Here's the next bit of the story. It should be almost done. The places in
Nicaragua are real though the story isn't. :o) Oh, I know a little
Spanish, so I went to a translator website to double check so if something
is off, let me know, but blame the translator service!
Enjoy!
"Wakey, wakey, Jim. Time for eggs and baccy!" Blair Sandburg's cheery voice rang out in the small hotel room. He moved about the limited space quickly, repacking the few items he had unpacked the night before. He turned on the TV, hoping to catch a local weather station. Noticing that his partner was still sleeping, Blair took this opportunity to get back at Jim for all the times Jim had very forcibly woke him. Blair grabbed the edge of the thin sheet covering his co-leader, and pulled. Other than a small grunt, Ellison didn't move.
Blair decided this called for drastic measures. He filled a glass of water from the sink. Taking his life in his own hands, he moved back to the other room. Quickly making sure the door to the outside was open, Blair flung the half-filled glass of water on his partner.
"Wha.!" Jim fell out of bed with a bellow. He got to his feet and caught sight of his manically grinning friend. "You're dead, Sandburg!" Jim growled out.
Blair took the opportunity to run for the door, escaping only with inches to spare. "You have to come back here sooner or later, Sandburg!"
Blair didn't slow down-he knew that if he did, Jim would get his revenge. He quickly reached the lobby of Los Felipes, the hotel they were staying in, and decided to buy a bottle of pop. The clerk placed the soda in a plastic bag, tying the opening around the straw. Blair had exchanged a small amount of dollars to Cordoba the night before at the airport so he could pay in local currency. Though he knew that he could have easily paid for the soda in dollars, the anthropology student knew he'd need smaller coins and that he'd need American dollars for leaving the country.
As he was paying, the clerk started talking. "¿Eli Stoddard forma parte de su grupo, sí? Tengo un mensaje para él." (Eli Stoddard is part of your group, yes? I have a message for him).
"Sí, Eli es uno de los líderes del grupo. Yo me cercioraré que él recibe su mensaje. Estoy seguro que él estará en escogerlo en breve arriba. ¡Gracias!" (Yes, Eli is one of the leaders of the group. I will make sure that he receives your message. I am sure that he will be in shortly to pick it up. Thank you!) Blair started walking towards the patio.
Pausing to pet the kittens that seemed to be living in the lobby, Blair moved back to the courtyard to start knocking on doors. The hotel had been fairly empty, so the students had all been placed next to each other quite close to the lobby. He started with Eli's room quickly determining the man was awake and almost ready to go. Informing Eli about the message, they each wished each other good morning and made quick plans to meet in an hour. Blair started walking to wake the other members.
He knocked on the students doors. Everybody was already awake. Several had to finish packing and dressing but everyone still had plenty of time to finish. He delayed going back to his room until the last moment, knowing that Jim would have had time to clean up and would be waiting for him. When he did approach, Jim swung the door open and stared at Blair.
Blair approached cautiously, "Jim, truce man, okay? We have to meet with Eli soon." Blair hoped Jim would wait for the revenge, but then again, the anticipation would be bad-having a specially trained roommate was a challenge sometimes.
As Sandburg approached the door, Jim came running out. By the look on Jim's face, Blair knew he didn't have a chance and took off running.
Jim herded Blair through the trees on the smooth path; the small open aired area was filled with tables, chairs and coaches. These slowed him down and Jim gained ground just as Blair reached the pool.
"Don't think about it, Jim! It'd take forever to dry these clothes out with this humidity. Please!" Jim, however, was not in the mood to be merciful. Blair continued backing up. Within a step or two, he reached the bridge that was crossed the widest part of the pool. He stepped up and turned around, hoping that by taking the bridge, he could avoid Jim.
Jim saw this, and ran even faster to the other end of the pool. Slightly slipping, Jim reached the end just as Blair did. He reached out, grabbed Blair's arm, and swung him around. Putting just the right amount of pressure on Blair, he managed to tip him over into the pool.
Blair came up spluttering. "Jim! I'm going to get you for this! And tests, lots of tests are in your future!"
"Uh huh. Right. Come on, Sandburg, there isn't that much time before we have to meet with Eli. You're going to make us late with your swim." Jim grabbed Blair's hand and helped swing him over to the pool stairs. Not waiting for Blair to finish exiting the pool, Jim walked slowly back to the room. Blair followed quickly, telling Jim that the students were up and mostly ready and that they were meeting with Eli after he picked up his message.
20 minutes later, Blair had changed and had hung his clothes out to door as much as they could before leaving. He'd ask the front desk later if they had a plastic bag he could use so the rest of his clothes wouldn't get wet as well. He didn't have much hope that they would dry anytime soon, though.
Blair and Jim walked over to Eli's door, which was slightly open to catch a breeze. They knocked and slowly opened the door. Eli was sitting on one of the beds, his head in his hands. He looked up and started speaking, "Bad news guys. The message, Blair told you I received a message, yes?" Jim nodded. "Well, the message was from my contact in the government. He asked me to call him back, and I just got off the phone with him. The area we were planning on studying had a major earthquake yesterday afternoon. The entire area is in shambles. He said that aftershocks were felt throughout the country, but that the mountain area we were going to was devastated and that he was recommending that no one go near there, much less study. I have no idea what we're going to do for four weeks!" Eli started pulling at his hair. He knew that the tickets would be very expensive to change and the students would be incredibly disappointed. They had planned on studying a very unique culture and now that opportunity would be lost.
Jim and Blair looked at each other. They were just grateful that they weren't involved in the earthquake; knowing their luck, they would've been at the center of the thing and have terrorists to contend with as well. "Look on the bright side, Eli, at least we weren't up there already with the students. Our original plans had us up there two days ago."
Eli looked up with an expression of disbelief on his face. He started laughing, and soon sounded almost hysterical. "Oh god, with your two's luck, I'm surprised that didn't happen! You're right. We're here. We're healthy, everything else will come out in the wash."
"You know," Jim started out slowly, "we had planned on showing the students around the country anyway. We were only going to be up in the mountains for part of the trip. Nothing we planned was written in stone. We could do the touristy stuff first and then when we've run out of places to see, we could have a discussion then about where to go. Let's get the students together, check out the Lonely Planet Guidebook and see what other places the students would like to go to in addition to the ones we've already picked out. I know that there are islands in either Lake Managua or Lake Nicaragua that cater to tourists. Maybe we could spend some time there."
"Good idea. Blair, why don't you round up the students. Get their perspective on events and go from there." Eli gestured out the door, and waited for Blair to follow his directive. Sandburg walked out the door and started knocking on doors. He grew concerned as no one was answering the door at any of the rooms. He turned around when he heard laughter from the patio around the pool. Walking quickly over to them, he rapidly told them about the earthquake.
"Don't worry, we're planning on making the best of this situation. In fact, Eli, Jim and I are holding a meeting in Eli's room.well, actually it's kinda nice out here, let's have it here. Anyway, we're holding a meeting to see what you guys want to do. We're here, we might as well stay here and see what the country has to offer. Go get whatever guides you brought with you and we'll meet back here in 10 minutes. I'm just going to go get Jim and Eli." Blair watched the students go back to their rooms and walked back to Eli's. "Hey, I told the students to meet back by the pool. It's cooler than the room and there's more room there. Sound good?" Eli and Jim nodded. Eli picked up the room key and the three men started walking towards the pool. "I told them about the earthquake and they are grabbing their guides. They seemed disappointed, but glad that we weren't just scrapping the whole trip."
Soon the entire group was sitting around pool, lounging. Blair was tracking suggestions, which were being rapidly flung around. Jim was very impressed at his partner's ability to keep track of the ideas. He knew that he would never have been able to keep up. Jim was grateful that the students were taking their disappointment so well. No one was complaining and a couple had even suggested that they go up to the disaster area and help out. Eli had turned the suggestion down; he stated that he had already asked, and his contact had said that there were enough people already and that the group should enjoy themselves.
Plans quickly formed up and immediate plans were to explore Managua for today and tomorrow go up to Leon for several days. Students were kind of shocked at how little there was to do in the capital city of Managua. They planned to spend another day at the end of the trip in the city but other than that, not much other time there.
By noon, the group had a tentative schedule worked out. Changes would be allowed with the full agreement of the group. After a quick group cheer, another decision was made. What to do for lunch. Knowing there wasn't a lot in the area, Eli went to the lobby to see what was in the city. He also confirmed that they could have the rooms for one more night. Fortunately, the group could stay in the rooms they were in, but they would have to leave by noon the next day. The clerk told him that they'd have to take a taxi to the downtown for restaurants otherwise they could go to a market. He also told them about a Mexican restaurant within walking distance to the hotel.
As the group planned to go to shore of Lake Managua, as well as the president's office, a museum and a couple other archeological sites that the city had, they decided to save some money and walked to the Mexican restaurant. After lunch, the Rainier group attracted the attention of several taxis. Finally, the studious part of their trip had begun as they made their way toward the Palacio Nacional, an art museum in the old palace that still contained government offices on the upper floor.
*****
Okay, there's the next section. The next chapter will contain a little more action, I promise. :o) I'd love to hear from some of you out there! I know people are reading, so click on that little button down there. You know you want to...!
Enjoy!
"Wakey, wakey, Jim. Time for eggs and baccy!" Blair Sandburg's cheery voice rang out in the small hotel room. He moved about the limited space quickly, repacking the few items he had unpacked the night before. He turned on the TV, hoping to catch a local weather station. Noticing that his partner was still sleeping, Blair took this opportunity to get back at Jim for all the times Jim had very forcibly woke him. Blair grabbed the edge of the thin sheet covering his co-leader, and pulled. Other than a small grunt, Ellison didn't move.
Blair decided this called for drastic measures. He filled a glass of water from the sink. Taking his life in his own hands, he moved back to the other room. Quickly making sure the door to the outside was open, Blair flung the half-filled glass of water on his partner.
"Wha.!" Jim fell out of bed with a bellow. He got to his feet and caught sight of his manically grinning friend. "You're dead, Sandburg!" Jim growled out.
Blair took the opportunity to run for the door, escaping only with inches to spare. "You have to come back here sooner or later, Sandburg!"
Blair didn't slow down-he knew that if he did, Jim would get his revenge. He quickly reached the lobby of Los Felipes, the hotel they were staying in, and decided to buy a bottle of pop. The clerk placed the soda in a plastic bag, tying the opening around the straw. Blair had exchanged a small amount of dollars to Cordoba the night before at the airport so he could pay in local currency. Though he knew that he could have easily paid for the soda in dollars, the anthropology student knew he'd need smaller coins and that he'd need American dollars for leaving the country.
As he was paying, the clerk started talking. "¿Eli Stoddard forma parte de su grupo, sí? Tengo un mensaje para él." (Eli Stoddard is part of your group, yes? I have a message for him).
"Sí, Eli es uno de los líderes del grupo. Yo me cercioraré que él recibe su mensaje. Estoy seguro que él estará en escogerlo en breve arriba. ¡Gracias!" (Yes, Eli is one of the leaders of the group. I will make sure that he receives your message. I am sure that he will be in shortly to pick it up. Thank you!) Blair started walking towards the patio.
Pausing to pet the kittens that seemed to be living in the lobby, Blair moved back to the courtyard to start knocking on doors. The hotel had been fairly empty, so the students had all been placed next to each other quite close to the lobby. He started with Eli's room quickly determining the man was awake and almost ready to go. Informing Eli about the message, they each wished each other good morning and made quick plans to meet in an hour. Blair started walking to wake the other members.
He knocked on the students doors. Everybody was already awake. Several had to finish packing and dressing but everyone still had plenty of time to finish. He delayed going back to his room until the last moment, knowing that Jim would have had time to clean up and would be waiting for him. When he did approach, Jim swung the door open and stared at Blair.
Blair approached cautiously, "Jim, truce man, okay? We have to meet with Eli soon." Blair hoped Jim would wait for the revenge, but then again, the anticipation would be bad-having a specially trained roommate was a challenge sometimes.
As Sandburg approached the door, Jim came running out. By the look on Jim's face, Blair knew he didn't have a chance and took off running.
Jim herded Blair through the trees on the smooth path; the small open aired area was filled with tables, chairs and coaches. These slowed him down and Jim gained ground just as Blair reached the pool.
"Don't think about it, Jim! It'd take forever to dry these clothes out with this humidity. Please!" Jim, however, was not in the mood to be merciful. Blair continued backing up. Within a step or two, he reached the bridge that was crossed the widest part of the pool. He stepped up and turned around, hoping that by taking the bridge, he could avoid Jim.
Jim saw this, and ran even faster to the other end of the pool. Slightly slipping, Jim reached the end just as Blair did. He reached out, grabbed Blair's arm, and swung him around. Putting just the right amount of pressure on Blair, he managed to tip him over into the pool.
Blair came up spluttering. "Jim! I'm going to get you for this! And tests, lots of tests are in your future!"
"Uh huh. Right. Come on, Sandburg, there isn't that much time before we have to meet with Eli. You're going to make us late with your swim." Jim grabbed Blair's hand and helped swing him over to the pool stairs. Not waiting for Blair to finish exiting the pool, Jim walked slowly back to the room. Blair followed quickly, telling Jim that the students were up and mostly ready and that they were meeting with Eli after he picked up his message.
20 minutes later, Blair had changed and had hung his clothes out to door as much as they could before leaving. He'd ask the front desk later if they had a plastic bag he could use so the rest of his clothes wouldn't get wet as well. He didn't have much hope that they would dry anytime soon, though.
Blair and Jim walked over to Eli's door, which was slightly open to catch a breeze. They knocked and slowly opened the door. Eli was sitting on one of the beds, his head in his hands. He looked up and started speaking, "Bad news guys. The message, Blair told you I received a message, yes?" Jim nodded. "Well, the message was from my contact in the government. He asked me to call him back, and I just got off the phone with him. The area we were planning on studying had a major earthquake yesterday afternoon. The entire area is in shambles. He said that aftershocks were felt throughout the country, but that the mountain area we were going to was devastated and that he was recommending that no one go near there, much less study. I have no idea what we're going to do for four weeks!" Eli started pulling at his hair. He knew that the tickets would be very expensive to change and the students would be incredibly disappointed. They had planned on studying a very unique culture and now that opportunity would be lost.
Jim and Blair looked at each other. They were just grateful that they weren't involved in the earthquake; knowing their luck, they would've been at the center of the thing and have terrorists to contend with as well. "Look on the bright side, Eli, at least we weren't up there already with the students. Our original plans had us up there two days ago."
Eli looked up with an expression of disbelief on his face. He started laughing, and soon sounded almost hysterical. "Oh god, with your two's luck, I'm surprised that didn't happen! You're right. We're here. We're healthy, everything else will come out in the wash."
"You know," Jim started out slowly, "we had planned on showing the students around the country anyway. We were only going to be up in the mountains for part of the trip. Nothing we planned was written in stone. We could do the touristy stuff first and then when we've run out of places to see, we could have a discussion then about where to go. Let's get the students together, check out the Lonely Planet Guidebook and see what other places the students would like to go to in addition to the ones we've already picked out. I know that there are islands in either Lake Managua or Lake Nicaragua that cater to tourists. Maybe we could spend some time there."
"Good idea. Blair, why don't you round up the students. Get their perspective on events and go from there." Eli gestured out the door, and waited for Blair to follow his directive. Sandburg walked out the door and started knocking on doors. He grew concerned as no one was answering the door at any of the rooms. He turned around when he heard laughter from the patio around the pool. Walking quickly over to them, he rapidly told them about the earthquake.
"Don't worry, we're planning on making the best of this situation. In fact, Eli, Jim and I are holding a meeting in Eli's room.well, actually it's kinda nice out here, let's have it here. Anyway, we're holding a meeting to see what you guys want to do. We're here, we might as well stay here and see what the country has to offer. Go get whatever guides you brought with you and we'll meet back here in 10 minutes. I'm just going to go get Jim and Eli." Blair watched the students go back to their rooms and walked back to Eli's. "Hey, I told the students to meet back by the pool. It's cooler than the room and there's more room there. Sound good?" Eli and Jim nodded. Eli picked up the room key and the three men started walking towards the pool. "I told them about the earthquake and they are grabbing their guides. They seemed disappointed, but glad that we weren't just scrapping the whole trip."
Soon the entire group was sitting around pool, lounging. Blair was tracking suggestions, which were being rapidly flung around. Jim was very impressed at his partner's ability to keep track of the ideas. He knew that he would never have been able to keep up. Jim was grateful that the students were taking their disappointment so well. No one was complaining and a couple had even suggested that they go up to the disaster area and help out. Eli had turned the suggestion down; he stated that he had already asked, and his contact had said that there were enough people already and that the group should enjoy themselves.
Plans quickly formed up and immediate plans were to explore Managua for today and tomorrow go up to Leon for several days. Students were kind of shocked at how little there was to do in the capital city of Managua. They planned to spend another day at the end of the trip in the city but other than that, not much other time there.
By noon, the group had a tentative schedule worked out. Changes would be allowed with the full agreement of the group. After a quick group cheer, another decision was made. What to do for lunch. Knowing there wasn't a lot in the area, Eli went to the lobby to see what was in the city. He also confirmed that they could have the rooms for one more night. Fortunately, the group could stay in the rooms they were in, but they would have to leave by noon the next day. The clerk told him that they'd have to take a taxi to the downtown for restaurants otherwise they could go to a market. He also told them about a Mexican restaurant within walking distance to the hotel.
As the group planned to go to shore of Lake Managua, as well as the president's office, a museum and a couple other archeological sites that the city had, they decided to save some money and walked to the Mexican restaurant. After lunch, the Rainier group attracted the attention of several taxis. Finally, the studious part of their trip had begun as they made their way toward the Palacio Nacional, an art museum in the old palace that still contained government offices on the upper floor.
*****
Okay, there's the next section. The next chapter will contain a little more action, I promise. :o) I'd love to hear from some of you out there! I know people are reading, so click on that little button down there. You know you want to...!