Life outside of the City

You know how sometimes you need to remind yourself that you are in a new and exciting place? Well, I had that today as I ventured outside the city of Managua. I have already become so used to things at Qunita Allyson (where I am living)and the school that I kinda forgot that I was in Nicaragua. Nothing changes that thinking like a trip to somewhere new. Aimee Bootsma took Erin, Patricia and I on a little trip to a Laguna dea pollo (I thinking I butchered the spelling). The road there took us up into the hills and the country side. It was refreshing to see a different side of Nicaraguan life and landscape. We drove through several little towns, many of which have specialities. For example, some towns specialize in furniture, plants, pottery or hammocks. In the furniture town, almost every front porch had some kind of furniture for sale.
We actually ended up stopping in the pottery town because Aimee new of a nice shop that she has visited a few times before. As I walked around gazing at the beautiful artwork, the owner of the shop asked if we wanted to see how the pottery is made, and of course I said yes! He took us down below to the pottery area and had his 17 year old son show us how it is done. Pottery is a family thing, and this guy said that he has been doing pottery for over 5 years already. Wow! After showing us how it is done, he asked if we wanted to try. I got really excited and said, "really? Can I?" So I put on the potter's apron and jumped behind the wheel. The guy did the spinning of the wheel for me, so all I had to do was form the clay. Let me tell you, it is a lot harder than it looks. I kinda botched the creation a few times. I am sure the guy thought I was terrible. But that was okay because I was in my happy place. I picked up my creation and examined it. Okay, it had a few problems, but I had made it! We took a picture for eternal evidence and then I handed it back to the guy who,I am sure, was happy to make something new out of it. I washed up the mess on my hands, walked back up to the store, and started picking out a beautiful piece of pottery for me to remeber my visit.
We got back on the road and headed toward the Laguna. This place is actually a crater lake on an old volcano. We took a curvy road down the crater to the lake where we found a nice little resort. If you buy your lunch there, you are allowed to swim and hang out in the water. So, we had a delicious meal and then got into our suits. The water was a beautiful greenish color and was almost warm in temperature. We floated out for a while on tubes and did some swimming. The area is covered in beautiful trees and flowers, and is very relaxing. Aimee showed us some pumas rock, so I grabbed some as a souvenir. I also attempted a running dive off of the high dock with my goggles on, but the attempt resulted in a belly flop... and I got thethe wind knocked out of me. I guess you could call it an embarrassing moment. I like to think of it as a failed experiment.
After laying in the sun the rest of the afternoon, we headed back to Managua. It was a great day over all.