The Launch

It was going to be a long day of travelling. Packing and organizing from the night before, I didn’t sleep as much as I wanted the night before(which unfortunately seems to be a trend in my life right now)
The ferrets definitely new that something was up and we’re stocking me around the place. It’s always hard to leave them behind.
But I was ready to go on time at 9am when Mary was suppose to be at my place.....9:15, 9:30...Where was she?
A text said she was "close". I was starting to panic, we had a lot to load and pack and needed to be at the airport by noon. Mary FINALLY arrived 45mins late which means that we were 1.5hrs behind by the time we got Felix loaded with all we were taking. It’s incredible what this little FIAT will carry if properly packed- 6 50lbs suitcases, 4 22lb carry on The ferret carrier and supplies. He was stuffed,

Our first stop was in Waterloo at my friend, Geoff and Karen. They again were caring for the ferrets and Geoff was taking us to the airport. I called Geoff to let him know our status and to have the van ready to load, that we would engage Felix’s racing stripes to make up some time. His parting words" Good luck with the speeding"
It always seems you hit the most lights, construction and slow drivers when you are in a hurray. I also decided that it wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more money if the bank was convenient. Sure enough there was a branch just before Waterloo and there was no line and 3 available tellers. However, it was the slowest service ever. If you have ever seen the movie Zootopia, where the staff at the MVA are all sloths, that’s what I was dealing with! "I don’t know if I have enough. What bills do you want? Let me check with someone. GEESH!!!
Finally done and at Geoff’s. HE was ready. He grabbed the ferrets and the stuff staying, Mary unloaded and I loaded and we hit the road. Geoff and Mary looked after the driving, I sorted and packed bags in the back.
We were in contact with the team to let them know our progress, including by passing an accident. They were ready at the airport for us with carts and bags to finish our packing.
Why are we packing at the airport, just 4 days before Mary and I did inventory and realized we would probably run short on glasses. Not wanting to turn people away, we decided that we would buy readers from the dollar stores as backup. An email went out to the team and a few generous friends to get as many readers as they could. Our team and my friends met the challenge which meant there were 600 pairs of glasses to pack.
We were now ready for our first challenge- getting bags and equipment checked and approved.

At the check in counter, the optical team went first. I had letters explaining the equipment and had called in advance and was prepared to pay for extras and weight. She looked at the letter and t whe bags and graciously allow us all of them at no extra charge! A savings of hundreds of dollars that we had just spent on readers. That’s how these things work out some times.

Mary was so excited that things had went smoothly. I told her we hadn’t got there yet.

The 5 hr flight was fairly uneventful however I did learn not to binge watch a TV show that you can’t get all the episodes completed in the flight time. I’ll finish HBO’s Big Little Lies another time I guess.

Just before landing, thanks to the child behind me kicking the seat and the guy in front who was moving his reclining seat like it was a rocking chair(Dude, Thanks for dumping my glass of water on me! :( ) I needed to take a dose of migraine meds so that I didn’t get sick. I still had another flight to go.
Landing in San Salvador, El Salvador it was 86F humid and a lot of the team switched to lighter clothes and we discovered the local livestock in the form of this guy.

We didn’t have much of a stop over and soon we were hearded onto a people mover to get onto our local flight.

A sinking feeling hit me as soon as I saw the plane that we were about to board. A twin engine jet. There was no way all our luggage was making the trip with us. Mary said I wasn’t being positive but I was being realistic.
It is just a short flight to Managua, Nicaragua so we landed just after 9pm. A long day of travelling and our travelling was about to get interesting. First, 9 bags didn’t make the flight( I hate being right all the time) and then we had to get everything inspected by customs. The customs crew were a young bunch of millienials who were not too happy to have a large group that made a lot of work for them at the end of the day. WE apparently needed government documents to get anything "medical" in with us which we didn’t have. So we did a bunch of re-packing and 8 bags were left behind under my passport including all the glasses, optical equipment and medications. Even the eyeglass cases were held because we told them they were for the glasses and so the suddenly were classified as "medical"

There was nothing to do but head to the compound and get a good night’s sleep and deal with it in the morning.
Mary took the front shotgun seat which was fantastic as she gave us a running commentary of all the interesting things along the way, including a donkey with cart, the pot hold worst than London and the unbelievable roads.
Arriving at our compound, we were greeted by friendly staff and the symphony of barking dogs and loud noisy birds.
Mary, Mabel and I are sharing a room with several bunk beds and 2 bathrooms. MAbel called the first  4 bed, which I said fine because that left the bathrooms to Mary and I. She’s regretting not thinking that through a little more.

We have gained an hour of time which was desparately needed for sleep. Glad to have arrived safe, with all the supplies and in generally good spirits.
Here we go.

PLEASE NOTE. I’m having a few upload issues with photos so I will get it sorted out and add them later!