there is no such thing...

as an ordinary day in Nicaragua. The latest example of this occurred earlier this evening when Andrea and I set off for the airport to pick up our boss, Kim and her family, who were returning from the States. Everything seemed to be perfectly normal when suddenly up ahead we noticed that cars on our side of the street were coming toward us! I immediately slammed on the brakes as we approached the scene.

In front of us and off to the side of the road were 3-4 small fires that were blocking the access road of the north highway and the lanes on our side of the road. In addition, a crowd of people appeared to be gathering on the side of the street. It was hard to tell at first if there had been some kind of accident, or if this was another of the many protests we have been having lately in Managua over the energy and water crises. Either way, there was no alternative but to join the rest of the drivers on our side of the highway who had proceded to turn around and make their way back to the nearest crossover, and without any police presence, turned the right lane of the opposing traffic into a temporary solution to the blockage. As we got closer, it did appear to be more like a protest and I wondered what it would be like when we were trying to come back the other direction. [I am proud to say that Andrea and I both have cool heads under pressure, and neither of us panicked in the midst of all of this.]

Sure enough, after successfully navigating our alternative route to the airport and picking up Kim and the fam, when we approached the same point coming home there were 20-30 people and several fires blocking the entire road in both directions, and police were directing all traffic off onto a side street, which we were forced to take around the protest until we could get back to the highway.

It sounds absurd to say this, but we were never really in serious danger. While the crowd seemed intent on destroying property, they did not attempt to endanger anyone's life. And we all eventually made it home safely.

[Insert sigh of relief here.]