Greetings from Nicaragua

We made it and have been settling in quite well! It took a little bit of effort to get internet access, but we're good now. La Mariposa is a lovely place. The rooms are very basic, but the hotel is on some lovely grounds and there is no shortage of animals. So far, we've met 6 dogs, 4 monkeys, tons of parrots, roosters, chickens, ducks and a toucan. The dogs and roosters can be quite loud, so we're wearing earplugs to bed. Hopefully, we'll get used to the sounds and will be able to dispense with them.

The food has been great. So far it's all vegetarian, but rumor has it we'll be having fish for dinner, tonight. It sounds wonderful and I'm starving.

There are five other guests and they all seem nice. A few have been here for over 3 weeks and the others are new like us. We hear that in another few weeks, it will be a full house - around 25 people.

Today we had our first Spanish lessons. It would be an understatement to say that I need a lot of work. The grammar session wasn't too bad, but the conversation session was pathetic. Oh well, it can only get better, right?

After class we went to Jimotepe. There's a local market there mostly selling goods and food to locals. There weren't any artisans, per se. We all rode in the back of the school's pickup truck like the locals. It was a nice way to see the area and converse with people along the way. On the way home, we stopped for a drink while our hostess picked up avocadoes. J.B. lost his hat at the bar and we had to go back for it. Unfortunately, the woman who ran the bar found the hat, locked it up and promptly left for the day. J.B. had fun trying to converse with the people in the bar - much confusion and misunderstanding pursued, but in the end, he should be able to get his hat tomorrow.

Both J.B. and I noticed that there are a lot of similarities between here and India in terms of living conditions. Our hostess is quite knowledgeable about Nicaragua and we look forward to hearing her impressions on this country and their future.

Well it's gotten dark in our outdoor "internet cafe", so I'll be signing off. I hope to post pictures soon with the rest of my updates.