Trip to Altagracia on the island of Ometepe

 (View from the Ferry Boat Cabin)

 (Hi Class...inside the Ferry Boat Cabin)

 (Central Park in Altagracia)

 (Home fence..apparently sponsored by Nike :-)~

 ("I know exactly where we are" LOL. He did know, but we found out that this town's way bigger than we thought))

(Little piggies strolling thru town)

The English Regional Convention is this month in El Salvador (English from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala & Nicaragua are assigned), so we are doing the Invitation Campaign. We left at 6:30 am, traveled 1 hr by taxi to the port in San Jorge, then a 1 hr Ferry ride to Ometepe Island, then another 1 hr bus ride to the town of Altagracia). We only had a few known English contacts, so we went ahead & censused as much as possible & found 8 more English contacts, all Nicaraguan. It was a long, hot day, but very successful...realizing it was a larger territory than originally thought :-) The plan was to take the bus to a closer port, so that we could take a 3pm ferry. The bus driver forgot to stop at the port in San Jose, so we had to take the 1 hr ride back to the port in Moyogalpa...missing the 3pm boat..ugh. We ended up waiting for the 4pm ferry, then 1 hr taxi ride home, arriving at 6pm...11.5 hour day!!!!

Exploying Playa Gigante

(Steve & Elki from Australia)

 (Steve & Elki from Australia)

 

(Aussie Steve taking a much needed break at a seaside restaurant )

(Kiwi Steve, Aussie Steve & Bryan trying to figure out how to get to the large cliff-side homes)

So, it's been a while since our last post, but we've basically just been living life...no super adventures to report. Our group is now preparing for the large influx of JW visitors (60 + People) in Dec/Jan. Only the towns of San Juan Del Sur, Rivas & Moyogalpa on the island of Ometepe have actual territory maps...the rest of our large territory has to be explored & mapped out. So, a few weeks ago we drove 1.5 hours NW to the Playa Gigante...a gorgeous beach w/lots of ex-pats living there. We basically just traveled down dirt roads till we found civilization, then did census work looking for English speakers. Most of the foreigners live right on the beach or cliff-side. We found a road with beach access, parked, then walked the beach from house to house to bar to restaurant to hotel. We found a lot of interest :-) There are no buses to & from this territory, so the plan is to rent a small bus or large pickup truck to take the majority of our group. We'll prob stay a few days, stay in hostels, have bonfires on the beach at night....great surf spot, as well :-)