Holy crap, I'm going to Nicaragua!

Okay, so my original trip to Bolivia to build a high school with indigenous masons in the Andes was cancelled by Amizade (I don't fault them -- click on the link, it's a great organization).

I don't mind because but I've decided to relaxerate (and run, natch) in a certain Central American state...

De verdad, people.

Okay, story time...when I was just a young runner in high school, I won an essay contest sponsored by a Latin American rice company. When my wonderful mother & I went to the awards ceremony, we found out that she and I were the only native-born Americans in attendance.

We were seated next to another mother-daughter pair from Nicaragua. I asked about their country and the girl described a place of unimaginable beauty. She then added that she'd had to leave under threat of being disappeared.

It amazed me that, despite the obvious, lethal downside of living in her country, she would speak of it so highly. And I guess I had it in the back of my mind that one day I would have to see this place for myself.

And now I will. And thanks to RunThePlanet.com, I'll be running it, too. I guess I've come full-circle. Maybe I'll win an essay contest for my blog.