Day 5

Greetings from Nicaragua. 

Authors: Kaj and Nathan. 

This morning, we were woken up to the sounds of Saúl blasting La Chona. After getting our stuff packed for the big, divertido (fun), pool day up ahead, we sat down together and ate breakfast at 7 A.M sharp as usual. Breakfast consisted of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and cereal. This morning looked different than most others. Instead of driving anywhere first thing in the morning, we got picked up by our friends from Centro de Fe. Meanwhile, a group of five elite students was selected to pick up our host and buy groceries for the pool day. While at the grocery store, Kaj was instructed to go grab some inflatable balls for the pool day. Kaj accidentally grabbed a pair (or two) of water wings instead of beach balls. While trying to take a quick selfie, one of the store employees offered to take a full-fledged candid photo of us in the store. It was only shortly after paying for the items that we realised that we bought the wrong item. The team decided that as punishment, Kaj must wear the swimming floaties during the course of the pool day. 

After arriving, we wasted no time putting on sunscreen before beginning our communal horse play despite a language barrier. After general fooling around, we started our water polo championship game. Tensions were high as Canada was down one from our previous soccer match, which was quite humbling. Knowing the stakes, us Canadians took this redemption match seriously. We had a slight advantage as some of our opponents were scared of the deeper water.  We won 11-10. We had a great time and enjoyed wrestling each other for the ball. There were many times when we feared for the life of our beloved little Evan. He had three people on him and was fighting for every breath as he struggled to stay afloat! 

Shortly after our intense game, we sat down and ate a scrumptious lunch. Now, we had operation sandia commence. It was a blood bath of watermelon everywhere. Operation sandia was a success. We devoured almost every slice, so, we went back into the pool for some extraordinary chicken fights. As we neared the end of the pool day, we decided to take a big group photo with everyone in it. Well, that is, almost everyone. Profe Mike had fallen asleep in a hammock as a result of all the nothing that he had done earlier today. Because of Profe Mike’s impromptu Siesta, he missed out on our group photo. After the group photo, we all packed up and headed back on the bus for a ride back home. 

On the bus ride, we all talked together and made deeper connections with one another. Two hours after returning from the pool, our sunburns started to set in. Haven’s face had become a radiant red, Anna had lost her battle to the sun, despite her valiant efforts, and Kaj had succumbed to the most legendary farmer’s tan of all time. Finalmente (finally), we would like to recognize our commentors as they have gotten their messages of love, jokes, and interesting comments across to us and helped us stay connected. We encourage you guys to keep commenting.

Gracias, the Nicaragua Team