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Location: Work.
Listening: "Last Mango In Paris" by Jimmy Buffett.

Sitting with a fresh cup of coffee, having just finished reading Peter's new entries, letting my mind wander as far to Managua as it can go. I keep thinking of the images of Havana that I've seen in my grandmother's World Books from the 60's--slightly crumbling buildings, clotheslines over streets, palms and lots of thin white cotton shirts, slacks, sheets hanging to dry over balconies. I recognize that I am probably off the mark and that Cuba likely bears little resemblance to Nicaragua--but, for the moment, I still envision it and sigh.

When the moment has passed, I decide to do a little more research on the country than I have already, to get a slightly better grasp of what Peter is moving in and through each day. I begin here, at The CIA Factbook, and discover that Managua is situated almost between two very large lakes, Lago de Managua y Lago de Nicaragua, which, I can't help but think, should make for some wonderful humidity (I'm not being facetious--I love humidity). Lago Nicaragua is apparently the largest body of fresh water in Central America, and Nicaragua is the largest country, geographically, in Central America. As for the Nicaraguans themselves, they're on the young side--97.06% of the total population in 2001 was under the age of 65. They were losing an estimated 1.33/1000 people each year to emigration, 4.82/1000 to death in adult years, and 33.66/1000 to death at birth. However, they were gaining 27.64/1000 in births at that the same time, so the population was still growing at what seems to be a reasonable rate (keep in mind, I'm not an analyst--an estimated 2.15% each year seems reasonable to me, but an expert will likely tell you differently). Life expectancy at birth for men was 67.1 years; for women, it was 71.11. There were an estimated 3.18 children born to each woman (possibly because of the infant mortality rate).