Today, following a combined 6 hours of sleep, Whitney and Jen arrived in Managua airport. We found Victor (well, Whitney found Victor... Or, Victor found Whitney) and we embarked on an hour long drive from Managua to Leon, to Chacraseca, land of pigs with antlers. And ants. The ants are tiny though, not as aggressive and rude as American ants, and easily fooled by military grade rice diversion tactics (MGRDTs). These are not the ants Jen ate as a child.

Around 5pm, we sat down to a delicious, quadruple deep fried meal of chicken, rice, beans, and tortilla (just in case our carbohydrate quota seemed shaky). It was delicious. Our index of suspicion regarding the drug content of the pulpy home made fruit drink is high. Whitney consumed an extra serving of protein in the form of tiny tasteless ants, which was the same moment that we realized we were not alone in the concrete kitchen.

Of note: the ants here seem wholly unattracted to large and obvious culinary gift traps of mostly eaten chicken bones and escaped tomatoes. They will however, fall prey to single grains of rice left nonchalantly on the table.

We spent a few minutes after dinner recalibrating our Spanish meters:

W: how do you say 'ant' or 'insect' or 'bugs'?
J: ant is 'hormiga'. Bug is chinche. How do you say 'exciting'? I always just say 'Que exciting.'
W: I think exciting is 'emocionado'. You don't say exitado, that's more sexual.
J: like 'I am aroused'. Okay, we won't say that in clinic.

On a walk in the dark:
W: what is that animal? Is it a goat with antlers?
J: is it a donkey? Are those ears? A burro? A burrito?!

On the return:
W: oh, that is definitely a pig with antlers. (End of conversation)
J: that is so it cannot get out from under fence.
W: oh! This is why it is good we go places together.
W: how do you say footprints or tracks? We could name all of these animals in the dirt. Like pollo.
J: like a cooked walking chicken?
W: oh, what is live chicken?
J: a girl chicken is gallina and a boy chicken gallo.

It turns out Jen can't math but can Spanish. Whitney can't Spanish but can math. The currency here in Nicaragua (the cordoba) has been the core of much anguish since our arrival. One US dollar = 26.1 Nicaraguan cordobas. Despite currency conversion applications, this entire idea remains a mystery to ...Jen only.

It was suggested that we take our American dollars to the side of the road and summon a 'coyote' to exchange it for money that May or may not be recognized in Nica. This sounds like a great idea. What could go wrong? We will pursue this endeavor tomorrow.