¡Adiós Nicaragua - ¡Hola Peru

We had four big hopes for our one year family sabbatical in Nicaragua: 1. Emma and Hannah would learn Spanish; 2. Emma and Hannah would get to know another culture; 3.We would give something back to the community we lived in; 4. The family would spend more time together in a more relaxed environment. When we began planning for our return to the USA we realized that one year was not enough time to fully realize everything we set out to do.  After much hemming and hawing we took a leap of faith, rented out our house in San Francisco for another year and bought tickets to Arequipa, Peru; we plan to live in Arequipa from September 2011 - July 2012.

You might be wondering why we didn't just stay in Nicaragua for another year. Well, this has been a wonderful experience but we decided to try something different for a number of reasons. First of all, Aileen and Jeff had already spent much time in Nicaragua before moving here with the girls and we would like to live in a different country.  Furthermore, there are no good educational options for the girls where we live in Nicaragua; that was okay for one year but it is time to get them into a good school. Last but certainly not least, we visited Peru in May 2011 and fell in love with the country, particularly the city of Arequipa and the new friends we made there.

Here are a few photos of Arequipa from our last visit.

Mountains in the Backyard

Main Plaza

New Friends

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru with about 900,000 residents.  It is 7,600 feet above sea level and in the shadow of three snow-capped mountains that are each over 18,500 feet.  The two deepest canyons in the world are also fairly close to the city.  In addition to all to outdoor possibilities surrounding Arequipa, it is a beautiful and vibrant city with lots to do.  Here is an Arequipa wiki if you want to read more about why we decided to move here (and why you should come visit!).

When we first get to Arequipa we will stay with a family we met during our vacation and the girls will attend a Spanish language program before we get them enrolled in elementary school.  We already have someone helping us find an apartment and school but imagine that Aileen and Jeff will be doing lots of leg work once we arrive in early September.  After we get settled in Jeff will be doing some consulting work with nonprofits in Nicaragua, Peru and the USA to make ends meet.  Aileen will be doing some volunteer work and helping the girls with school and getting them set up with guitar and gymnastics lessons, etc.  In other words, we have no real idea what we are going to be doing!

The next few months will probably be pretty hectic.  Aileen's work is winding down and we are starting to get packed up.  We have to leave the house we are renting by July 14th but do not have tickets back home until August 14th (we bought them long before we made our plans for Peru and cannot change them).  We had planned to rent a house by the beach here in Nicaragua and enroll the girls in a Spanish school while Jeff surfed and Aileen chilled after a year of very hard work.  Last week we set out to find an appropriate beach house to spend a month in and completely lucked out.

During our search we stayed at a place called Redwood Beach Resort in Mechapa, a very remote part of Northwestern Nicaragua.  To make a long story short, we ended up cutting a deal to run the place while the owners return to the United States.  This must be our true calling - we had a similar thing happen to us in 2001 when Aileen and I scored hotel jobs on a Caribbean island off the coast of Nicaragua.  We are all very excited for our upcoming beach adventure.  Emma and Hannah are already enrolled in the local public school and Jeff got permission to borrow the owner's surf board.  If anyone wants to take a beach vacation we will be in Mechapa from July 14 until August 12 at which time we are heading to Managua and then back to the USA for a few weeks.

Our new office

View from our office

We will be in San Francisco from August 14 - 28 to visit with family and friends.  We will then head to NJ to see Aileen's family and will land in Peru in early September.  Our contact information for the next few months (including a US mobile number) can be found in the contacts page of this blog.  We hope to hear from you soon!