Managua to Leon to Chacraseca

For more than a few months I have known that my sister-in-law's parents were preparing to come to Nicaragua with some people from their church, and my brother and hers church. They'd gotten involved over a year before with a community outreach project, really directing, a project that would connect the people of their two churches in Cleveland and the people of the church in the rural county of Chacraseca, Nicaragua, just outside of Leon.

In fact over a year ago hearing them talk about their experience, having just returned from their very first visit to Nicaragua, actually was part of what reignited a spark in me, or perhaps reminded me, that I'd once before thought I'd love to bring my child to see and experience this country, it's people, and culture...there were many reminders along the way, but this was one of the earlier ones.

I'd been in touch with them prior to our leaving to come here with a note saying we'd love to connect with them while they are here and the hope that it would be possible despite a 2-3 hour difference in our geographic locations. After several emails and some logistical planning on the ground here in Nicaragua from their local coordinator, we made it happen and Sam and I planned to join them for a long weekend (almost perfectly, coincidentally Sam had this past Friday off from school) and we left early in the day on a shuttle to Leon.

Fresh faced having just left Granada

We snapped photos all along the way, first driving through Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, and by far the largest city in the country.  We saw lots of universities, businesses we recognized, billboards galore, and even a circus tent.

House along the highway

Welcome to Managua

Yes, the Portugal Circus

More Managua

The trees, those trees.

Notice the beautiful roads....apparently Nicaragua is known for having great roads, compared to some of it's Central American neighbors, even better roads than Costa Rica I've heard.

We borrowed a Nat Geo map on the shuttle from some travelers to figure out which volcano was which, they are awesome and there are many that run a straight line through the country.

Mombotombo....seems to be the most perfect triangle of a volcano I've seen here

The last 45 minutes between Managua and Leon were the toughest, it seemed to get hotter and hotter the further north we got.  The time and heat had warn on us a bit and when we arrived in Leon the driver didn't seem to know the city so he was asking lots of folks for directions. We ended up driving around the city an extra 30 minutes dropping off other passengers before we came back to our very first stop in the city, just 1.5 blocks from exactly where we wanted to be....oh well...it could always be worse.  We were so glad to land in the city square, the cathedral all in white was amazing, we were supposed to meet a taxi at a restaurant along there so we headed in ordered some fruit batidos (smoothies), splashed some water on our faces, snapped a few selfies, I sent Sam to run through the park out front....he sure needed to run after being cooped up for so many hours and we had one more 20 minute taxi ride to go, at least. 

Not sure of this one's name, I snapped it while shuttling around the city

Running Sam

Cathedral Selfie

Victor, the taxi driver, found us easily in the restaurant, and after 5 minutes more of "running Sam" we headed down the block to his cab to head out into the county of Chacraseca and meet our family and new friends.  About half way there, despite rolling up the windows, putting on some AC, the heat became too much for Sam and his tummy emptied in poor Victor's cab....in the middle of the dirt road in the country.  Not fun, I could tell Victor took pride in keeping his cab clean, and poor Sammy, he'd had enough heated travel.  We cleaned up what we could, got back in and luckily found we only had about 10 minutes more to ride.  Phew!!

We were welcomed to the Peace House, a house for the various groups that come for projects in the area, and the once home of a Maryknoll sister who had lived in the area for many years and later retired there. We meet the team of folks from the church in Cleveland, got settled in and then got back on another shuttle bus to head to the Pacific....we'd had a lot of riding that day but nothing was keeping us from the ocean, and we felt renewed having stopped a bit, and now having new folks to talk and engage with.  The ocean was not far, maybe 30 minutes, we arrived at a restaurant right on the beach, got some tables and then headed out to the water.....WooooHooo...I'm absolutely sure that is what was going through Sam's head! 

La playa at Las Peñitas

Our restaurant just over my shoulder

Where Sam stayed until it was so dark I had to make him come in

More Sunset Please

My dinner. Not what I pictured I was ordering but it was delicious!

On Saturday we were able to join the group from Cleveland as they meet various members of the community in their homes, meet there families, learned about how they earned a living or were working to improve their homes.  It was humbling to be included with this group and to be welcomed so freely into the homes of their parishioners.

Francis, our interpreter, helps someone ask a question to our host

Sam making friends in an instant

This little guy hanging out while we saw his family's new cooking stove

Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Chacraseca, Nicaragua

Their bell tower

On Sunday the entire group packed up and headed south in the van and we visited a family's home in San Juan de Oriente (about 25 minutes from Granada where we live). They served us lunch, demostrated how they created hand made pottery, from clay brick to amazingly formed pot, painted, etched, baked, and shelved....Wow...now that is something! Sam was in awww (as were we all!) watching the clay block go from just clay to pot....it really was something watching him form it and looked so effortless, his skill displayed.

Clay from the ground in that area

Not long after this amazing pot is born

After the coloring is complete the potters son adds geometric designs

Another son explains the kiln and baking process and the effort involved

After the visit to the town Sam and I caught a cab to Granada to make our way home, we were happy to be back and full from the wonderful weekend learning from many people in Nicaragua.


Special thanks to our friends and family at St. John's Parish in Euclid, OH and the Just Hope organization.