C2C Day 1

Since I didn't have Internet along the trip I thought I would give a short summary over the next couple of days of our 9 day bike trip across Nicaragua. I say bike trip but it was really so much more than that, I hope you can see that from the next couple entries. So many events and experiences in our lives impact and change us and this one certainly did that in a powerful way. Since I jumped off my bike yesterday afternoon and into the classroom this morning, I feel that writing these updates on the blog will help me to process this trip.

Although Day 1 actually starts on the 29th of December I wanted to back it up one day to the 28th. We received a phone call mid-day from our support crew who had driven on ahead to meet us on the East coast. They informed us that Dave had an accident with his motorcycle and it looked serious. This was followed with the news that another member of the group nearly lost his finger and required stitches. We became quite concerned about the safety of our friends and the start we were having to this trip. That evening we gathered as bikers to pray for our friends and for the journey that lay before us.

Dave ended up returning to Managua the next morning after the accident for surgery on his shoulder. The rest of the support crew had driven him to Siuna a town with a doctor and an airport strip. For four months they haven't been flying out of Siuna but just resumed flights to this town on December 26. Isn't God great!

We flew to Puerta Cabezas on December 29. Our ticket was a thin piece of wood with the words Puerta Cabezas written on it although mine was missing some letters. Isn't Nicaragua so advanced, they already have a method for saving paper. I was a little leery of this flight when I was asked to step on the scale with my carry-on luggage. I guess the plane can't get too heavy. As we boarded the plane we said good bye to Managua and our luggage. For some unexplainable reason it didn't join us until later that day or for some people the following morning.

I think we all felt a sense of excitement as we landed on the other side of the country and made our way to the Verbo guest house. There some of our team members were already busy putting bikes together. Mine was mostly ready to go but it was missing a key component the clamp that keeps the seat post in place. I looked everywhere for it three times and was praying through the search. It just had to be somewhere, but I just couldn't find it. We thought perhaps it had bounced off and into someone's bike box. Finally a cheer went up and someone found the missing piece in their box. What a relief! Others weren't so fortunate as they had key bike parts in their luggage which didn't come in time. With a bit of teamwork and creativity one guy made a seat post with a post, PVC pipe, and duct tape. With our pieced together bikes we made the 2 kilometer ride to the ocean to dip our front tires into the water.

That evening we worshipped in the Moravian church. On the East coast many people speak English as they also did in this church. We were very blessed by attending this service and the people were very excited to hear about our trip. The congregation was made up mostly of older members who formed a choir and prepared a special song for us. This church meets five nights a week for worship. They have had to move their time of worship earlier in the evening recently because of safety and security at night. That evening I was surprised to receive a birthday cake from my fellow biking friends.

I haven't gathered a lot of pictures yet, but this is one from the first day.

This is the Nica crew (all those who live in Nicaragua) dipping their back tire into the Atlantic Ocean (missing are Luis and Nestor)