San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

I traveled to Nicaragua last week to renew my passport. In Costa Rica, foreigners are only allowed to be in the country for 90 days at a time, and then leave for three days before they can reenter.

The trip to Nicaragua was a great time, but I am not able to capture it in words nearly as well as Rebecca has. So, I will let her. Here is a portion from her blog (there is a link to her blog on the right, check it out if you haven't):

Nicaragua was a wonderful/eventful trip. The border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica has quite the developing world feel. There's this no man's land where old, tired dogs join you in the pursuit of the other side. The dusty ground hides the tracks of previous travels. Thankfully, we met a Canadian that had made the treck before, and helped us out. Scores of Ticos and Nicaraguans alike crowd around gringo travelers, such as Holli and I, hoping that their services would receive a tip. Sometime between getting in Marlo's car (not a taxi driver, but a friend of a taxi driver) and transfer from an overheated taxi to another non-taxi, Kia Racer for transportation, I decided this was by far the most adventurous experience I have ever had. We met a ton of European travelers and a few North Americans in the hostel where we were staying. San Juan del Sur is one of those little beach towns full of wanderers. One friend we made, Aoife from Ireland, was traveling by herself. She had just gotten stabbed by someone who robbed her. In a long conversation that started with the IRA, over dinner we discussed the church today. Her insights on the church in Europe, what she thought of Jesus, and her own life, pierced my heart. I value her honesty, as she did ours. Aoife is a woman that has felt judgement from the church. How wonderful that Jesus is love and frees us from the judgements we put on others and ourselves. He is the one true God that loves. He is love. Aoife told us that the church is dead in Europe, and I thought, "Good!" A religion for the sake of culture. The world has too much of that. My prayer for those dead church places is for the Holy Spirit to come for a people, thirsty and disilliosned. There are many people like Aoife that are resisting the culture of religion and wanting Jesus. We talked about Jesus and she responded, "He sounds like the best friend everyone wants." Amen, Aoife, He is. Thinking about Aoife makes my heart leap out, Jesus! Have mercy on us. Holy Spirit, come! Near the end of our three days in Nicaragua I was ready to return to Los Anonos. I love the people here. I feel at home here now. I want to be a part of what God is doing in this community.