diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection.py b/elasticsearch/connection.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..71845ed8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import logging
+import time
+import requests
+import json
+
+from .exceptions import TransportError, HTTP_EXCEPTIONS
+
+logger = logging.getLogger('elasticsearch')
+tracer = logging.getLogger('elasticsearch.trace')
+tracer.propagate = False
+
+class Connection(object):
+    transport_schema = 'http'
+
+    def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=9200, **kwargs):
+        self.host = '%s://%s:%s' % (self.transport_schema, host, port)
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return '<%s: %s>' % (self.__class__.__name__, self.host)
+
+
+class RequestsHttpConnection(Connection):
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        super(RequestsHttpConnection, self).__init__(**kwargs)
+        self.session = requests.session()
+
+    def perform_request(self, method, url, params=None, body=None):
+        url = self.host + url
+
+        request = requests.Request(method, url, params=params or {}, data=body).prepare()
+        try:
+            response = self.session.send(request)
+            raw_data = response.text
+        except requests.ConnectionError as e:
+            raise TransportError(e)
+
+        # raise errors based on http status codes, let the client handle those if needed
+        if response.status_code >= 300:
+
+            if response.status_code in HTTP_EXCEPTIONS:
+                raise HTTP_EXCEPTIONS[response.status_code]()
+
+            raise TransportError()
+
+        return response.status_code, raw_data
+
diff --git a/elasticsearch/exceptions.py b/elasticsearch/exceptions.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9da7c71a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elasticsearch/exceptions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+class ElastiSearchException(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+class TransportError(ElastiSearchException):
+    pass
+
+
+class NotFoundError(TransportError):
+    " 404 "
+
+
+HTTP_EXCEPTIONS = {
+    404: NotFoundError,
+}
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d25fabaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from mock import Mock
+
+from elasticsearch.connection import RequestsHttpConnection
+
+class TestRequestsConnection(TestCase):
+    def _get_mock_connection(self, connection_params={}, status_code=200, response_body=u'{}'):
+        con = RequestsHttpConnection(**connection_params)
+
+        con.session.send = Mock()
+
+        dummy_response = Mock()
+        con.session.send.return_value = dummy_response
+        dummy_response.status_code = status_code
+        dummy_response.text = response_body
+        return con
+
+    def _get_request(self, connection, *args, **kwargs):
+        status, data = connection.perform_request(*args, **kwargs)
+        self.assertEquals(200, status)
+        self.assertEquals(u'{}', data)
+
+        self.assertEquals(1, connection.session.send.call_count)
+
+        args, kwargs = connection.session.send.call_args
+        self.assertEquals({}, kwargs)
+        self.assertEquals(1, len(args))
+        return args[0]
+
+    def test_defaults(self):
+        con = self._get_mock_connection()
+        request = self._get_request(con, 'GET', '/')
+
+        self.assertEquals('http://localhost:9200/', request.url)
+        self.assertEquals('GET', request.method)
+        self.assertEquals(None, request.body)
+
+    def test_params_properly_encoded(self):
+        con = self._get_mock_connection()
+        request = self._get_request(con, 'GET', '/', params={'param': 'value with spaces'})
+
+        self.assertEquals('http://localhost:9200/?param=value+with+spaces', request.url)
+        self.assertEquals('GET', request.method)
+        self.assertEquals(None, request.body)
+
+    def test_body_attached(self):
+        con = self._get_mock_connection()
+        request = self._get_request(con, 'GET', '/', body='{"answer": 42}')
+
+        self.assertEquals('http://localhost:9200/', request.url)
+        self.assertEquals('GET', request.method)
+        self.assertEquals('{"answer": 42}', request.body)