Some of my teammates and I got the amazing privilege of taking 6 Nicaraguan boys to the capital city called Managua for a day. Every one of these kids lives in the barrios (slums) of Nicaragua, and we got to just give them a day to remember. We took them to a very nice mall, and we all got our own Nicaraguan boy to take care of. I had my 13 year-old buddy Maynor. We walked into the food court where there were probably close to 15 different restaurants to choose from, and I just looked at him and told him he could pick anything he wanted. His face was priceless. He decided, along with 3 of the other boys, that he wanted Pizza Hut, so we got 2 large pizzas, cinnamon sticks, and pepsi. Maynor himself ate 4 pieces of pizza! Which to a Nicaraguan that’s quite a bit of food! All the kids just got a chance to pig out and eat some great food that they never get the chance to eat.
After lunch we got them any ice cream that they wanted, which is another snack they very rarely get to enjoy. Then it was time to take them to a movie! For most of them it was the very first movie they had ever seen in the theater! Everything was new for Maynor, and I loved watching his reactions to stuff. When we walked into the theater he just looked around at everything and said in English, “Very cool.” Haha It was so sweet, and of course I had to hook him up with the biggest coke and popcorn the theater had. He stuffed his face full of popcorn the whole movie and loved every second of it.
They were all just so happy to be able to spend time with us and get to live it up for a day! It was probably my favorite day in Nicaragua so far, and the looks and the excitement they had was worth every penny to me.
