Documentation Team has Arrived in Nicaragua

The preliminary documentation team has arrived!!!  Marina, Derrick, Sue and David have arrived in the country a few days prior to the team arrival to ensure all customs papers are in order, all health department requirements are met, and to meet with gov't officials.  Yesterday went as smoothly as could be hoped for.  The initial Team arrived at Vancouver Airport at 4:00 am, and passed through security screening with ease.  A feat not often accomplished as some of the luggage contained equipment that security personnel are usually very apprehensive  about.  The auto refractor and the cases of batteries usually draw a fair amount of unwanted attention.  Fortunately, yesterday that was not the case.   We arrived in Houston Texas ahead of schedule and departed an hour late.  This brought us into Managua, Nicaragua at about 11:00.  Once again customs and immigration were a breeze.  We passed through the 3 inspection points with our 10 pieces of luggage and equipment, left the terminal, dragged everything by foot across a the 6 lane Pan-Ameria Highway and were at our hotel within 30 minutes.  We had a Cerveza toast to the success of the team arrival and hit the sheets hard.  What a great day....

But the morning comes very early when prepping for a project.  My phone rang at 6:30 this morning, with ur local host Gerry on the line.  He was calling from the road saying he will be picking us up at the Hotel and taking us to the Health Ministers office for an emergency meeting requiring our notarized paperwork.  These papers must be delivered to the Minister prior to 9:00am to ensure the success of the project, so we are on the move.  The traffic in Managua can range from bad to a parking lot so I am signing off to make the drive to the Ministers office and the 9:00am deadline. Wish us luck.

To be continued...