Sheep Guarding Llama

This is it, our big day.  We are moving down to Nicaragua for the season.  This is our third time “relocating” to a new country this year.  Each time is a new adventure.  We have gotten used to this enough that we really did not feel very much sense of urgency in getting ready or anything.  It seemed pretty casual until around noon when suddenly things started coming down to the wire and we actually had to have things done like, immediately.

We had a last minute packing panic as Dominica realized that one of the suitcases was coming in at 82.5 lbs, rather a bit over the 50 lbs limit set by the airlines.  So she had to repack, in a panic, and we had to make the decision to take an additional suitcase – which was already packed in the storage unit.  So we loaded up the Spark (that is the only car that we have now) and I ran to the storage unit, dropped off everything that we had left to drop off, took everything out of the suitcase that we needed and put it into a box, grabbed the now empty suitcase and ran back to the house.

It was just barely in time that Dominica was able to get everything packed so that we were able to leave for the airport on time.  Francesca came over and picked us up.  Even her truck was pretty full with all of our luggage.  We have nine pieces of luggage this time.

We had some issues due to changes in how the toll roads in Houston work making it difficult for us to get to the airport.  This is something that we are not going to miss!

We got the airport with tons of time.  We did not want to have any airport complications so had allowed ourselves three hours.  This gave us plenty of time to get some food and just relax at the gate knowing that we had everything covered.  We got pretzels and cookies while we waited for the flight.  Luciana would be talking about how good the cookies were from this airport for weeks.

No issues getting onto our flight.  We have a direct flight from Houston to Managua on United which is very nice, just barely over three hours.  That we can handle.

On this flight Luciana sat against the window seat on the right hand side of the airplane, Liesl in the middle and me on the aisle.  As always, Dominica was on the other side of the aisle.  This was not a good setup, I need to be between the girls or it turns into fighting.  We will not have the two of them together again.

The flight was short and no problems at all.  We landed at the very small airport in Managua and could feel the heat and humidity as we left the plane.  This is a hot country.

Getting into the airport we were greeted by an undeniable sense of being in a different part of the world than we have yet had a chance to visit.  Technically Panama is Central America, but it is really just a technicality.  Panama has always been associated with South America since the very first Spanish explorers visited there.  In recent history it never joined the Central American countries and has always been associated with Columbia to the south.  The culture and history of Panama is South American, not Central American.

Nicaragua is, without a doubt, Central America.  Even just the airport makes you feel like you are in a different part of the world.  We have never been to an airport that felt so run down.  People were all very friendly and things were handled efficiently.  Getting through the airport and through customs and immigration was easy.  This is also the first time that we had to pay to enter a country.  Ten dollars American per person to come into the country.  Don’t forget to have cash with you when you fly!

We got our luggage quickly and were immediately met by our ride as we left the airport.  That was super easy.  However we were told that we were going to be met by a minivan as we had coordinated that ahead of time due to the amount of luggage that we had, but what met us was a very small Toyota Corolla.  Thank goodness it was not a Yaris.  But we were not prepared to be in such a small car.

It took several people a lot of effort to get us into that little car.  We were really, really lucky that our luggage, and us, all fit.  Three adults, two kids and nine massive pieces of luggage in a subcompact!

The drive from Managua to Granada takes a little over an hour.  The airport is east of the city so we drove northeast to Tipitapa and then down through Masaya to Granada.  We had a nice ride but it was dark so there was very little to get to see.  Our driver spoke a little English so we were able to learn a little bit about the country on the drive.

It was clear on our drive south but our driver said that it was raining in Granada.  We did not see the rain ourselves until we had gotten into the city and then it was pouring.  A true Central American tropical storm, which was neat but tonight was probably not the best timing for it.  It was so much rain that the person who was going to show the house to us decided not to come out and instead the taxi drove us to her house, she gave us the keys and we went on our way.

We got into the house on the northwest side of Granada not too far from the tourist district and unloaded the car in the intense rain.  We are very excited to be in our new house.

We quickly explored and the house is amazing.  It is an ancient colonial house, very classic.  The rain was pouring in to the pool in the middle of the house which was really cool.  The house is all open to the outside, which we knew and were expecting, but actually experiencing it was something.  This is going to be an incredibly unique living experience for us.  Like nothing we have ever tried to do before.  It is going to be nothing but fresh air for us for the next season.

We did pretty little tonight.  It was getting late and we were tired.  We looked around the house, carried our luggage upstairs, checked out the bedrooms and saved most everything for tomorrow.  Both bedrooms have tons and tons of space and each has its own full bathroom which is great.  There is nothing on the second floor except for the bedrooms.

The girls already love the house and their room, especially.  We are all excited to be here but need our sleep.

This is it, our final day in the USA for the summer of 2015.  We will not have another full day in America until we return from Nicaragua in December to celebrate Christmas with everyone, including my dad, in Texas at that time.

We got up very early in Austin at the Hampton Inn, got everyone up, loaded up the Spark and drove the three and a half hours east back to Friendswood.  We were on the road just after eight.  We had to drive quickly and had no time to stop for snacks or anything as we were in a bad rush to get to Friendswood High School’s field so that we could see Madeline and Emily march today as there was a field show competition there today and this has been the one and only opportunity for us to see them march this year.  So we really did not want to miss it.

We literally made it to the high school with only minutes to spare.  We ran to get into the stadium.  Ten minutes of delay and we would not have made the show.  As it was our timing was just about perfect as we were even able to get a good parking spot and everything and did not have to sit out on the painfully hot bleachers a minute longer than necessary to see the girls’ band perform.

From the marching band competition it was straight back to the Toccos’ house and the rest of the day was spent doing packing and getting all of the last minute stuff done and prepped as tomorrow we are traveling!  I had thought all this time that we were flying out in the wee hours of the morning but it turns out that I was off by half a day and we are actually heading to the airport in the middle of the afternoon which is not nearly so bad.

We do not have anything large left in the house but there was a load to take to the storage unit today that had to be done with the little green car.  I am going to have to take one final load there tomorrow as well.  We had to get all of our stuff out of the Toccos’ house because they are beginning major construction work on the upper floor the moment that we are gone and all of our stuff is going to need to be out of the way so that they can do that.

Quiet day otherwise.  Tons of packing, quiet might be the wrong word.  The night before an international relocation is never trivial.  Although as this is our sixth major move this year (NY to Texas, Texas to Spain, Spain to New York, New York to Panama, Panama to Texas, Texas to Nicaragua) I think that complacency is starting to set it and while we are getting better at the processes we are also getting to be far, far more casual about doing it.  We can’t let that happen when we do the next big change from Texas to Argentina in January as that time we are going to be “gone” for so much longer and there is just so much more to go wrong during the time that we are gone.  The ante will be far larger, so to speak.

Today is a big of just plain exhaustion.  There is the overwhelming about of work to do today.  There was the mad rush this morning, the short night last night, etc.  We are worn out.  And, of course, there is the post-SpiceWorld decompression processes.  It has been a crazy week, as the Austin experience always is, and we just need some time to relax but we are not going to get that until we have been in Granada for a few days.  And, on top of all of that, there is the stress as well as the excitement of our major life changes.  Just so much going on, it is all very hard to believe.

This is it, our last day of the conference.  This morning I was going to be a guest “speaker” in one of the sessions so I had to be over to the conference nice and early.  Karen was going to come over and watch the girls for us so that Dominica could go to the conference today but she was not there yet when I left this morning so Dominica was still getting ready.

I had enough time to get casually to the conference and talk to people for a little while before going to my session.  On my way to the session I ran into a group of people wearing matching t-shirts.  Steven had shirts made up celebrating the Dr. Pepper Parking Garage story just for me!  People were trying to be sneaky and get into my morning session with them and try to surprise me with them there but the cat was out of the bag just a little bit early.  Dominica actually had one, they had managed to get one to her without me knowing, and that was why she was waiting to get ready this morning so that I would not see her with it on.  I did not notice her wearing it until I saw her sitting in the session that I was speaking in this morning.  It was really cool that everyone had those shirts.

I tried to attend another session after the one that I was in but I was caught in the hallway by someone who needed to speak with me and I never made it into the session.  Not a huge thing but I wanted to either hear one talk on storage or hear Lauren presenting and I did not manage to make either. It figures that the one time that there was any session that I wanted to attend that there would be two at the same time and someone would need me during most of the session in the hallway right in front of the session doors and I would never make it in anyway.

Dominica and I did manage to do lunch together today which was nice.  We try to do that at the conferences but it is always such a challenge.

Dominica had to go back to the hotel for a while and was unable to attend an ethical hacking session that she was interested in.  So I headed over there with Kim and we ended up sitting with Rob and Lauren.  But the talk was so bad that Kim and I left after no more than fifteen minutes.  It was ridiculous and a complete waste of effort.

After the conference had wrapped up Dominica and I were both on the Scale Boat Cruise on the river.  I had done the cruise last year but Dominica had decided to skip it because she was worried about getting sea sick.  But she had missed seeing the Austin Congress Street Bridge bats which is a big deal and she has always wanted to see that so she made a big point to be on the boat this year.

We had a great time on the cruise, it is always fun.  Afterwards most people rode back on the bus but Dominica and I walked back ourselves and went to the hotel to check on the girls.  Paul and Karen had taken them to the Austin Children’s Museum this evening and they had had a great time.  They were very happy that Karen and Paul had been with them all day.

Dominica relieved Karen and Karen and I walked to the Hyatt, collected Paul and headed out to Touche on sixth.

The party at Touche was pretty tame tonight.  After a while it migrated to Maggie Mae’s but there was an issue with people getting in with bags so we had to skip that.  Ended up walking and losing Tony and Lauren from the long way, to The Ginger Man, which ended up being a great, quiet venue for wrapping up the week.

I was home before one thirty, we have to be up early tomorrow.

This morning we took shifts.  I slept in while Dominica went to the conference.  She had the morning shift and I had the afternoon shift, which was nice.  I did not like having to miss things but the downtime was appreciated.  So the girls and I got to sleep in late and relax.

I did some posting and watched the girls, who were happy to just play in the hotel, until Dominica was done with lunch and returned to the hotel.  So my day was rather short.

I went over to the conference center in the afternoon.  It was pretty busy.  I attempted to attend one session, Dominica had looked into it and thought that it would be interesting, and it turned out to be standing room only and utter garbage.  This is why I never bother attending sessions.  Total waste of time.  Completely non-technical and nothing like the session described.  It was like a high level survey of computer security for a nursing home.  No place in a tech conference.

So Kim and I ducked out of there, leaving Rob and Lauren who had been sitting right behind us, after about fifteen minutes and realizing that this wasn’t the warm up but was the actual talk.  There was a continuous stream of people leaving the talk.

I avoided any more sessions of the afternoon.  I just spent time hanging out with the vendors and other SpiceHeads.  I stayed for the happy hour and then returned to the hotel to tag Dominica in as she was going to attend the evening’s party while I watched the kids.  This works out well enough since we both get breaks from the conference, both get time to relax, both see the kids and things like the official party tonight is loud and not something I have an interest in attending or business value in going to but she enjoys it and being an introvert likes the fact that it is loud and there is no ability to talk to people – so it works out well for her.

I ordered delivery dinner from P.F. Chang’s, which I have never had before.  That was cheap and fast.  I did not get to eat it right away, though.  As soon as my food arrived AJ came to the room wanting to hang out.  My food was nearly cold by the time that I had managed to get him to move on elsewhere.  I need downtime and I need to eat my dinner.

P.F. Chang’s for dinner was delicious, much like a very upscale Panda Express.  The girls enjoyed their dinner from there as well.

Late this evening Dominica led people from the main party to Touche and then returned to the hotel and spent the evening with the girls while I went out to lead the party at Touche again.

I was in by two tonight.  Trying not to be out too late.

Slept in a little this morning, today is a light day.  I was out the door first and Dominica stayed to watch the girls.  I had breakfast with Art and Danielle in the Hampton and then we went over to the convention center to get checked in to the conference.  As always, my badge was missing.  I cannot remember a year that I had a badge.  And Dominica’s was there but had the wrong info, no avatar and her job was misspelled.  I picked up all of her gear, though, and brought it back to the hotel with me.  Every year the haul gets bigger.  More and more swag.

Back at the hotel we opened up the backpacks, pretty nice ones this year, I can see us using these, and dumped out the swag on the bed to see what there was.  Way better than in London, where Danielle and I literally put it all straight into the trash including the bags, and probably better than nearly any Austin year that I can remember.  Nothing super outstanding but some nice flashlights (StorageCraft), USB adapters from Western Digital, etc.

Dominica could not stand the misspelling on her badge so I stayed with the kids for a bit and she went to the conference center to deal with that and took care of getting me a badge which they had not had one for me while I was there and had to print it later.  So we are all set with registration stuff after that.

This afternoon we had the “Straggle In Brunch” at Max’s Wine Dive across the street from the Hampton and Hyatt hotels.  This is year two of the brunch and it worked out really well again.  The food there is excellent and everyone seems to like it.  I got the fried egg sandwich thing that they do for the second year in a row.

That went all afternoon until people had to go to other events and do things.  Then we went back to the hotel for a while until it was evening.

Dominica just got room service and stayed with the kids.  Paul, Kim, John (that I had just met) and a new guy that Paul found on the street went to Uncle Julio’s for dinner.  Paul and I were both looking forward to getting their salmon, but they were out of that.  So I tried the fish tacos. They were out of that too.  Argh.  They ended up being out of every fish item on the menu.  Kind of frustrating as that was a big part of their menu.

After dinner it was off to Touche to start the SpiceWorld parties!  Tonight’s Doctor Pepper extravaganza was sixty eight!  A new record to be sure.  It was amazing as they had to send runners to several other bars around Sixth Street simply in order to have sufficient glassware to handle us!  That many Flaming Doctor Peppers means that one hundred and thirty six glasses have to be set up on the bar all at once.  They don’t have anywhere near that many glasses at the one tiny bar.

It was a good night.  Rob and I had stalkers follow us around Austin, which was a problem, and had to duck into the Hampton, where they kept following us and hide first in my hotel room, which they tried to get into, and then in a stair well until we were finally able to ditch them out on the streets.  This is a first for SpiceWorld.  Actual Spiceworks stalkers.

Rob and I hit IHOP for a late night snack and huge hot chocolates staying out till after four in the morning.