Jody Goes to the Hospital

It started out as a lovely day with good intentions. A chicken bus, an over-crowded shuttle van, and an hour-long hike down a dusty, rural path brought us to a picturesque volcanic lagoon (Laguna de Asososca) with our Belgian friends, Britt & Flo.

We shared the pathway with wild horses, local farmers, and plenty of cows:

 The views along the way were well worth the effort in the scorching heat and dry, dusty conditions. Here's the view from a Mirador (lookout) along the way to the Lagoon showing Mombotombo Volcano and Lake Managua:

After a very refreshing swim we sat down on the shore to eat the feast we brought with us for lunch. This is when Jody had a run-in with an avocado and a pocket knife... while trying to remove the pit from the avocado, he sliced open the palm of his left hand so deeply that the 'hamburger' inside his hand was visible. Ew. We quickly packed up and cut off the edge of my beach towel to wrap up his gushing hand for the hike back to the main road. Once there, we asked a local farmer & his wife if they would drive us to the hospital in Leon; they agreed for the hefty price of $25 US. Considering it only cost us $2 to get there via bus & shuttle van, this was a bit steep but well worth the convenience and timliness (and air conditioning!). They were very friendly and about an hour later they dropped us off at the hospital:

An hour and three stitches later, Jody's hand went from this:

 to this (I'll spare you the gorey photo of his hamburger hand, pre-stitches):

The doctor may have gone a little overboard on the guaze... We were prepared to pay a lot of money for the hospital visit but were pleasantly surprised to find out that the whole thing was free, including the prescribed antibiotics and pain killers (which also may have been overkill but will likely come in handy at some point on our trip). Viva Nicaragua!
Mom, I couldn't help but think of how you would have fixed him right up, no problem - and since I know you're dying to see how the wound is healing up here is a current photo:

It could have been a lot worse and luckily hasn't slowed us down! We're now in the pretty town of Granada and taking our chances heading to another volcanic lagoon tomorrow but won't be bringing any avocados with us ;)