Day 3

Looks like mornings are the best time to journal and blog during my vacation; Our days are filled with activities. Yesterday was great. We headed out to Juayua, a happening village that holds food festivals each weekend, and spent some time eating and perusing craft, vendor stalls. The road trip to Juayua took about one hour and was another reminder of God's beautiful creation as we took in the lush landscape and backdrop of volcanoes and mountains (which Jenny, Dave's coworker and our friend, informed me, "are mountains with a big hole in the middle" :)). Once in the town we were surrounded by brightly painted homes and seemingly everyone standing in their doorways or 'out and about' on the streets. We enjoyed the authentic cuisine and then explored around the town center. The weather shortly turned on us and we ended up taking sanctuary (pun intended) in a church.

Our next stop was local waterfalls. OMgoodness! Can we say B-E-A-U-tiful! The pics will just have to do it justice bc I cannot. It was fun! Worth mentioning is this cute kid who was our guide (yes, officially) and took us through the junglely (?) mountain to the waterfalls. He couldn't have been older than ten. He held our hand crossing little bridges and always looked over his shoulder to make sure the whole group was following. Isn't it true that the people of a country display it's worth?

Disaster struck as we tried to drive our truck back up the unpaved, steep road we had traveled on to get to the waterfalls. Reid should have been driving up bc he has the most experience with 4 wheel drives, manual transmission and off- roading. But anyway, it was doomed for failure with all of us piled up in the car and slowly trekking up the muddy road. Luckily, a few locals were with us and after we unloaded and chains were put on the tires, Reid saved the day and drove the truck safely past the most treacherous part of the trail. And a big shout out to God who had control of the weather and daylight (not to mention who rules the universe, too) and helped us get out just in time. Thank you!

A steak and potato dinner at Los Ranchos topped off the evening. Mucho Gusto!!