Staying Awhile in Northern Nicaragua

We have had another enriching week of life in Nicaragua. This past week we spent time in the city of Matagalpa, living with a local family and taking a week of Spanish class. Matagalpa is quite different from the Pacific lowlands of Granada, Leon, and Managua. Instead of hot, tropical, jungle weather, the Matagalpa region is breezy and cool, with lovely green mountains surrounding it on all sides. It is located about 2 hours north of the capital Managua. Trisha and I made plans two weeks ago to visit Matagalpa, and coordinated our home-stay and language classes with a well-known organization there. The home-stay turned out to be better than our first in Granada, as the family, the food, and the general atmosphere of the house was superior every way. Similar to many of the homes in Matagalpa, we had a fantastic view of the city as our location was near the top of a steep hill (Matagapla is full of steep hills, all of which make for wonderful vistas). The Spanish school was located about ten minutes away by foot and turned out to be a popular destination for many travelers.

The school we attended is called Matagalpa Tours and Language School, and as you can gather from the name, was not just a Spanish school. Trisha and I enjoyed our 3 hour class each day, but missed our teachers from Casa Xalteva as we felt our new teacher was not up to par. We did end the week with more knowledge of course and were even put in the second intermediate level of class (I am not sure how many intermediate levels exist, so second level might not be anything too remarkable). We also were able to attend three excursion trips with the school during the week: one to a very colorful and historical local cemetery, another to small and independently run chocolate factory, and the last to a local forest reserve that served as a battlefront during the Sandinista conflict here. All the excursions added to our week and to our language skills as all were conducted in Spanish.

Our Spanish acquisition continues to be an uphill climb for us both, as it just isn’t very easy. We feel like we take a few steps forward in class, attempt to have a conversation with a local, and then discover that the only sentences we can recall are the simple ones. It is going to get more challenging for us, as we do not plan on taking any more classes for at least a month. We are hoping that all that knowledge won’t slowly seep out of our minds. Fortunately, we will have many chances to practice in the coming weeks, as we will be staying in Matagalpa for a little longer than expected. Six weeks longer. How did we come to that decision you might ask? Well, it kind of just worked itself out.

After leaving Granada, Trisha and I planned on touring other parts of Nicaragua for a few weeks, followed by a journey to a new Central American destination. We did the first part and still plan on the second in the future, but had a few things develop here that we couldn’t resist. The first is an opportunity to teach English in a language school called Academia Europea, which actually will be paying us. The second is the chance to volunteer in some local organizations, such as a day program that works with people with disabilities. The third is we found a fantastic house to rent near the center of town that has a splendid view of the mountains and comes fully equipped for living (We have been dying to cook for ourselves this past month). Finally, we just really like this area. The town is surrounded by mountains and has excellent hikes in all directions. Not to mention that it has a rather homey feel and is a good base for various excursion trips to northern Nicaragua. So with that said, we are feeling content in our decision. We plan on using our time here to also research our next destination in Central America thoroughly and begin planning for our spring travels. This blog will still be running with all the details and will hopefully contain an interesting story now and then. We will be posting picture soon too!