Gail and I arrived in Nicaragua at Managua International Airport yesterday around 11:30 a.m. local time. We had gotten up at 12:30 a.m, after about 2 hours sleep, to make our way to the airport and our early morning flight to Houston at 4:50 a.m. Needless to say, we spent most of the flights to Houston and Managua asleep, which was fine, since United Airlines doesn’t provide any entertainment without a charge anymore, and now are not even offering the stray bag of peanuts or pretzels without a charge. We did get one round of drinks, but the boxed meals, which we didn’t try, were only for sale. So, aside from chatting and reading, there really wasn’t anything else to do. High fuel prices and the recent poor economy have sent airline “services” south, I’m afraid.

We spent the night in Managua at the home of the missionaries we work with, Jody and Trisha Kennedy. Then we loaded up the van with supplies and luggage for the week and headed north. This trip to Nicaragua will be in new territory for Gail and me. We are teaching English in a small town about four hours north of Managua called Palacaguina. This beautiful little town nestles in the lush green mountains of northern Nicaragua and is surrounded by peaks, rivers, and corn, coffee and tobacco farms carved literally out of the mountainsides and valley bottoms.

Our small hotel where we are staying feels luxurious, but then the hard work hasn’t started yet. The view is gorgeous, our patio looking directly east into the rising sun through thick morning mists. The hotel even has a pool, though we didn’t bring suits and probably won’t have any time for such pastimes anyway, but it is inviting. So far, we have enjoyed getting up off the sweltering plain around Lake Managua to the refreshing, cool mountain breezes. This is not the temperature we are used to in Nicaragua, and we are enjoying it much-ly!

Attached is a picture of our view from the hotel