January 31

I woke up this morning at 6:26 and waited to use the shower…a cold/cool shower, because they have no hot water here but really that is just fine because it is so hot here and will only get hotter as we near March and May. As I waited I thought I say another gecko but it turned out to be a little mouse! He was a cute little guy…but I put some of my stuff on the bed nonetheless. After a cold shower I had a breakfast of ham, a fried egg, and coffee. I then showed some pictures of my family and my trip to Dubai and then headed off to meet up with Alicia, Dan, Dilaun as well as Matt and Silen who would be our guide and translator for the scavenger hunt today. We went all over Managua to Mercado Huembes, Metro Centro, Laguna de Tiscapa and the monuments there to Sandino and Samosa. We also went near to Lake Managua and saw the palace of the president although he does not live there because he wants to live among the people. There was the old cathedral that is actually a beautiful condemned building and then there is the new cathedral as well. Like it, there is the “old” part of Managua and the “new” part that was built after the great earthquake in 1972. After a couple weeks of class I should know all sorts of facts of the history of Nicaragua! Oh yes! Before the cathedral and such we had lunch, or comida, at Comedor El Guegüensa where I had some rice and beans or course, along with chicken, tomatoes and peppers mixed in with a plantain on the side and washed it down with a Fanta. After lunch and the cathedral, we went down to the waterfront of Lake Managua…and the water is pretty gross. I guess for a long time all the waste of the city was just dumped into the lake and it’s COMPLETELY unsanitary and so after our swim in it we had to……haha no we didn’t swim in it!! But we did take some pictures of the beautiful scenery around the lake and then took a taxi back to rendezvous with Alicia at the coffee shop to show the pictures as proof of completing everything on the scavenger hunt agenda. Then we went home to our families for the night.