A Life Forever Altered

I’m a “stay up all night packing until I have to leave for my flight” type of guy. So come 3 AM on the day I was to fly out to Nicaragua, I had just finished packing my bags and was on my way out the door to New Orleans International Airport. This was it; I was heading to this strange country in Central America that I only knew about because of Geography in high school. Not only did I never really know anything about Nicaragua, but I was going there with a bunch of people I never met, with a group I only recently got involved with called Under30Experiences. What was I thinking!? Everyone told me about how dangerous this country was, and how crazy I was to go alone, especially since I don’t speak Spanish…Too late to turn back, I had already booked the trip and was on the plane. Whatever happens, happens, I only knew one thing…I would go there and make the best out of everything, take in as much culture (and food) as I could, and hopefully meet some really cool and interesting people. From the plane I could see the mountains and forests in the distance along with the surrounding run down shacks. This was my first time in a developing nation…I had no clue the differences would be so drastic; I had no clue how naïve I had been. I went through customs where sat at the counter I went to, a man who you could tell by the complacent yet oddly grim look in his faded eyes that he not only disliked his job but also seemed he was one of the many who saw maybe a little too much for one lifetime. I paid the man the required ten dollars U.S. without hesitation and started questioning my judgment, “Should I have come here? Should I have picked a safer country like Costa Rica? Am I in danger?” I couldn’t think about it very long, I had to move on for fear I might get detained in a foreign airport for lingering around too long, plus, I was already there; no point in looking back now. I grabbed my suitcase at baggage claim after what seemed to be hours and headed for the exit, eagerly searching for the Under30Experiences sign for refuge trying to get out of this airport. I was starting to get a little annoyed with being at this airport, and then saw the aforementioned sign through the glass, waiting just on the other side of the exit for me. I did one big exhale as this magnificent relief came over me. No longer was I nervous, no longer did I fear this strange new land with a language I don’t understand, and no longer was I going to DIE in Nicaragua!