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the next morning we woke up, adjusted camp a little and set up our hammocks.

why did we need to adjust our location? b/c that first night there was another group camping there that had taken up all the waterfront property, leaving our little tents all crammed together as if they were huddling for warmth.

the place was amazing, and while we did get visited by a few more “sight seers” than we might have liked (thanks to a new and apparently very fat-person-accessible trail) it was incredibly peaceful and beautiful there.

stephen decided by mid-day that he should probably get a bath as well. i decided to capture that decision for
posterity.

i spent a ton of time on a big rock up above the waterfall. it was a great spot for yoga and for reading. now would be as good a time as any to mention what i wanted to get out for the “guys weekend”. i wanted some time away from my life and from my activities that had effectively become my life. i’ve been thinking about the direction i was heading and what was important to me and where i wanted to be 5 or 50 years from now. i’d been praying for clarity in my career and my personal life and just looking to find some clear direction but felt like i was NEVER providing any time to listen for answers. i was putting no effort into figuring out the kinds of things that should shape the rest of my life. sooooo, we got away for the weekend.

i read two books (“the Jesus i never knew” and “what Jesus meant”) and also took notes on Thessalonians for an article that i’m submitting to Slate.com as a sort of “application” to write a column for them. btw, i can’t recommend the first book enough. the second is good as well, but “the Jesus i never knew” is phenomenal. thanks to emily for giving it to me. that along with song of solomon (another gift from her) have been the two things that have had the most profound impact on my life in the last year.

soooo, anyway, this little seedling was growing on a rock outcrop up where i spent my time reading. i liked it, so i took its picture. there’s nothing artistic or metaphoric about it to the best of my knowledge.

here is a team photo from the second morning. notice we’re still looking to be in pretty decent shape. you can compare or contrast that to how we looked after our hike out

a shot of the base of the waterfall.

so we spent our days swimming in the pool at the base of the waterfall, reading, napping and just spending time together. i came back feeling so energized and feeling such clarity that i couldn’t wait to set up camp there again. it’s just too easy to spend all day long doing something and never take time to do nothing. i love my life right now, and i love the people who are in it, and the opportunities i have been presented, but it seems like when i’m looking out at what’s next on my calender all day every day i never spend any time looking around at what’s going on right now.

anyway, as promised, here’s the pic after we got back to the car. 48 hours with no food followed by a very vigorous one and a half hour hike with a pretty heavy pack leaves you looking like this…..

btw, charles’ tip to anyone who hasn’t done it before on how best to break a fast. what you should NOT do is drink a TON of gatorade and then go to agave and eat a giant steak and a lot of chips and salsa. apparently this is not the way to ease your body back into solids. that advice costs you nothing. until next time!

i took a second trip to nicaragua in april. this time brent nix (the mystery 4th in our group) and john headed down as well. it was john’s 3rd trip and we were taking a look at a couple of places that he had visited before as well as some new places that peter wanted to show us. first we visited a school in tipitapa. these ladies work at the school. the students weren’t there that day, though, b/c the teachers were on strike and the town pump was out so no one (including the school) had any water. in case anyone’s unaware, it’s consistently mid-90’s there with extreme humidity. needless to say, being without water isn’t a treat. our tour giude that day was marcia who is a councilwoman in the area.

these kids were just sitting in a trash pile on the edge of town.

and here a little dude in his drawers peddles his bike down the street.

at the end of day 1 we visited a park that looks down on managua. there they had this giant tom landry statue. we thought it was cool that nicas are cowboys fans.

on day 2 we went and visited peter’s lot at the beach. this beach is about and hour or so outside of managua.

we stopped at a road side stand to get some quesillos. it’s pretty hot during mid-day, so the dogs were just chillin out on the floor.

it’s pretty common for kids to work down there and here we’ve got some kids running cattle down the street.

we went to a school about a quarter mile from there and met the school president (who we gave a soccer ball to). when asked what they wanted most, they said a soccer ball, a door and windows. we’ve gotten them 1/3 of the way there and are working on the rest. these kids also used to have a latrine at the school, until a church built over the top of it. good work guys. : (

this is the tienda of a woman who is the community leader for another community in matagalpa. these people two were oppressively poor, and were forced to their location (near the sewage pond) b/c their former community had been washed off of a hillside nearby.

here are some kids in that same community.

this kid was hitching a rid on a truck into matagalpa.

a picture from outside a women’s clinic in matagalpa.

we headed to esteli to stay that night with our good friend maricella at cuallitlan. she has a great little place there and wonderful food for phenomenal prices. also, she was an especially welcome find on our first trip out there when john and i were still struggling with our spanish due to her perfect english. here we are with her the next morning.

on the way out of town we stopped at la casita. here we encountered some kids enjoying the swings there.

i took this shot of some flowers at la casita as well

and a woman carrying a tired little one home.

we ended up going back to esteli for one more night with maricella and then went out to hit a slot canyon she had recommended. this was a bit of a sketchy experience as you basically turn off a road and have people running up to you offering to be your guide. now, you see NO ONE else there who’s visiting the canyons, and you’re pretty deep in. we figured we had at least 90% odds of surviving and 80% odds of our truck being there when we got back from the canyon. we took the odds and went with my trademark approach: be sure to reference that we’re visiting people with fabretto and mention that we will likely be sending others to come visit the same place.