Lift Your Head up and Look Around

...

This time on the way home, I didn’t stare out the window, I engaged with my peers and was enjoying the trip. Conversations were getting easier and I felt more comfortable in Nicaragua. That night, we went to the top of Mombacho Volcano which is active to this day. I couldn’t believe that the magma that was only a few hundred feet away from us. As I looked around, I saw the burning magma moving below me, I saw the faint lights of the city through the clouds, and I saw how beautiful nature was. Standing on top of a real, live volcano is truly breathtaking. I searched my bag for my phone, snapped a few pictures, then continued to embrace the moment.

The fourth day was a fan favorite since we spent all day under the sun at a beach in San Juan del Sur. When we arrived, a small group of my friends walked around to explore what was on the island. We found a mysterious cave, a plethora of crabs colored purple and yellow, and a rocky area where we found a large rock that is similar to the one in The Little Mermaid. The waves crashed louder than any other waves I have ever seen, the sand was softer than any other sand I have felt, and the flowers were more colorful than any other flowers I have seen. We walked back to shore to eat lunch with the group; I took a few pictures to remember where we were during lunch and then my friends and I went back to exploring. After I put my phone down, I didn’t think of using it again. Our exploring was interrupted when we were told that we had to leave the island. We gathered all of our towels and got ready to leave. I got butterflies in my stomach when I saw that the waves became bigger as the day went on because I hadn’t listened to our teachers when they told us to take medicine to avoid being sea sick. This was my first time on a boat in the actual ocean, so I didn’t think anything of taking medicine at the time, but once we started hitting the waves and bouncing like crazy, those butterflies wanted to come out of my stomach a not so pretty form. Believe it or not, feeling nauseous on our way back to shore only made more memories for my trip.

Throughout the trip, I became more like the students we spent time with at the school. They didn’t have much, but enjoyed what they had. What my friends were doing with their week or what they were posting on social media was irrelevant to how I spent mine and did not determine if my vacation was enjoyable or not. Going to Nicaragua turned out to be a eye opening and a once in a lifetime experience. I have made it a routine that I put my phone away after 7 pm each night and in general, I use it less. I have come to notice that candid, face-to-face conversations, are favorable.