Wassup my Nicas!

Hello Peeps!

Welcome to the first edition of my blog. I hope to avoid what usually happens to these things, where people start out strong and then quickly tail off. I hope to get some pictures up, but the connection here in Nica is slow. Kash and I's phones and messaging will be off, so email is really the only way to contact us, unless you have a real emergency, please contact our parents.

Let me give y'all a quick update on what Kash and I have been up to.

We left Los Angeles on June 27th, loaded our junk into a car and drove to Wyoming, we had three or four days to unpack and then we had to leave for Nica.

Our house in Wyoming is a 1920's single story house, painted a light yellow, about 950 square feet. The house is large enough for our needs, but is a little bit of a dissapointment, since our landlord, a professor, had told us that the house was 'about' 1500 square feet. Obviously, she is not a math professor. It is possible that she also included the living space of our downstairs neighbor, but she certainly phrased it to suggest we would have 1500 feet. Truthfully, we have plenty of room and more space just means more money for heat. I thought about paying her 'about' our rent, but Kash talked me out of it.

The top floor consists of a bedroom, a study, a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. The house is laid out in a simple fashion, one enters through the front door, where there is a small 'mud' room. From there on can continue on through the study, or turn to enter the living room. The single bathroom and our bedroom follows behind the study, and through the living room one enters the dining room and then the kitchen. There is a back door out the kitchen which leads to a garage as well as to our large back, side and front yard. The neighborhood is very nice, full of trees and children, and about a 15 minute walk from campus (in the summer). Summer in Laramie is gorgeous, everything is in flower, the temperature never gets above 80 and there are amazing views all around.

On July 3rd we drove to Denver to spend the night in a hotel in preparation for our early flight in the morning. We were able to arrange a 24 hour layover in Miami, a city I have never been to, in order to spend some time with a college friend of ours, 'Big' Dave. If you have never been to Miami, it is a trip that you have to make. I feel like I left the United States as soon as we stepped off the plane. The primary language is Spanish, the workers in the airports, the taxi drivers, the toll collectors, everyone assumes that you speak Spanish. The climate is tropical, actually almost exactly the same as it is here in Nica. Everyone strolls around in swimsuits and there are three dance clubs on every block. There are Haitians, Nica's, Caribs, Cubanos, and Latins from every nation. The city, especially the part near the ocean is a series of islands connected by bridges that sprout tall, white, cool-looking apartment buildings. You are driving on a highway and suddenly you cross a bright-blue lagoon fill with pleasure-boats and yachts. Maybe I was in a good mood, but the city was pretty amazing. It was like a caribbean pleasure island in the middle of Florida. I have been to other parts of Florida and I mostly saw strip malls, crackers and retirees. I think I may have underestimated the state a little.

Anyway, we went for seafood dinner on the water, drinks in the park to watch the fireworks and before we left the next morning we ate at a Cuban bakery. We repacked our bags and headed to the airport. Did I mention we have been flying first-class this trip? We wrapped our bags in clear plastic saran wrap, strolled on the plane and sipped some champagne on the two hour flight to Nica.

Next week - Will our intrepid explorers find thier school? Will their luggage be intact? Does anyone except them care?

Tune in to find out....