On Our Way!

Five of us, Pastor Joe, Fred, Janet, Linda and Eric, left Chicago's O'Hare International Airport this evening to begin our journey to León, Nicaragua. We traveled to Houston where, after some initial, and all too common mis-steps, we finally arrived at our hotel.

There are a few fun things that us suburban Chicago types will have to get used to when traveling across cultures. One thing is that, when in Texas, they make announcements about picking up your firearms at the airport! ...and we all neglected to carry this trip. ;-)

Our trip went wonderfully smoothly for the most part. Our flight was completely full, but we all made it on board and departed on time. The flight was smooth, and our neighbors very polite (this can be a rarity on full flights) and the flight attendants were great.

Just when we thought all was well, we went to catch our shuttle to the hotel. I called to find out about picking it up. The hotel clerk said '20 minutes' and took my number so he could call when the van was there. So in walking out to see if anyone was there, a La Quinta van was waiting. I asked, and he said he was FULL! In calling the hotel again, the clerk said "No problem, the driver will be right back." It's a 15 minute drive, so that added another 30 minutes to our wait. While we stood there, to be sure we got on the next shuttle, it was somewhat entertaining to watch the shuttle driver antics. At one point, SIX Parking Spot vans were parked across the lanes, just blocking traffic. In good mission trip creative thinking form, it was at least part of the discussion to see about offering one of their drivers a few bucks to take us to our hotel. Yep, we're all on the same page!

These are supposed to be airport shuttle pick up lanes, not a Parking Spot bus depot.

In any case, after waiting 50 minutes for our shuttle, we are all checked in to our rooms and getting rested. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will meet downstairs at 6:00 am for a quick snack before our 6:30 am shuttle. We want to ensure that we all get on this one since we have to catch a morning flight to Managua, and then on to León! Our group of five will meet up with Jim and Tedde at the airport to complete our team of seven. The excitement and anticipation is building, and it sounds like everyone is ready to go.

A map of Central America, and pin showing the location of León.

In looking at our weather forecast, it looks like we're also in for some warm weather, especially for those of us coming from the Midwest and our single digits. The forecast? 99F - 100F each of our work days!

Stay tuned, and please keep us in your prayers that we stay safe and healthy with the high heat.

Faithfully,
The PCB Living Water Team.