We are here, finally

Well, we have finally arrived in GiTMO and I have to say that it is most definitely beautiful here. Speaking strictly from the two-day experience I can safely say that it is an easy place to love if you don't mind waking up to a view of clear blue water, mango trees in the back yard and a rope swing. The breeze is very tropical, translation very warm and sometimes humid; however, I have not been uncomfortably hot yet. It is still winter. The temperature ranges from 70-90 degrees and we have had some rain, nothing much to speak of but enough to water the trees.

I have had the opportunity to meet some of my neighbors in my housing area and some that live in other areas as well. We've been to a party, the kids made it to the Lyceum (the outdoor movie theatre), the "mall" where we realized that online shopping will become our best friend, a place that "serves Starbucks coffee" and has free WiFi and Breyers ice cream, and Subway which also serves rice, beans and pizza. We hope to make it to the Marina, the beaches where we can collect sea glass, and many other activities throughout the base.

We did have a tour of the base which did not take long and while we drove around I kept looking for "the fence line" everyone warned us about and tried to get a peak at the prison camps too; however, I'm here to tell you that was not possible, at least not without a military escort and a really good reason to go there - none of which we had.

While we may be confined to the base and what little it has to offer, we realize that we can leave as long as there's a flight available, sometimes we pay a lot for a secured seat, other times we get lucky and pick the right times and dates and we can fly for close to nothing to the States or Puerto Rico - so it is not impossible to leave and when we do we will hit to malls because I do miss the ability to pick and choose where I get my shoes, underware and food.

The house is one floor, extremely spacious and with 12 foot ceilings. The problem with that is the echo - will have to work on that. On the bright side, we face the bay, we will fit everything we brought and more, we have an nice sized, enclosed back yard. All the walls are white-- ouch! If you know me well enough, you know that's a problem for me. I can paint but then I have to paint back to white before I leave. I may opt for painting one wall for accent that way I don't have much to change back later. Anyway, nothing lots of pictures and color window treatments can't fix.

I look forward to sharing pictures, stories and adventures of our tour here. This is going to be a great tour, I already know it!!

'Till next time!

(I have pictures but it won't let me insert them for some reason, must work on that!)