An open mind and a heart to serve: Eruption

There's been a lot of natural disaster issues taking place here lately but at least nothing terribly dangerous. I'm sure you all heard about the huge earthquake in Costa Rica and it was felt in some parts of Nicaragua. I was on my way into Managua on a bus when it took place so I didn't feel anything, but some did in Managua and I guess it lasted awhile. PC told me it was still safe to come into Managua so that was good I guess. Nothing bad happened and I headed back to my site the next day, taking my friend Julie with me. She got to see Boaco for the first time so it was fun for Jasser & me to be tour guides again.

I'm still taking my medicine and things seem to be going well with that. I actually had my appointment with the specialist and felt so much better just talking to him and knowing he knew exactly what he was talking about. He told me what was wrong with me and what medicine I should take and why. Loved it! So, basically I'm taking medicine to produce more enzymes and protect my intestines from bacteria. Things are digesting better :)

Ok, back to earthquakes and other disasters... So PC sent out a message Friday telling all PCVs that they needed to avoid any volcanoes, beaches, the islands, and the Managua area. I guess the scientists here put us on an alert for increased seismic activity. Well, that warning couldn't have come at a better time since yesterday (Saturday) morning a volcano erupted up in Chinandega. It was actually pretty interesting how this event unfolded. Julie and I were in Frank's site and we all were waiting at the bus stop to catch a bus up to Matagalpa where a PC regional meeting was going to take place, and Julie & I were going to see the corn festival. Julie called me over to see "a weird cloud" and then said it looked like a volcano erupting. Well, it was. We took some pictures and called our friends in the Leon area and after they stepped outside of their homes, they confirmed with us that indeed it was a volcano erupting.

The next step was calling PC, which Monica (who lives in Leon) did after I called her to ask her about the volcanic activity over there. Then, we found out that it was north of them in Chinandega and PC began evacuating all PCVs from that area. We were safe here in Matagalpa because we're far enough away and up in the mountains. We enjoyed the corn festival and sent out good thoughts for those evacuating their sites. They'll probably returning next week, but PC wants to make sure that no other volcanic activity will take place.

Here's a picture of the first part of the eruption. We saw it at about 9am, right when it erupted.