Our first visitors

My parents came to visit last week and it was really nice (for Holly and me at least). They were only here for five days so we spent the first few in and around Masaya and then went to Selva Negra in Matagalpa for a change of scenery. Here are some pictures from the trip:

My dad made friends with all of his Coca Cola brothers in Nicaragua by giving them free pens… it was a nice gesture and only a little awkward for the translators:

The Mirador in Catarina is one of my favorite places in the department of Masaya so we made it there early in the trip:

Somehow we tricked them into taking the busses… waiting by the side of the road provided a lot of quality family time:

Coyotepe is an old fort that is on a big hill overlooking Masaya. During the Somoza years and then during the first few years of Sandinista rule it was used as a torture chamber for political prisoners. Suffice it to say that countless people have died there. to show our contrition we took a happy family photo on top of it:

Selva Negra is a really cool organic farm/hotel/restaurant/forest in the mountains of Matagalpa. Everyone was a little surprised by the cold but it was really pretty the whole time.

I felt really bad because I forgot to remind my dad that it would be cold so he only had shorts with him. He survived, though:

It was a pretty short trip but nice to show my parents that we don't live in absolute squalor and just to catch up in a way that isn’t really possible over the phone. Also, thanks to my parents we’ve worked all of the kinks out of the schedule and should be able to provide a vomit-free experience for all future travelers.