One more day.....

of getting acclimated to Nicaragua.

It's been a gradual process for Mitzi, Beth & Kris.  Touring the beautiful city of Granada,  buying hammocks and touring the Islets.  Making pottery in San Juan de Oriente and eating in Catarina by the Apoyo Lagoon.  Then, a day in Leon to get used to the intense heat, a bit of Nicaragua's tumultuous history and the many unique noises and smells.

Today, we found a quaint little coffee shop around the block where we ordered lattes and slices of pie for brunch.  Kris, Mitzi & Beth went to the Ortiz Art Museum to see the world renowned paintings from Picasso that are not protected from the heat and humidity.

Then, thanks to bilingual Emily Sendin from Miami-Dade college who is staying at la Casa de Protocolo, we were able to arrange transportation in a camioneta to go to the beach.

The camioneta is a small cattle truck used for public transportation that is usually very crowded with people. We had our own private camioneta that was hot, sweaty and bumpy but without other people landing on our laps. :-)

At Las Penitas, we spent time at Playa Roca and then at Suyapa Beach.  This was the perfect opportunity for Beth, Kris & Mitzi to order fish with its bones and head still attached.  They decided on lobster which they say was delicious.  (For everyone's benefit, I joined them later). While the sunset wasn't as beautiful as other evenings, we did get to see a small rainbow and some awesome surfers.

This was all part of the plan to expose my colleagues to the beauty of Nicaragua while seeing some stark realities of the rampant poverty.  We have our papers organized and we are ready to see the Special School tomorrow.  Hopefully, we will also get a schedule for the rest of the week too.