Countdown to El Pochote

We have just crossed the "one month to go" mark for our trip to El Pochote! I have yet to find the village on any maps, but if you follow Highway CA1 south from Managua, you will pass the town of El Crucero... somewhere between there and the town of Diriamba is El Pochote.

Last April, I was able to travel to this region as we checked out a potential work site that was outside of Masaya. Little did I know at that time that we would return to this area! Two men worked with our team in Bluefields in April - Francisco (show here in blue shirt with construction leader, Julio) and his son Junior - we will be blessed to help his village rebuild their church in the area.


The church building that is currently in the village is dilapidated and needs to be torn down - I am not sure if we will be part of the "destruction crew" or not. The church rests on the top of a bluff overlooking the dirt road heading down into the valley towards Masaya. Our team in February went to see Vulcan Masaya (below), which is almost visible from this location.

The area around Masaya is beautiful - we will be in a higher elevation, so the weather will be cooler than in Bluefields or Chinandega. There are many deep blue lakes in the region as well as many other geological features... we may travel over to Vulcan Mombacho (shown partially below), which the April team was able to experience - a totally different volcano than Masaya - plush green and heavily wooded - a perfect place for canopy tours! Yehaw! Coffee grows throughout this region, so bring your USD$ for a real treat!