I'm Alive, Gracias a Dios!

So lightning struck twice, but by the grace of God I am still here to bring you this glorious blog! hah Anyway, I was very grateful not to be included in the 67 deaths last week (31 drownings, 27 by violence and 9 by transit accidents, according to El Nuevo Diario...slightly closer to Elena's estimates than the guy on the bus). But, I did have a near death experience...one that closely resembled a similar one from last summer...we shall call it "casi muerte por bicicleta," or "almost death by bike."

We decided to rent bikes on the island (which was gorgeous and exotic, with two volcanoes and fresh water beaches...I started feeling slightly guilty, being as this was my third vacation in 3 weeks...I work hard the rest of the time, I promise! Anyway, back to the story.). This is the point where I should have politely declined in quiet reverence or out of pure common sense, remembering my spill on the bike path in Georgetown last year that resulted in a large gash in my left knee and hand and thankfully nothing else. I'm assuming you already know my response, though.

"SI! Let's go!"

All was fine for the first couple kilometers (for me anyway...one of Reyna's friends who didn't know how to ride a bike rode on the crossbar of another friend's bike, and they crashed into a ditch, so she had to hitch a ride to get where we were going...she made sure to put a giant rock in her purse first for protection though, lol. As she says..."You just never know, Amanda!")

Then we hit the hills. My breaks were slightly squeaky and sporadic, so that scared me slightly. Finally, going down one of the larger ones, I bit it. Big time. My towel got caught in the spokes of the front wheel, but I luckily went down the same way as last year, hitting my knee and elbow instead of my head. Blood was gushing, my sunglasses went flying and of course I ended up in front of a church with open doors that was having their Good Friday service. So Reyna comes flying down the hill screaming, are you okay? And I'm trying to reassure her in Spanish that everything is fine, it doesn't hurt, despite the fact that there my knee is a dark blob of evidence to the contrary. On the bright side, the wounds were large enough that they didn't dry over the next 4 or so kilometers riding to the beach, so it didn't hurt too bad. There I was able to wash it in the lake, and then clean it using my Purell and travel toilet paper lol. We also had drinks at a beachside bar there, so you know Facebook pics are coming of the wound lol.

I have found three positives in this experience:

1) It was on a gorgeous island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, so I really have nothing to complain about.

2) The scar, though slightly bigger than the one from last year, is in the same exact place as the one before, so I will not have any more new scars on my already battered legs.

3) I didn't have to find out how emergency transport works on the beach. As we were leaving the island on the ferry, we saw two gravely ill people being lifted by relatives into a tiny motorboat, their IVs being held by other family members and shielded from the hot sun only by putting a shirt over their heads. I was trying to picture what would have happened if I had flown over the handlebars: For instance, how they would have secured a head wound for transport, but, as Reyna put it, "It would be better just to go right there on the island!"


OK, enough of this crazy rambling lol. Hope everyone had a great Easter! I went with Reyna to a service in Batahola Norte, where I may be living in the future, right in Central Managua, and the priest had a great message about taking responsibility for your life and making the changes you want to see in it. I think this was God's way of telling me that next time I should wear a helmet...