Everything seems in order at the last check. Everyone has got their own rucsac for the day. These gift-rucsacs come into their own today. They were donated by the people of the Pompe in the Netherlands last summer, and appreciated – except that Jonathan didn’t like the addition of a name tag on his bag and took it off straight away!
We waited for the mini-bus. ´We´ means all residents and regular day staff of the community home. Our night shift staff were not able to join the outing, but we were delighted that our staff members doña Mayra could bring her son, Carmen her daughter and Ana her sister. By way of a joint-effort raffle campaign we raised enough money to cover the entire cost of the outing. Nice, because by our standards the cost of renting a minibus for 5.000 cordobas (= $ 150,- US) is a lot.
The beach
The mini-bus arrived at 7 am. We quickly loaded up and were off for our journey to Masachapa, the nearest beach to Juigalpa, but nonetheless a 4-hour drive. We arrived at the beach around 11 am after a brief sanitary stop on the way. We did not need to search for the best stretch of beach: the sea at the nearest beach was calm and shallow and had a pleasant temperature. The pictures show how much everyone enjoyed it.
The beach was very quiet; we could not even find a restaurant open for business. Tourism has drastically declined since the socio-political crisis which started in April 2018. Fortunately we found a ‘senora’ who was willing to rent to us chairs, tables and a sun shade made with supporting poles and palm leaves for a fair price, so we could enjoy the lunch, cooked by doña Mayra at home, in all comfort. As icing on the cake we finished off our lunch with an ice cream bought from a local seller.
Blow-out tyre on the way back
We started the return journey around 5 pm in order to avoid the rush hour in Managua. Our aim was to be back not much after 8 pm, which for most of us is bedtime. But our mini-bus had a blow-out. Fortunately the driver had a spare wheel and everything else needed to replace the burst tyre. We enjoyed our supper while he fixed the tyre, but of course it took time, and in the end we did not get home till 10 pm. Everyone was still in a good mood after having enjoyed this day ‘with a golden edge.’
Surprise
The day became even more special when we met the owner of the mini-bus who insisted that lending her vehicle to us was her contribution to the outing! Together we are able to create beautiful events and memories. Of course we hope we will be able to have more of these kinds of experiences next year!