Jinotepe Nicaragua Rodeo

I forgot to write yesterday about our experience at church. Yes we went to church in Rivas Nicaragua. There was a missionary couple serving there that was from Spain and were living in Austrailia. They were on their fourth mission. They had been in Ecuador, Honduras, Chile and now Nicaragua. They had so much faith, it was great to talk to them. They ward house was full to capacity. They say that they have around 500 baptisms a month in their mission.Today, Tyler left for San Jose and Paul and I went to Jinotepe to see the festival of Santiago that was going on today. We met some spanish catholic missionaries and talked to them for a while. The people were dancing in the streets and they had a procession where they carried the saint statues for 12 hours through out the town. We also saw the missionaries again. We then met this guy who was living in Miami and visiting his family in Jimotepe. He told us about the town rodeo that started at 2. A couple other people, including the guy that sold us the ticket also said that it started at 2. We went in and waited around until 400 for it to start. They have a different concept of time. It was awesome to see them ride the bulls. The bulls weren't as big or as aggressive as in the states, but they were still mean. It was pretty funny because there were a lot of drunk guys in the ring taunting the bulls. Instead of rodeo clowns, it was town drunks that distracted the bulls. One guy got knocked out, and another guy had his shirt ripped off. We had a great time.Tomorrow we are going to Managua to take a bus to get to Honduras. Paul is obsessed with the Maya so we are going to take a side trip to see the ruins and then come back.Nicaragua is a different world. There is a lot of poverty here. All of the buses in Nicaragua are retired school buses from the states which makes traveling a little uncomfortable. We were also talking to a teacher that makes $68 a month. He has to go and work at another job in order to feed his family. The people here are pretty pessimistic about the situation. The country is beautiful and incredible, but I wouldn't recommend it to any one who has a family. Costa Rica is for everyone though.