Hello from not sure where...

A few days ago we finished our service project at Los Quinchos in San Marcos. I got so exhausted that day I ended up with a cold and a stomach ache. It was fun though. My favorite little one at the girl's home was Belen. We hung out for most of the day. She tried to give me one of her stuffed animals but of course I couldn't take it. She kept saying, Don't be ungracious. Haa.

I still have that cold. And I'm extremely worn out from so much work. Our course ends in 2 weeks. We had an issue, very big, happen a few days back. My co-instructor has a mental illness which turned into a manic episode and I had to summon police and then coordinate hospital care for him. It was a very unfortunate experience for all of us involved. At the end of the day, he is now at home, our group is getting through it, and I am recuperating from the massive amount stress and shock of having to watch a friend go through such a terrible episode.

In order to change things up for our students and not spend the next 2 weeks dwelling on our experience, we've decided to check out Nicaragua's most unexplored parts.

Last night we left Managua on a super full, sweaty, overnight school bus headed for a southern point where the Rio San Juan begins, just at the Nica / Costa Rica border. I get a bit car or bus sick so last night was, um, challenging. The bus was full as full can be with people literally stampeding to get on the bus. My seat was number 38. Luckily I got a window. The ride was 9 hours long on a regular school bus. I was also battling my cold and lack of sleep. I popped a Nyquil (thanks Leah) and had a drowsy, surreal bus ride. The ride was unpaved for the last 4 hours. I shared a seat with a woman and her kid. Her kid slept on me as if I were her mama, too. So the 3 of us half-slept and changed positions every few minutes.

I called home briefly, spoke to my mom and my bro. Everyone was about to eat Thanksgiving dinner. It was a hard call to make. I miss my fam. I don't think I've ever not had even dinner on Thanksgiving before.

We finally arrived at the Rio San Juan port at 2 am and spent until 6 am sleeping on the bus. Our boat left at 6:30 am to where we are now, El Castillo. The community is right along the river. I saw 2 monkeys in trees.



Next we are off to San Juan del Norte, then up to Bluefields and Pearl Lagoon. Then a boat over to the Corn Islands. We will be closing up our course on Little Corn Island and flying back to Managua on the 6th of December. Since I'm not big on flying, I am not super stoked about this small, inter-Nicaragua flight. But I've done my research and they've only crashed 1 time. I don't like even reporting that I'm scared about this, but I am. It's gonna be hard for me to board that plane. However, thinking about how long it would take by land, and last night's bus ride, I'll probably manage.