March 2- Wed-- Houston, Managua and tour.

Early, early flight to Houston- kept me from sleeping well the night before, but excitement and a little terror kept me awake during the flight/s today- March 2.  I've never flown with United airlines before, but they aren't very different from other North American airlines.  They do have a clever safety message at the beginning of the flight.  Since it was so early, we were given a breakfast waffle-ish cookie as a snack.  Not sure where it originated, but its name is Stroopwaffel and was a light crisp cookie with a sweet filling.

We received one on the flight from DFW to

Houston and again from Houston to Managua.   Very uneventful flight except for having to pay way too much for my overweight second suitcase containing most of the teaching supplies.  I have already been thinking of a way to avoid such a huge charge the next time we go.  On the flight from Houston to Managua we were treated to a sight of an active volcano, Momotombo.


Our hotel was literally across the street from the airport, so we were in our rooms in no time, we freshened up and rested til time to go on our prearranged city tour of Managua. The Best Western Hotel did not have "clean" water in the bathroom as the picture indicates.

 Our tour guide Tonia and the driver Gerald were very knowledgable and helpful in answering our questions.  I know better, but I left my notebook in the room during the tour, so I later recorded only the facts and items of information that I could remember from her recitation of revolution after revolution and hurricanes and earthquakes.  This has been a truly beleaguered country/city. The driver stopped at a service station with an ATM, so some of us could purchase Cordovas (Nica money) During the tour, we saw many official buildings, parks and "trees of life", which dot the city in various colors.

Our tour ended at the Restaurante de Dona Haydee-- very typical Nicaraguan cuisine-- where we met with Belinda and Juan who work with the Living Waters network and who help to make arrangements for our systems and travel advice.  Food was interesting, had I known more about what I was ordering, I might have made a different choice, but it was tasty and different.  It was basically shreaded beef mixed with cooked cornmeal.  The best part of the meal was the "refresco" (drink) made from melon juice.  Mmmmm
Went back to the Best Western and enjoyed a good night's sleep, but it was a bit short because of our flight out early on Thursday morning.