Day Trip to the Lagoon

As I type this, at 9:45 p.m., every member of our trip is either soaked or asleep. As you might guess, I am in the soaked group. We had an awesome, yet tiring, time with the kids then braved two rounds of intense rain storms. The latter storm sprung up while we were watching the NBA playoffs at a local bar. It not only shut down the satellite feed with three minutes left in the game, but also forced us to sprint back to the hotel while getting drenched.

However dreary our evening was, it couldn’t put a (bad pun alert) damper on the day. Our day trip with the kids to a lagoon turned out to be a great success. We anticipated some resistance from the moms about sending the kids with us unaccompanied. The kids’ moms have always tagged along for our group events, which until now have always been local.

For this trip, we wanted to just take the kids in order to bond with them apart from their moms. Plus, between us and the kids, we already had to fit 27 people in the van. However, the moms were gracious and allowed us to take the kids without any fight. We loaded in the van and headed off to Laguna de Apoyo around 8:45 a.m.

The kids had never been to the lagoon, but they certainly were not afraid. Almost immediately after we arrived they changed clothes (or merely stripped down to underwear, in some cases) and jumped in. We spent the morning frolicking (most of the kids can’t swim) in the shallow parts of the lagoon. We had lunch and then most of the kids switched over to the lakeside pool, which obviously meant piggy back rides and large games of “Shark” were in order.

The adults took turns playing with the kids/getting roasted in the sun until we sensed the kids were running out of gas. Indeed, it looked like we left at the right time, as almost all of the kids fell asleep on the ride home and were only jolted awake by the smell of the Pollo Campero carry-out we sent with them as they left.

Then, minutes after their moms picked them up, the first heavy storm started. The lighting led us to delay our much-needed showers for a bit. Powerful storms, to me, are nearly as much beautiful in some way as they are scary, so I enjoyed just watching the downpour from our window.

Our kids are certainly growing up. I am very proud of how they acted today. In general, they behaved better than during previous VISEDAL outings and the cliques so firmly established in the past seemed to have dissipated.

Esmir, our local coordinator here in Managua, told us the kids are doing great in school and in the English lessons he teaches. He remarked that he’s seen vast improvement in the kids’ academics and their behavior over the five months he’s worked with VISEDAL. I have to think that the kids are becoming more comfortable with their new settings. The rough attitudes they developed on the streets are hopefully fading as they spend more time in school.

Our luggage will supposedly be ready to be picked tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. I certainly hope so, as I’m well on my way to a cavity without my toothbrush. But hey, at least my dad and I have bonded over shared deodorant.

Ok, time for me to switch from the soaked group into the asleep group. Tomorrow we’ll visit some of the kids’ schools and hopefully head to the market. Thanks for reading.

-Dylan