Nicaragua

---

Hay español abajo!

I flew from Peru to Nicaragua, via Miami on 05/06/09. Not the most direct route you might be thinking but it was the cheapest way of getting there. My reason for leaving South America was to catch up with somebody (Alyssa) I had met in Guatemala who was studying and travelling for 6 weeks, whilst in between jobs in the States.

I studied at a Spanish language school, La Mariposa, from 07/06 to 27/06. The school was set up on a not for profit basis two years ago by a British women, Paulette, who donates the profits from the school to various local organisations. The school is also an eco-hotel with 8 bedrooms and I stayed there for the 3 weeks, enjoying the creature comforts of a large room and hot (solar powered) water but in hindsight I should have stayed in a home stay to practice my Spanish more because outside of the classes I generally spoke English. I enjoyed the classes and I had two teachers each day for two hours: one for grammar who helped me cement things that I already knew; and the other for conversational practice. Each afternoon there were activities, ranging from visits to nearby places to lectures in the school on the history of Nicaragua.

I left the school on 27/06 with Alyssa to meet up with Laura, another student who had left the school a week earlier, and her brother Han. We met up on the ferry across Lago Nicaragua to Isla de Ometepe, a beautiful island dominated by two volcanoes joined by an ismuthus in the middle. We had a pleasant few days there before deciding to travel to Costa Rica the ‘back way’: taking an overnight ferry across to the south-east corner of Lago Nicaragua to San Carlos, where we obtained our exit stamps from Nicaragua we took and from there a boat for about an hour along the Rio Frio to Los Chiles in Costa Rica.
_______________________

Volé de Perú a Nicaragua el 05 de Junio, vía Miami. No está la ruta mas directa pero era la mas barata! Mi razón para ir a Nicaragua fue encontrarme con una persona, Alyssa, con quien me encontré en Guatemala en diciembre el ano pasado, ella estuve entre trabajos en Estados Unidos y estuvo viajando por seis semanas.

Estudié en una escuela, La Mariposa, de 07/07 a 27/07. Hace dos años la escuela comenzó por una mujer, Paulette, de Gran Bretaña. La escuela es como una caridad y Paulette da sus ganancias a diferentes organizaciones locales. También la escuela es un eco-hotel con 8 cuartos y me quede allí pero retrospectivamente debería me haber quedado en una casa con una familia para practicar mas mi español, porque afuera de las clases hablaba ingles. Disfrutaba las clases y tuve dos profesores cada día: uno para practicar y enseñarme la gramática y pasaba tiempo examinando que había aprendido en el pasado; y el otro para conversar. Cada tarde había diferentes actividades de visitantes a diferentes lugares a conferencias sobre la historia de Nicaragua.

Salí de la escuela el 27 de junio con Alyssa para encontrarnos con Laura, otra estudiante de la escuela que salió de la escuela la semana antes, y su hermano. Nos encontramos en el barco a Isla Ometepe, una isla bonita con dos volcanes grandes, separados por un terreno angosto. Disfrute algunos días allí y después nos decidimos viajar a Costa Rica, en barco por el lago a San Carlos, donde conseguimos sellas de salir de Nicaragua y viajamos en barco por el Rí o Frí o a Los Chiles en Costa Rica

---

Photos

Leon
No translation needed!

Trying to stay dry...!
...in the back of the truck on the way to the school.

Monkey from the language school
...rescued before being illegally exported

Isla de Ometepe...
...from the ferry

Volcan Concepcion
Isla de Ometepe

Comments

[Janet]

Dude how long are you traveling for?!