Bucknell Brigade

The first thing on the agenda was driving to a dormant volcano and hiking around for a while. The volcano had an amazing story: it had erupted and completely devastated the community so many times in the past that it was considered the gateway to hell. Locals erected a giant cross on the crest of the volcano in an attempt to exorcise the area and prevent further tragedies. Needless to say, the whole area had a certain feel projected onto it by the large cross overhead. We hiked around the area and took some pictures and then we were off again.

Next, we headed to San Juan where we met Pedro Guerrera, an extremely skilled potter and artisan. He gave us a demonstration of throwing an entire vase on his foot-powered pottery wheel. The whole process only took about 10 or 15 minutes and the result was amazing. The whole time he worked on the pot he was also explaining the steps to us and hardly even looking at what he was doing. After he had finished, we were all amazed and had a chance to buy his pottery. But only a little time was allowed for that and soon enough we were off again, headed for lunch at the volcanic Lake Apollo.

The view from the outdoor table we had at the restaurant was one of the, if not the most, spectacular view I have ever seen. Below us was a huge volcanic lake with green forest and volcanoes on the sides and in the distance the north edge of Lake Nicaragua could be seen. We were served steak and rice and some delicious frescos and then pretty soon, just to keep up the trend, we were off again.

We headed down a long and winding road that took us to the edge of the lake, where we had about two hours to play in the lukewarm water. We had kayaks and tubes and a dock to jump from and, for a while, I completely forgot I had been doing manual labor for the past couple days. It was a surreal area and I still can't believe how gorgeous and secluded it was. But we are not a group to stay in one place long. We had a schedule and pretty soon we were off again.

Next we headed to Masaya for the famed Masaya Markets. We had about an hour of shopping in the markets and I know I was completely lost. There was so much stuff to buy that I was completely overwhelmed. I walked around the markets for about 45 minutes just trying to see what they had to offer (although I have to say a lot of my time was spent gawking at the machetes and other large knives that were for sale) and then I got down to business and made a couple purchases. We left Masaya at around 5:40 and headed back to JHC.

Arriving back at JHC, we showered and ate a quick dinner. We are currently getting ready to go to the discothèque. Apparently, it is a combination bar and a club with a live band. I don't know what the chances are that I am going to have another seizure out on the dance floor tonight, but I guess anything is possible. So, keeping up with the trend of the day, I have to get going because we are leaving soon!

This entire day was not expected and a very nice surprise for the whole Brigade experience.