We made it! After a short overnight at Nate's house in Atlanta (where we saw some very incriminating photos from his earlier years...when he had hair) we caught the 7:45 to Miami then on to Managua. Even though it has been 3 years, it feels like much less.

The temperature when we landed was 90 degrees. After a week of cold and snow, the variety was kinda nice. We had a late lunch at a chicken restaurant named Tip Top, made a brief stop at the office to unload luggage, and then it was off to see a few of the sights.

The Cathedral in the middle of town...

View of Lake Managua from the top of the volcano in the center of town...

The crew...let's just say there is no shortage of testosterone. If you take a minute to picture what you think an all male construction trip would be like...the jokes, dinner conversation, etc...you would probably hit the nail on the head. So far, we are excited to be here and are having a good time. The team left to right...Me, Don (the Enforcer), Mike, Nate (who is living up to his reputation), Bob (the expertise), Fabricio (the director in Managua), Joe (who is taking the picture and is not shown), and Osvaldo (Joe's father-in-law and resident expert on Central American construction techniques).

The building has a segmented layout so it is hard to get a good picture. Behind the table you can see the guys bunk room. The large opening to the left of that will be the other bunk room. The white wall on the right edge is one office and there is a mirror office out of the frame on the left side.

At the end of the room are two doors. The door on the right is an existing bathroom. The door on the left is empty but will become a second bathroom with 2 showers in it.

This is the 2nd bunk room. In the back left corner you see where 2 walls were added. Behind those is an existing bathroom. We are moving the wall with the door out and adding an additional shower, sink, etc.

This is inside that room...

After a brief history of CFCI and vision for the future, I was ready to get a little demolition started.

So I started removing one of the doors from its frame...

...and drew 1st blood of the trip. Yes that is my leg. A little Neosporin and it was back to work.

Well, we are an hour behind (9:40 here) but we are supposed to get going at 5:30 in the morning so I am going to call it a night.