Day 1: Flying in its Various Forms

 Arriving at the airport

Thanks to the WFS community for our most successful donation drive in the six year history of CASA!  We will have more details on those donations in upcoming posts, but we want to point out that this donation drive would not have been successful had it not been for WFS stepping in at the last minute when the airline would not let us bring our donations without charging us for each bag.  Thanks to WFS, the added cost of bringing all we collected was covered.

 Making our connecting flight in Miami

After organizing and packing our donations the previous night, the boys were on the bus by 2AM.  To give you an idea of how much luggage we had, our bus driver had to get the boys to sit in the front of the bus because the front axle was bouncing from being to back heavy!  Our initial flight was long and most boys found that sleeping on the plane was pretty close to impossible.  We made our connecting flight without any problems and landed in a toasty and humid Managua.  After loading up two micro-buses, we headed to our hotel to drop our things off before going out for lunch.  The boys were very impressed with their rooms and especially the AC.

 Our first meal together in Nicaragua

 Buen provecho!

Lunch was the boys' first Nicaraguan meal, and, they unanimously loved it.  Because of the rain this week and the volcanic activity, our plans have had to change a bit, but we hope to be able to visit el volcan Masaya at the end of our trip since it is closed to visitors for the time being.  The boys were not too upset, though because we had a quick tour of the former White House (including the basement torture chambers) and mini Nicaraguan history lesson before jumping on the zip line strung up over the laguna.  Needless to say, that was a huge hit.

 Sr. Rivera explaining about the revolution

 Touring the torture chambers

 Surveying the laguna 

 Our pre-flight security check

 The runway is clear

 Yeah, that's going to be some smooth sailing

 Ready for take off

 Our "layover"

 Judging by the shoes, I think that is Jorge

 Woody doing acrobatics

 Schwartz with the fly by

 Maverick

 I think Monahan lost his landing gear

 In case of a water landing...

We came back to the hotel for the boys to take a little siesta before dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in all of Nicaragua.  Managua does not seem to have any cyber cafes for us to call home, so we will have to wait to do that in Esteli.  As you can see, the boys are adjusting well are in great spirits.  They will be sleeping in tomorrow and having breakfast in bed.

In front of the White House ruins