Day 3

Hello friends and family, this is the Nicaragua team.

This is Emilio and Matthew dropping in from plaza table 2. Today we had some amazing activities planned, as it was the 3rd day of our trip as well as our cultural day. We mingled among the locals, climbed up volcanic moutains and sailed the shark infested waters of lake Nicaragua.

The begininng of our adventure was to drive through the wild back streets to Granada while avoiding crazy motorcyclists as well as horse drawn carts. We found ourselves in the famous town of pottery, San Juan de Oriente. While there we saw a master at work, as he skillfully crafted a vase in under two minutes. We then had the opportunity to explore his family owned store. We made many succseful purchases from the store, including a two foot clay turtle (later it was decapitated, RIP), a half inch pinapple sculpture, whistling clay turtles, and a goblet of fire.

Following this great succes, expedition leader Lester led the team through a patch of dense jungle, piloting our vessel to Mount Mombacha base camp (active volcano). From base camp we continued further into the hostile jungle, defending ourselves from peeing Cicadas to giant spiders. When we summited, there was only one option: going down in style. Our team proceeded to ziplline down the face of the volcano with smiling faces despite the terror we truly had inside. After traversing through the sketchy suspension bridges and great feats of tangling upside down, it was time for our next adventure.

After we escaped the jungle, we quickly headed into a local market with colorful homes and churches. While our intentions were to buy gifts for wonderful familes and friends, we decided to whip out our cameras and strike a pose for the instagram. A parade quickly caught the eyes of our team as we saw the colorful dresses of the local ladies, the loud banging of the drums and cultural displays that came across from all over Nicaragua.

Following our conquering of the land and the sky, we proceeded to tackle the waters. We quickly mounted our hefty boats and set sail for the isalnds: rich lands flowing with milk and honey. On our way to find the lost treasure, we found something better - monkeys! and working on our caramelized skin. We kept our eyes peeled for the legendary freshwater sharks of Lake Nicaragua, but for now they remain nothing more than a myth.

On the way home, we celebrated our victory with the hymns of the Backstreet Boys, Taylor Swift, and some oldies (Roy cried), sponsored by master DJ Lil' Witty (Noah). After gorging on pizza, we returned to our abode and heard devotions from Lucas and Austin. This marked the end of our cultural day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.

PS. Hi family. It's Matthew. I hope you guys are enjoying Europe. Thank you for the comment despite the time change! Love you guys.

PPS. Hola Cota family, it's Emilio. I love you guys so much and I'll make sure to send photos.

PPPS. Hi Marshall's mommmm. You do not miss; Marshall falls for it every time.