Time to renew the passports....

Well, our 90 days was up and that means we have to leave the country to renew our passports. Our wonderful Canadian friends decided to take this trip with us since they have never been to Nicaragua and I guess they consider us the "experts"now..ha ha..that seems funny as we think about our first experience trying to cross the border. Seems so long ago now. Anyway, we are gearing up for a few days of fun, adventure and sweat mixed in. I have had to split up our trip into 3 different posts so....don't miss any of them if you want the whole story.

Welcome to Nicaragua again Martinsen Family!! We were so excited to have Alex and Mariah with us this time.

This is where we will spend our first night...back on Ometepe where it all began.

The lovely ferry that takes us on the hour long ride to the island

This monkey is the mascot of the dock. He is chained up and a little grumpy about that.

Alex shocked us all by actually buying a "perro caliente"from this vendor! He only ate one bite before he knew he had made a mistake. Is this the same kid who would not even eat a strawberry before his mission and now he will try unidentified meat products in a 3rd world country??

About to get on the Ferry.....I tried to capture our trip in these posts below without taking up too much time for details. So, enjoy the posts....

We rented scooters to take around the island since it is the easiest way to get around...more fun and less hassle than the local buses. We had 2 on a scooter except Alex had his own motorcycle until.....

Mariah had a little accident just as we were getting started for the morning. Ended up at the local clinic getting the wounds cleaned up and bandaged. Such a bummer for her. It shook her up a bit but we were all so thankful that it wasn't worse. It was interesting to experience the local health care on the island. Would have been nerve wracking to have anything more than scraped up feet and knees being treated, but hey it was free...even the prescriptions were free. NOT in favor of socialized health care, but I guess in this case it was nice.

Here is our little patient after the wounds were cleaned and bandaged up. She still looks pretty even when she is injured huh? We had all been on our way to the natural springs to swim so she is dressed in a cover-up and flip flops....we found out the hard way, that is not proper attire to be driving a scooter in!


It was a wonderful moment to be reunited with my "island sister", Leyla. Oh how I love this lady!

Her sweet little girl Melissa is painfully shy and does not like her picture taken. She was peeking out the door at us.

Baby chicks were getting lots of attention from our gang

Leyla and Emerson had a cage full of baby parrots that all the kids were having fun with too.

Love Emma's face in this picture as she is trying to get the parrot on her finger

There....she got it

Next we went around the island to Ojo de Agua (eye of the water). It is a beautiful natural spring that is so clear and refreshing. The water is supposed to have healing powers and make you younger as well...what do you think? Do I look younger????

3 Martinsen men enjoying the springs...this is really a beautiful place. Hard to capture it well through pics.

Emma and Luc had a blast here. They get along so well. We had arranged for a taxi to pick up Leyla, Emerson and the kids but it apparantly never showed up so they were not able to meet us here. Such a disappointment! We were able to fit their son Heyido on the back of one of our scooters so at least he was able to come with us.

We went back after the springs and made sure they got a taxi into town to have lunch with us. Simone from the Hotel cooked us up a wonderful Italian pasta with the best meat sauce we had ever tasted!

Here is a group shot of our family with them. This is truly one of the sweetest families we have ever met and we love them with a bond that will last forever. My heart was pounding as I knew that saying goodbye was only minutes away now....

This was painful. We tried to hug hard enough to make it last forever. Leyla will always have a very special place in my heart. I feel that we knew each other in the pre-existence and I promised to find her. The miracle is that we did find each other. I can't put into words how I feel about her and how we connected. I don't know when we will ever see each other again, but I hope that the Lord allows us to have that blessing again in this life...if not, then I know we will see each other again someday. Her life is on the island and most likely it will always be there. Life is hard for them . I feel so incredibly blessed to have what I have when I see how they live. They are always smiling though. Such a beautiful lesson for our family.

Us on the ferry and them on the dock....we waved and blew kisses until they were just a small speck on the island.....until we meet again. We love you!