment that I felt uncomfortable and I was never by myself getting lost on the huge campus!  We would really like to thank the ANS buddies for showing us around and becoming friends with us.  We also thank the teachers for being welcoming.  We all had a great time and can’t wait to see you all again and work with the Chacocente students as well.  We hope you enjoyed having us as much as we enjoyed being there.

Ahmirah: Once we woke up at 5 o’clock we got dressed and ate a typical Nicaraguan meal. Then we drove to ANS. I was really surprised when I saw how big the school was and how much security there was! The security guards had big rifles and both entrances and exits were really congested. When we finally arrived at ANS we stayed in a room to meet our buddies. After we were told our buddies, we shadowed them around and took observations about how ICS and ANS are different and how they are the same. This was our schedule: History, English, Math, Lunch, P.E. and Spanish. This was only a shorter version of their schedule. At lunch I was surprised to find that they had a food court that had American places like Dominos and Subway. After lunch we went to the room where we started and gave out our presents then watched the film that we made to show ANS about Philadelphia. Then we went to Spanish where they only spoke Spanish! You COULD NOT speak in English. When that was over we stayed at the food court for a while and socialized with our new friends. We found out that Cullan had most of the girls swooning over his every move. The girls kept telling me that I was lucky to be even breathing his air! When we left we got back to the hotel and wrote about our feelings about the day for ten minutes then swam. Later that evening we went to dinner. 

Cullan: ANS works outdoors much more than ICS. In math class we went outside and ran around for an experiment instead of learning staight out of the textbook. The PE class in ANS goes out to their very own baseball field to play a game of baseball, instead of staying in a classroom like at ICS. At recess time there are tons of outdoor options to have something to do, like soccer basketball and baseball. The cafeteria is actually outside, and all of this is really nice because it is very warm. The hallways do not have roofs or walls so you are freely traveling to your next class. In all the kids at ANS go outside much more than us. 

Lola: Personally, my favorite part of the day was getting to know my buddy Andrea. Each class she really helped me get to know ANS. We went to English, Math, P.E., and History and I actually enjoyed going to school. I really got to know  how everything worked there and how different it was from I.C.S. Andrea was so nice and really made me feel comfortable throughout all the classes.



By: Sabine, Ahmirah, Lola, and Cullan

Traveling and Who We Are

We are the 2012 Take Flight group, and we are traveling to Nicaragua to make new friends, make a difference, have a great time, enjoy ourselves, and relax. Most people disliked the flight to Houston far more than the flight to Managua. It was a lot longer and there wasn't a lot to do. Here is the opinion of one of our travelers while we were in Houston, Texas.

Sabine said that when she woke up this morning she was super excited to leave, but she calmed down eventually. She was nervous all throughout the wait for the plane and on the plane she thought she would have a nervous breakdown, but yet again she calmed down. The flight was fine in general, but the turbulence made Sabine nervous. When we finally arrived in Houston she said landing was rough and that it really irritated her ears. Even though the plane ride was rough, we still had some memorable group moments.

1. While we were in Houston all the boys were set on this quest to find a soda called Big Red, because they were informed on the plane by a Texan of its greatness. Although they were all disappointed.

2. When our plane landed in Houston we went and got something to eat in the food court. And while we were there got a compliment for our behavior by a passerby.
3. We went on the moving side walk and struck a pose.
4. For the second flight we weren't allowed to switch our seats because it caused too much trouble the first time. One thing that was a lot better than the first flight was the fact that we were able to watch a movie.
5. When we arrived in Managua we went through customs and the second we walked outside we were approached by a child beggar. We also saw several stray animals.
6. When our bus driver was loading (It took a little team work) the same child approached us but with two other boys. They asked for money again and tried to sell a flower that one of the boys made from leaves for ten dollars. Then one decided to ask Tr. Kate for a KISS!

And that's all we have so far, keep reading!

By: Kai, Royalti, MyKyah, & Noah

We've Arrived!

It's been a long day of travel, but we've made it to our hotel in (sticky!) Managua and are now headed to bed for an early morning visiting The American Nicaraguan School.  We are tired, but so excited to be here.  Check back tomorrow to hear from our student bloggers!

 

A farewell picture on the ICS playground 

 MyKyah and Sabine (looking especially excited to be flying!)

 

All smiles

Big Red is a big deal in the Texas airport

Don Pablo helps us hit the road to our final destination: The Managua Hills B&B