Breakfast spot toward the end of the trip. Fun with a Pinata Thursday evening jam session. Amazing leaders: Carla and Yaneth Nora   The “mules” heading out to the construction site. Is there anything Lance can’t do? Yaneth and Maria cooking lunch.

Nancy shares these photos of Nicaraguan children the team met. Sisters The youngest patient seen in the clinic — 14 weeks old.

-Sitting at CEPAD with Lance, Carty and Dr Tim: Well, we made it back to Managua from our adventures. Spent last night at a charming little home-style resort at Lake Apoyo called g Abuelo (Grandmother’s House). Susan conducted the most lovely yoga class on the deck for some of us, …

Ninas showing off their tissue paper flowers. Waiting for flouride treatments for their teeth.   Painting flouride on teeth.

A beautiful beginning to the first day in Las Mercedes. Counting ibuprofen for home health kits. The clinic opens at 11:00 a.m. Making home health kits. Great teamwork! Yoga during the lunch break.    The view from Las Mercedes.    Filling orders.    First day in the clinic.    

CLINIC DAYS 1 & 2. Because of the pressures of my very important job at the medical clinic (I’m basically the bouncer) I am getting a little behind in my writing and will combine days one and two. But first, I want to go back to packing. I found out …

Monday, Matagalpa. We had a pleasant enough bus ride; It is peak coffee season, and the roads up to town were lined with drying coffee beans. As a bonus, the road to Matagalpa is now paved. Matagalpa itself is a cute little mountain town of about half a million. Very …

6:30 AM CEPAD compound: Everyone is up and out of bed and in good spirits with coffee and the smell of breakfast in the air. Presumably rice and beans? Last night, at the airport, we met up with the group from North Carolina, who seem like a bunch of good-natured …

10:30 PM CEPAD Compound, Managua, Nicaragua After a relatively uneventful flight, but a very close connection in Houston (see below), and then a 2.5 hour flight down to Managua airport, we have all arrived safe and sound. The night temperature here is very pleasant, and there’s a smell of oranges …

Traveling is hard for me, as I tend to procrastinate. Or, more precisely, because I try to get too many things done in too short an amount of time. It’s a personality trait that I have consciously tried to combat over the years, but somehow with this particular mission trip, I …

Our Nicaragua mission team leaves on Sat., Feb. 21 to spend a week partnering with the poorest of the poor in a rural Nicaraguan village. Together they will conduct a medical clinic, treating individuals who may have never before in their lives seen a doctor, and will assist with construction …

Each Nicaragua mission team is preceded by a small advance team which travels a few days before the full group to deal with the inevitable bureaucracy of the Nicaraguan government. The advance team’s work can prevent delays for the entire team, ensuring that the health professionals and others who are …