Blogs from Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 192

So... a bus, a bike-taxi thing and another bus later and we were in Nicaragua, a fascinating and lovely country with possibly the most interesting history of any country I've visited so far. A nation of proud, friendly people this place felt undeniably safer than many of its neighbours. This, despite me reading that, after Haiti, here is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The two main cities founded when the Spaniards came a-rapin' and a-pillagin' were Grenada and León. A number of factors made Grenada a rich colonial city attracting the wealthy elite, who brought their conservative political outlooks and Spanish beliefs in the strength of the monarchy and Catholicism, so it wasn't long before Grenada became the base for the colony's Conservative party. Meanwhile León attracted intellectual types and radical clerics who quickly ... read more

Hola familia and amigos, Yesterday was Terry´s birthday, and also the birthday of the woman of the house where we have been staying. Today is the 15th birthday of the daughter Karla, so as I wrote before, we stayed for the big Quinceaño party. The preparations, decorations and all were just like a big wedding. The party was great fun, music and dancing. About fifty people attended. The kids were great dancers, and the old people attending were dancing as well, keeping right up with the youngsters. Of course us old people took more breaks. We spent a couple of days traveling to some other towns after school ended on Tuesday. We went to Masaya, which is the shopping mecca of Nicaragua. We did not go to shop but rather to the the Jueves Verbena at ... read more

Hola Amigos, Na 2 dagen in Leon (een mooie stad, niet toeristisch in noord Nicaragua), zijn we naar Estelí gegaan, een bergstadje met een politiek bewogen verleden (evenals Leon overigens), waar een van horen zeggen goede Spaanse school is. We hebben besloten hier nog een week Spaans te doen alvorens Enrico teruggaat naar Antigua en ik zuidwaards ga. Het stadje zelf valt tegen, maar de eerste les vandaag was goed en ik begin langzaam wat meer vertrouwen in mijn Spaans (spreken) te krijgen. Echter het accent van de mensen hier (en de woorden die ze gebruiken) zijn zo verschillend in vergelijking met Guatemala, dat het verstaan mijn momenteel vrij veel moeite kost.... maar goed, un dia... (one day) Het schooltje is erg klein (3 andere studenten, niet direct mijn type mensen). Mijn familie is aardig (hoewel ... read more

Well we finally have a break from our Spanish school. What a great time we have been having. we study each morning and have activities in the afternoon. Our knowledge of Spanish is progressing quite rapidly. For our afternoon activities we have been taken on several hikes, two excursions to some remote beaches, cooking lessons, and my personal favorite, dance classes. Me gusta bailar (I like to dance). We danced salsa, marenge (sp), and palo de mayo, which is the maypole dance from the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. Tonight we will go to the local disco and try out our new dance steps. It will be a beautiful full moon night and the disco is right on the beach, perhaps we will take a dip in the ocean under the full moon to cool us off ... read more

Hola Familia y Amigos, We have been in Nicaragua a week now. We arrived in Managua then caught an early morning bus to San Juan del Sur, a small beach town on the Pacific coast near the Costa Rica border. It is a tourist town so there are many travelers from all over the world here. We have been taking Spanish lessons everyday, hence the reason for no postings until now. We have school each morning for 4 hours then activities each afternoon. We are staying with a local family that is just wonderful and very helpful with our Spanish. They have two sons who were living in New Orleans when the hurricane hit. They both lost everything they had in the hurricane so they are back home in Nicaragua for now. It was certainly interesting ... read more