Day 1

Hello followers! It was nice having our first full day in Nicaragua. This morning we woke up to great, warm weather and enjoyed a nice breakfast with papaya, pineapple, cantaloupe, omelets, croissants, rice, bacon?, beet juice and orange juice. We were definitely full to the brim as we headed to the "poli" to play El Salvador. The drive to the poli made it obvious there are few driving laws that are followed by Nicaraguan drivers. Our bus driver made us feel like we were good drivers, haha. After the bumpy ride and a few close calls, we finally made it to the poli.

We felt at home at the poli as the stadium seats were blue and gold. There were open doors to the outside which provided much needed breezes and local onlookers. We began warming up and realized it was very different from our usual hour warm-up. We began peppering, and had shared court time where both teams did hitting lines at each other. Luckily no one was injured. After serving at each other, we began the match. After getting off to a slow start we managed a victory in 3 games. Playing the El Salvador team was very fun and interesting, and we attempted to pick up some of their cheers and sayings.

After the match, we went on a school bus tour of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. We visited a beautiful look-out point with a lagoon on one side and Lake Managua on the other. From our tour guide Sam, we learned about some political history of Nicaragua. We then stopped by a mall where we got to eat in the food court. They had Pizza Hut, Sbarro's, Quizno's, Subway, but most of us decided to try more of the authentic restaurants.

Next on our agenda was heading back to Las Mercedes Best Western to relax by the pool and take much needed naps. The sun and warmth felt wonderful!

We returned to the poli to play the Nicaragua team with a much bigger and exciting crowd. We were fortunate enough to watch the Nicaraguan Mens Team play the El Salvador Mens Team. They were a lot of fun to watch, and we noticed a Joey look-alike from the TV show "Friends" (if you can understand the reference). We then warmed up and played the woman's Nicaragua team. They were much faster than the El Salvador team, and we struggled for the first two games. The third game was much more exciting, we battled back and forth, before we lost 27-25. We will have a re-match tomorrow morning, and we are all eager to face them once more! After giving both the El Salvador and Nicaragua Teams UWEC t-shirts, we got to relax and eat pizza with them. After Rachel blew out her pizza birthday candle we loaded the bus and came back to the motel. We have a long day tomorrow... stay tuned!

Buenas noches! Liz Amici & Kristen Moore