I'm here!

Travelling went smoothly yesterday. After waking up at 2:30am and taking a 5:40am flight out of Baltimore to Houston and then Managua, I met a person who was picking me up at the airport. He was just holding a handmade sign that said "mariposa spanish school" and I trusted that he would be taking me where I was supposed to go. Thankfully, that was the case. It was about a 40 minute drive from the airport to La Concepcion where the Mariposa is located. We drove through the city and more rural areas and you can definitely tell that Nicaragua is a developing nation.

The school itself is off the beaten path and the grounds are amazing. There are a ton of animals (most of which I try to avoid) roaming around including a monkey. I stay far from him. Because I got here just after the other students had left for their afternoon activity (which was a trip to a lake), I had the afternoon to myself. I had some lunch--everything here is pretty much grown on site with mostly fresh fruit and vegetables. Then Manuel, one of the people who takes care of the grounds gave me a tour. Of course this tour was all in spanish so I didn't really get everything he was telling me about each plant and its fruit and what you can eat and what you can't and the medicinal properties of everything. He also pointed out several different kinds of birds and could imitate their calls quite well.

When the other students came back, I got to meet them and have dinner with everyone. There's a couple and their son from Oregon, a teacher from New York, a librarian from Arizona, and another woman who works for the NY Times here at the moment. Some will be here most of the time that I'm here but a few are leaving at the end of the week.

This morning I went running with two of the other students before breakfast and it's super hilly here so we didn't go far. I also had my first spanish class. The first two hours are grammar (It's amazing how much I have forgotten since high school and college) and then the next two hours are conversation. The conversation was pretty exhausting since I have to pay attention and figure out first of all what question is being asked and then figure out how to respond. Hopefully that will be easier as time goes on. I'll keep you posted.

It really is beautiful here and while it's stinking hot in Managua, right now I'm enjoying a lovely breeze here. The food is delicious and the accomodations are simple but adequate. I'll post some pictures at some point.