S-T-R-E-T-C-H

Day Uno
We arrived in Managua around 11am local time. I shared 1/3 of my seat with a very large Nicaraguan woman. When we deboarded the plane it was immediately noticeable that all of the workers were in masks... preparing for swine flu I suppose. We were herded into a room with an infrared camera... with the suggested purpose to assess our temperatures... I'm still skeptical, but it seems we all passed whatever first test was set before us. Customs was customs and we were off to find Marco and Felix our aeropuerto drivers and temporary guides. The street was bustling with people, but we quickly found our ride and boarded with our belongings into the van that would take us to San Juan. The next two and a half hours entailed Marco and Felix, five UT-Houston med students, and one Melissa from Boston, squeezed into a van with an embarrassing amount of luggage... weaving in and out of traffic like a great game of chicken... while blasting local favorites such as the Beegee's How Deep is Your Love and Rod Stewart's Tonight's the Night. We saw policia stops along the way, but luckily made it through without any problemas. Our home stay Sara greeted us with open arms and we eagerly entered our new city apartment. No air conditioning. Two to a room smaller than your first dorm room. And lest me remind you... no air conditioning. Here is where we do our laundry. Thank goodness I planned ahead and brought enough underpants to last a nuclear winter.
Here is the outside of the apartment. We are in the green one.

After we got settled and had our first lunch, the group took off for some exploration of our new neighborhood. Turns out we missed the bull fight (the next one is Wednesday), but did manage to meet the lovely Australian Dave who offered a discounted rate on surfing lessons as well as found the internet cafe at a rate of $1/hour and the local groceria that closed as we passed it by. There is always tomorrow. Scarlett sends a shout out, and now we are off to celebrate the Summer solstice, the longest day of the year, on the beach. The street bands are already calling us in with their festive melodies!