Arrival and first night in Granada

I have arrived safely to Nicaragua and without any major hiccups along the way.

Left NYC around 11a and arrived to Miami a few minutes early allowing for some quick calls before meeting up with Stacey. Shortly after exiting security, she met me for lunch and we had a great catchup as we hadn´t seen each other in about a year. Around 5, I went back through and made it to the gate just before boarding began.

My flight to Managua also landed early, and I had ample time to go through Immigration and Customs before locating my bag - which I checked reluctantly. Luckily, as soon as I picked up my bag from the carousel, I noticed a gentleman holding a sign with my name on it...he was the taxi driver who would take me to my first destination, Granada.

Communication was difficult as he did not speak English and my Spanish is horrendous at this point. My broken Italian/French did not prove helpful in the least either...oh well...at least I was able to comprehend a bit and gather that the ride would be about an hour. The only issue which ensued was that my cell phone which was supposed to receive signal was out of service - sorry Mom, if you were worried! The entire ride, I attempted to reset but no luck.

Anyhow, I arrived to Granada and it is a quaint, colonial city, at least from what I can tell in the dark. The taxi driver pulled up to the Spanish school where the ¨head master¨came out and guided us to my host family´s abode. I walked in and was happy with my accommodations. There really were no expectations, just as long as it was clean, safe and quiet. My room consists of a mosquito netted bed, an armoir and a bureau. To one side is the bathroom and living room to the other. The entire house is layed out in a row, with my room at the relative front.

I was exhausted by this point, so once I learned that the ¨head master¨would come by in the morning to pick me up for school, I went to sleep.