Monday, May 4, 2009

Home Again

Well, we've been back for a few days now and it's still a bit strange being home. It was sad saying goodbye to Nicaragua and everyone at La Mariposa. We had a really good experience there and came to love many aspects of the country. Our last few days were relatively quiet, although we did take the opportunity to look at some properties that were for sale near us. Both pieces of land had amazing views of the volcanoes and surrounding area. The first property was smaller but had facilities like water and electrical hookup and the road in front was due to be paved in the near future. The second property was much larger and had a diverse terrain that could be used for farming and forest conservation.

Aside from looking at land, we finished up our Spanish classes and said our goodbyes to the wonderful teachers. I think we feel like we accomplished the goals we set. Now we just need to make sure that we keep up with what we learned!

The flights home went well and I was happy to see my poor hammock survived being checked in attached to J.B.'s bag. We had hoped to carry it on, but the pole was considered a "weapon", so at the last minute we had to check the hammock. Much to our surprise, it didn't fall apart or get dirty. Yea!

The weather in N.E. isn't too bad. It's in the 60's and a bit grey, but many plants and trees are blooming. Unfortunately, it's due to rain this week. Somehow, I didn't mind seeing rain in Nicaragua, but I would prefer not to have it the first week back here.

We are definitely enjoying some of the creature comforts that we missed during the last 2 months. It's nice to sleep in our own comfy bed and to clean our clothes in a washing machine. (It took 3 days to wash everything and I didn't think we brought that much!) It is remarkably quiet here. After getting used to all the animals and their noises at the Mariposa, it's definitely an adjustment being home where you don't hear much aside from some traffic and early morning birds.

Some people have asked what's next for us and we hope to head up to Peaks Island for the summer in the next week. We're also looking at taking a trip to England/Ireland in the summer. After that, we're not sure. We're still planning on traveling somewhere else, but haven't decided on the final destination yet. It'd be good to continue using our Spanish, so Buenos Aires or somewhere similar could be the pick.

So, this will be my final post on this chapter of our travels. Adios for now and thanks for reading and posting comments!