We arrived at the children's home on Saturday afternoon. Helen informed us that the weekend would be very relaxed, which meant Sunday (the Fourth of July) was completely free. On my last trip to the island, we wanted to visit this amazing waterfall on the smaller of the two volcanos that make up Ometepe. I mentioned this to the team and the question of what we would do all day was solved. No one in our group wanted to spend Fourth of July thinking about what our families were doing back in the states. So we loaded up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hired a guide, and took off. Four hours later (two hours of driving, two of hiking) we were almost at our physical limit. The hike was a full three kilometers, 98% of that was uphill. The last half kilometer consisted of us scrabbling up rocks with our hands. But oh, the view when we turned the final corner into the canyon and saw what awaited us.

The pictures truly do not do it justice. The climb was amazing. It was a cathedral created by God. It was un-flip floppin-believable. We saw spiders, lizards, and countless different types of butterflies. One blue butterfly followed part of our group the entire way up the volcano. We decided it was a sign that God was with us. Every time he darted into view, we were reminded of our amazing Creator.

Group shot (sans Jessica who stayed home to further recover from her cold)

Praising our Creator at the base of the waterfall.