Oh what a day! Saturday April 6

Today started off slow and lazy but boy did it go out with a bang! We all slept in late and met up at Casa Calteva at 10am. We laid around on the big school porch catching the breeze and talking. We went from house to house meeting host families and getting to know the area. We all live walking distance to the school. The houses here are much different than Atlanta. They are so open that inside feels like outside. Just about every house has an atrium garden in the middle of it, with the roof completely missing in that part of the house. People leave their doors and colonial style windows open all day. You can easily walk into someone's house. In Atlanta we live under lock and key, here everything is open and there seems to be little to no crime. While house hopping we tried cold natural fruit juices (sold in bags) and waved at friendly Nicas. It's very important to say "Buenos Dias" y "Buenas tardes" as we pass locals on the streets. We later went back to our individual houses to eat lunch. Darius Soilberry, Amadou, and Jabir came over my house to play playstation with my little host sister and brother. Tori and Aaron also stopped by since they live a couple of houses down from me. My host mother fell in love with Darius Soilberry because he sat at the table and ate up. We then met at the school for our tour.

Our tour was a treat! We saw a demonstration on how the native Americans in the area have made ceramics pots for thousands of years. It was amazing and it's still a sacred art passed down from generation to generation. We went to fruit stands to try delicious treats that have no English name and that we will probably have trouble describing to you when we get home . We visited an old quaint town known for its organic plants and gardens.
As if that weren't enough we then went to the Laguna Look-out post. It was breath-taking! What was once a volcano filled up with fresh clean water and created a scene like no other. We took group pictures and the more adventurous went horseback riding for $2.
After all that we returned home for dinner then met back up to go to a Mime Show in the downtown area. The Mime Theatre is an initiative to help young people go to school and to keep them off the streets.. The show was hilarious and magical. We returned home late (about 10:40-11pm) and have to get up early in the morning for a walking tour of the city.

Welcome BEST Academy

How did I miss this lovely welcome sign that Casa Xalteva put out for us?! How sweet!!!!

Salsa time!

After the Embassy visit yesterday we returned to the school to have salsa dance classes with our new friends from Denmark and Nicaragua. Ill let the pix speak for themselves.

US Embassy

The Embassy was awesome! there was very high security, we had to give them our passport info last week for background checks, then submit them upon arrival to pass through security. No phones, cameras, or electronics were allowed in. We were "briefed" by 4 US Diplomats from USAID, the consular division, political division, and economic division of the State Department. We talked Final Four basketball games and the perks of being a US Diplomat. They informed us of their roles and what it takes to be a US Diplomat. Many of our boys are considering this as a career now. So far, from what I see they will be fantastic representative of our great country.

Meeting our penpals

We arrived at American Nicaraguan School at 11 o'clock sharp. After a quick introduction and welcome from the school principal we broke off into small groups and ate lunch. Our boys then shadowed their penpals in a class or two. they attended classes like American Lit, volleyball, and math class. We so much fun that the boys didn't want to leave. Now we are heading to the US Embassy and we are all looking forward to that!

No perfecto :-(. Perfecto :-)!

So the flight to ft lauderdale was delayed and then once we got to ft lauderdale the flight to managua was delayed, then delayed again, then delayed again. We finally left Florida at 2:30 am an arrived in Nicaragua at 5:45 USA time 3:45 Nicaragua time. Our bus, driver, and guide were patiently waiting for us.

Things didn't start out perfect but now that we are here things are perfect. Everyone has met their host families. We are currently at Casa Xalteva introducing ourselves to our new friends.

Airport to airport

Security check in was loooong. It was a great experience being able to connect the government spending sequester with the extra long line due to budget cuts.



Once we were able to get through security and on the train plane to our terminal we had a short break to get food and relax a little. Our flight was delayed due to bad weather in ft lauderdale and we had to sit on the runway for about 40 minutes. The ft lauderdale airport is currently a mad house all the people from a series of delayed flights are laid out patiently waiting for their flights. Our originally scheduled for 11:48 has been delayed to 1:48am. We've all eaten and are trying to rest for the next few hours. All are content.