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Wow! It’s been a really long time since my last entry. It’s just that after my trip with Melissa, my life has been pretty mundane. I’ve been back and forth to Managua to fix the problem with my foot. And finally after two months I’m happy to report that I’m having a minor surgery to remove the foreign object that has been lodged in my foot and the root of the infection and lump that’s been on my foot.

            That’s pretty much been the most exciting news in my life. Otherwise, I’m just trying to finish up these last five months with as much energy and excitement as I started this journey with. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to motivate myself to get up and go to class especially when it’s still dark and chilly with rain most mornings, the rainy season is in full force now and surprisingly I almost forgot how much I hate the rainy season – more on that later; but once I get to class I’m always glad that I did get up because the students are always happy to see me. Then after class I’m faced with the challenge of house chores.

            There are a lot of things that I miss from the States, but right now I would give just about anything for a clothes dryer. Just imagine, it rains almost everyday, some days more than others but it’s pretty much damp everyday. How do you get clothes to dry in these conditions? I wash clothes just to have them sit around for 2 or 3 days attempting to dry. I put them outside and then the rain comes and I bring them inside, drape them over chairs, doors, I’ve even resorted to putting my damp/clean socks on my boiling pot of beans or when I boil water for coffee/tea to dry them. It always reminds me of Uncle Buck when he does laundry in the kitchen because he can’t open the washing machine. Anyways, you all know what clothes smell like if you leave them in the washing machine over night; so you can imagine what some of my clothes smell like after a day or two of dampness. Luckily I have plenty of perfume to hopefully mask the musty smell I can’t seem to escape.

            I really wish I had more to report, but I don’t. 

Being a tourist for a week

Sorry all, no guest blogger this time. I made the decision to not even ask her because she’s super busy with work and judging by the feedback I got from Steve (the last guest blogger) apparently writing guest blogs is more stressful than it seems. So here’s my interpretation of the trip. Quick side note: I acted more like a tourist on this trip versus the poor Peace Corps volunteer that I am. We didn’t stay in hostels, we didn’t take buses everywhere we went and we didn’t eat in cheap comedors. I was spending money like a drunken sailor and have to thank my family for giving me money so that I was able to do that. THANK YOU! On to the trip…..

We didn’t really have an itinerary to follow or reservations, but had our trusty guide book to Nicaragua and let fate/luck lead the way. Due to a late arrival, we stayed in Managua for a night and made a “plan.” The plan was go to Ometepe and San Juan del Sur. The next morning we were off. We took a bus from Managua to Rivas. It was a normal Nica bus. Three people to a seat, hot and stuffy, the aisles crammed full of people without seats, and people trying to sell whatever they could, soda, juice, bracelets, pens, candy. I was just happy to get a seat, that’s really my only worry when I ride buses; but, I don’t think Melissa enjoyed the ambiance that much. That was the only bus we took the whole trip.

We arrived in Rivas, took a taxi and then ferry to the island of Ometepe. So far so good, we arrive in the port of Moyagalpa and look for a place to eat. We spot a pizza place while avoiding all the taxi drivers yelling “Taxi! Taxi! Taxi!” I don’t know the name of the place but I definitely recommend it to anyone going to Ometepe. I know I might not be the most reliable person to recommend food joints, considering that I’ve been eating rice and beans for practically two years and my standards have lowered in terms of good food – hell, I got excited about a bag of Cheetos that my mom brought. But, Melissa even agreed that it was good pizza, and you can trust her. While chowing down, we look through the guide book for things to do on Ometepe and a place where we can stay. Our “plan” stay at Villa de Paraiso (Paradise Hotel), climb Volcano Maderas, possibly visit a waterfall, and natural spring. We take a taxi to the hotel and settle in. We make reservations for a volcano hike the next morning and then wander on the beach, eat, and relax before the hike in the morning.

The hotel’s guide book for attractions describes the volcano hike as a 6-8 hour hike. I’m thinking that should be fine, we’ll probably take a couple breaks at lookout points, eat lunch, etc. No problem. We meet our guide at the hotel at 7:30 in the morning. He gives each of us our provisions, a bag lunch (two cheese and bologna sandwiches and a pack of club crackers), a 1.5 liter bottle of water and a Tupperware of pineapple chunks. We drive to the park entrance and start the hike. Our guide hands each of us a stick. Melissa and I immediately look at each other and start laughing, “Is this really necessary?” Side note: I’ve climbed two volcanoes previously and those volcanoes were visibly inclined hikes; this time we started hiking through fields and it was relatively flat. Hence, the laughing off the walking sticks.

We walk and walk and walk. Along the way the guide points out various animals and insects (howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, wild turkey, termites, leaf cutter ants, etc). We get up to a lookout point and this is where the incline starts. The hike is getting more and more difficult, more inclined and I’m getting sweatier and sweatier. It’s getting to a point where I don’t think we’ll ever reach the top. Finally the guide tells us it is 2 hours until the top. At this point we are walking in mud, because it’s a tropical rainforest at the top and it rains every day. This is where the walking stick comes in handy. Finally, the guide starts counting down…10 minutes to the top…..5 minutes….2…1….and we’re there. WHAT??!?! THIS IS THE TOP?!? It was literally a small clearing and if we pushed some branches out of the way we could get a pretty decent look out/picture. Our triumph of reaching the top quickly turned to disappointment. The guide says, “C’mon we’re going to go down the crater.” We climb down to the crater, which is not easy and I keep thinking how are we going to climb back up this? The crater is a lagoon and a grassy area. It was a nice spot to rest, eat lunch and drink the rest of our water supply, OOPS! We drank all the water and we’re technically only half way done because now we have to climb back down. Luckily, our guide gave us another bottle of water, which saved us.

I really would have preferred for a helicopter to come pick us up, or really any other possible way that didn’t require me to walk/climb anymore. We begrudgingly started hiking again. It wasn’t too bad, at first. But after a couple of hours, my knees, feet and hips hurt so bad I couldn’t think of anything else but reaching the bottom. I didn’t want to stop and rest anymore, just wanted to finish. We got to the bottom and climbed back into the truck to take us to the hotel at 5:30….it was a 10 hour hike and felt every minute like a 10 hour hike. We were covered in mud, dehydrated and hungry. We showered, ate dinner, drank lots of water and went to bed.

Originally we were thinking we were going to do something the next day, before we left; but neither of us had the energy. We relaxed on the beach for a little while before checking out and heading back to Moyagalpa to take the ferry and make our way to San Juan del Sur. We ate at the pizza place again before saying “adios” to Ometepe and “hello” to San Juan del Sur.

We take a taxi from the ferry to San Juan del Sur (another avoidance of the bus). We don’t have any idea where we’re going to say. We found some places we would like to stay in the guide book, but the book is a bit outdated and phone numbers change or people don’t like answering phones. So we go to some hotels, hoping that there’s space for us. Two strikes, so far and our hopes are dwindling. We arrive at Empalme de las Playas with fingers crossed. We’re approached by the owner, Karen, and she’s telling us we can’t stay for just one night and was about to turn us away, but in stepped our guardian angel, Roy, her husband and he wasn’t about to let us leave. THANK GOD! We sign in, settled in and then ventured to the beach.

It only takes a moment of chatting with Karen and Roy to immediately think that if my mom and Steve were to retire in Nicaragua (like they’ve mentioned, hopefully jokingly) this is couple is their long lost married couple twins. They’ve been in Nicaragua for 8 years and have this hotel with four cabanas, that’s only about 10 minutes from two beaches. They lend out their 4 wheeler to the guests to go down to the beach or take their little SUV for more people. It’s a hotel where beach meets tailgating. The refrigerator is always fully stocked with Tonas and Roy is ready to challenge anyone willing to play kornhole, dice, darts, cards, you name it they’ve got it.

We spent three days there and fully enjoyed the sun and the sand each day, until our last. We decided to take surf lessons. The lessons were fun and exhausting; it’s no wonder how all the surfers have nice bods. After the hour lesson we had the boards for the rest of the day. After a short lunch break, we attempted to surf again. It was fun until I stomped on something sharp in the water. I immediately think jellyfish….and as I hobble of the water I begin to see the blood on my foot. It appeared that I punctured my foot on some foreign object. (I’m still getting treated by the Peace Corps doctors for the infection I acquired and can’t get rid of. My fingers are crossed that I come home with both feet.)

Unfortunately, that ended my time surfing. But, then we were off to our booze/sunset cruise. They boasted dolphin sightings, but we weren’t lucky enough for that. We just cruised around the beaches, while drinking. It’s a three hour cruise and my glass was never empty. I stuck with beer, but they were pouring rum with a splash of coke. Are you surprised if I tell you there was an incident of “sea sickness”? Not on my part, nor Melissa; it was another fellow who claimed sea sickness, but I put my money on the Flor de Cana (rum).

There wraps our vacation. The next day we headed back to Managua, in a taxi; we spent the night before Melissa’s early flight the next morning. And I headed back to Muy Muy.

I had a great time escaping my volunteer life and seeing more of Nicaragua. I hope Melissa had a fun time. I know Nicaragua doesn’t normally ring in at the top of the list for vacation spots for most people; it does have some pretty amazing things to see and I always appreciate the visit. Hint hint: If you’re thinking about coming to Nicaragua, you can have a free tour guide and translator. I’m taking reservations until November.

Another guest blogger, hopefully

My friend, Melissa, is coming this week to visit and I'm hoping she'll write some blogs for me. Hopefully she'll write them and I may have to give her some deadlines, since my last guest blogger.....ahem, Steve, was quite leisurely with his blog posts; hence the month delay after their visit.
Hope you enjoy the guest blog posts! I apologize for the disorganized posts. I was just copying them from my email and they weren't ordered correctly.

Very Very (muy muy) busy

> I can usually tell how much fun I had the night before by how much fun I'm not having in the morning and Sunday was no exception. As Saturdays fog lifted from my head ,our plans for the day became more clear. We were going to Hebers baseball game in the morning. After that Tonio was going to butcher a pig so he invited us up to his ranch for lunch followed by horseback riding. And later we were to drive up to Matiguas for the rodeo.
> We picked up Lindsey and Heber in the morning and went just down the street to a little restaurant for breakfast. It didnt really look like a restaurant just a house with a few more tables than usual and a woman cooking at her stove.
>
> After eating we drove out to Hebers game. Baseball here can be compare to our home talent leagues. Each town gets a team together and they schedule games against other towns. Tonio is the financial backer or owner of the team from Muy Muy. Unfortunately this was playoff time and Muy Muy had already been eliminated. Heber also played on the Muy Muy team but was recruited to play for another team through the playoff. Heber is one of the local super jocks. Besides playing shortstop he is also a very good bull rider.
> We could see the other player respected his athletic abilities.
> His teammates were suprised to see an infield ground get by him. The other team however was very quick to throw back in their face that one of their best players had made an error.
> The baseball diamond wasn't much more than a field behind someone's house in the country. Six foot Branches with some chicken wire attached made up the backstop.
> On each team there was about 15 players ranging in age from early 20s to late 30s. In the parking lot there were 10 motorcycles,4 horses and 1 Toyota truck. We joked that maybe the other team all rode there in the back of that truck.
> The quality of play was very good. As good as our home talent or minor leagues in Wisconsin. I enjoyed watching but shade was at a minimum. There were no benches to sit on so we ended up on a dirt mound on the right field side with a branch hanging over for a little cover. We also found out today was going to be a double header. We stayed for most of the first game but since Tonio was already slaughtering a pig for us, we thought we better not be to late for lunch. Heber attempted to leave with us. But his uncle, who also played on the team , convinced him he was to valuable to the team and had to stay.
> We went back into muy Muy Where we met Tonios helper Jackson and followed him up to the ranch. He turn off the road just outside of town onto a dirt path up a hill through a pasture. The path was full of rocks and big ruts. We could feel our rented SUV bottom out on some of the boulders. It must have been close to two miles through the fields to Tonios ranch house. The house was very rustic almost barn or stable like. Dirt floor kitchen, worn ,weathered wood and paint. Like everywhere in Nicaragua there was debris. Plastic stuck hanging on the fences and weeds. Pieces laying in the grass yard around the house. Maybe an old shirt or shoe or bottle. We walk up the four steps to the huge front porch. Sorry three steps. The top step had broke and was laying on the third step. "Careful that last step's a doozy. "The view from the porch was awesome. It overlooked the entire town and we could see mountains all around for miles. The weather was perfect. It may have been 90 F but we were shaded on the porch a the breeze was just right. We enjoyed a few beers before lunch was ready and wrestled our way through some language impeded conversation. It was very nice and as I sat there relaxing I understood why no one had bothered to fix the step yet. Lunch consisted of grilled pork with a salad on the side. I don't know what they season their meat with but it was delicious.
> There had been four horses tied to the porch since we arrived. Tonio said ,once our lunch settled ,we would go for a horse ride around some of his property. As we saddled up,Rachel's horse got alittle out of control. Nothing to worry about, Tonio jumped up on the back of her horse with her and led the way. He seemed to have alittle crush on Rachel and I had a feeling this was all part of his plan. We rode down the hill to a fenced in stable area. Inside has was a foal Tonio said was only three days old. Once we opened the gate it was obvious Lindsey was riding the mother. They were happy to be reunited and the foul began nursing immediately. We started back up a different side of the hill with baby following. This time we rode through the pasture where the bulls for the rodeo were grazing. Theses animals were big and beautiful. And so was the landscape around us. Green hillsides surround by mountainous scenery. When we got back to the house it was time to start planning our trip to the rodeo. Heber had texted Lindsey that he had finished his double header and was going home to change. We drove down the rutty path back to Muy Muy to pick up Heber. Tonio , Jackson and another hired hand met us at Cafe Angel and we followed them to Matiguas. Most of the time people in Nicaragua are perfectly happy doing nothing.  When they do , there is no hurry.  That is until they get in an automobile.  The roads to the rodeo in Matiguas were rough and there was no keeping up with Tonio.  I dont really know how they can go so fast because there were times when we bounced so hard our heads hit the roof of the car. Arriving at the rodeo was like arriving at a county fair . We parked in a grass lot. There were tents and food stands and grand stands around the arena. There were a lot of people standing around, mingling ,eating and drinking along the gravel road to the arena entrance . We purchased our tickets and walked under the stands onto the walk path around the bull pen fence. 

Above the stands was a  stage like platform with a mariachi band playing very loud and lively the entire time we were there. The atmosphere inside was a little rowdier . It felt like a cross between a cock fight and a gladiator event. The  wood that the  bleacher were made of was well worn. The tier heights were random. Some were 18 inches ,some were 2 feet, some were 3 boards wide, some were 4 or 5. We found an open spot and climbed up to our seats. Inside the ring there were cowboys on horses ready to lasso any loose bull.

   Then the shoot opened.  Out came the bull twisting and kicking and bucking and riding him was a completely drunk rider. Im talking about wet noodle ,rubber neck ,crash dummy, gumby drunk. All the riders were wearing helmets with face guards so that was good but some of them couldn't even stand up after they fell off. It was interesting watching the cowboys rope the  bulls back into there pens.

Some of the bulls would only buck a couple seconds and quit. It was one of the cowboys job to entice the bull to start kicking again. He might wave a red flag in the bulls face or run circles around him. The hole time with the drunk rider  wavering on top ready to fall off. It was a blast to watch and a total party. Kids were walking around vending food and picking up empty beer can and there was a lot of drinking and laughing going on. Tonio assured me that the rodeo in Muy Muy was much better than here. After all the Muy Muy rodeo had Tonios bulls and Heber riding them. We watched for a couple hours and mingled with a few curious locals. Rachel spend some time taking pictures of some of the kids and other fans in the stands and Lindsey took some videos with Tonios new camera.

   We stopped in one of the beer  tents on our way out to the car but it was very loud and crowded.  Café Angel seemed like a much better idea , so we headed back to Muy Muy  and finished the night there. We danced and teased and drank and tried to teach Jackson English . We all laughed our heads of, funny beyond the language barrier.

   When it was time to leave ,we said our goodbyes and thanked our new amigos for the wonderful day. We would be leaving for the airport in the morning and I told Tonio he had made my last day in Nicaragua my best.

Welcome to Muy Muy

Saturday morning we were up early again to take the long drive back to Lindsey's home town Muy Muy. She actually seemed anxious to get back. On the way we passed through Esteli.
You can find anything in Esteli. There are many hotels, restaurant and diverse
shops. Blocks and blocks of shops. Our goal was to find the area with with the leather crafters. Becky and Rachel did not want to leave Nicaragua without a pair of hand made boots. After a few misguided searches and a stop for lunch we had finally arrived. Hand made leather boot shops were scattered along both sides of the street for about two block. They will measure your feet and make a custom fit pair or you can see if there are any already made boots that will fit. Since it takes almost a week to have boots custom made ,we all needed to find boot that were already made. We all found what we were looking for and four pair later we were back on the road.
We drove through the roundabout going into Muy Muy in late afternoon. In the middle of the roundabout was a large statue of a man on a horse. I believe it was Augusto Sandino ,a hero from the 1930s revolution against the U. S. . Along the road were some small stores,cafe/bars and restaurants. We turned off the main road and zigzagged our way to our hotel on the narrow brick paved streets of town. Carlos, the hotel owners son,met us at the steel gate/door and showed us to our room. He had been to school in the U. S. and spoke very good English.
There was a large area in the center of the hotel with an opened roof. Off to one side was a bar and kitchen. Our room was down a short hallway on the perimeter.  We dropped our bags in the room but we still had two large very heavy  suit cases to deal with. These were full of care packages from everyone back home. Toys and back packs for the kids  ,candy and some of Lindsey's favorite snacks,(the Cheetos didn't make it passed the first two days.)and baseball glove ,hat and balls for Lindseys friend Heber. Heber  met us at the hotel to help get these cases to their destination.
It was a short walk to Lindsey's place. The houses along the way were close together,close to the street and small. Lindsey's house was just a 20'x20' cement block building with porches on the front and back. Half the house was divided into two bedrooms. The other half was living space with a hot plate and a table and a few chairs. Small to us but very nice by Nica standards. Out back was the shower/outhouse and an excellent view of the countryside.   On the back porch was a well worn hammock. Obviously a favorite place to spend leisure time and a good choice at that. Becky had bought a hammock while we were in Esteli earlier that day. It was meant to go home with us but we offered to replace Lindsey's ragged one with it. She assured us the one she had was fine and would last until her term was up in Nov. (Note to Lindsey : youre probably already regretting that decision.)
Walking into Lindsey's house is similar to walking into Rachel's. you are instantly met by dogs. At Lindsey's it's Rupert. At Rachel's it's Redford.the thing is they could pass for twins. If they didn't live over 3000 miles away you would swear they were at least brother and sister.
Rupert was excited to have Lindsey home and the rawhide bones that came with her were a big hit. I done expect they'll last much longer than the Cheetos did. We hadn't been there long before company arrived. Hebers 10 year old sister , his 4 year old nephew and his 18 month old niece came by to welcome Lindsey home and find out who the new people were. Hebers dad also stopped in to say hola and round up the kids.
    Before leaving Wisconsin , Lindsey had called and told us about Tonio,a friend of her  and Heber , who was looking for a video camera. It is possible to purchase the latest equipment in nicaragua ,but the choices are few and the price is high. Tonio had found what he wanted on line and we were able to buy it at Best Buy and bring it to him. He was eager to meet us and see his new camera so we arranged to meet him and his hired hand Jackson at Cafe Angel on the edge of town.
While the bars in town are more like billard halls and kind of a men's only saloon, the Cafe was family friendly. Pavilion style. No walls. You could get something to eat , drink beer and even dance if the music felt right. We did all of that. At 20 cordobas a beer(that's .80 cents) it was hard not to.We became fast friends with Tonio. He owns a ranch on the hill over looking MuyMuy where he raise bulls for the rodeo in Muy Muy. We all had a bite to eat and talked and laughed for hours. Even though Lindsey was asked to do some interpreting, we were able to communicate fairly well. And when something is funny it just funny. There is no language barrier.
    As luck would have it our hotel had planned to have a party on that night. Becky though it was for her but I'm pretty sure they were doing it with or without us. We all left the cafe and headed back to the hotel to check it out. There were strobe lights, a disco ball, a DJ , beer ,dancing ,a cover charge and very loud music. It would have been impossible to go to bed and try to get any sleep. There was only one thing to do. Dance and drink till the party was over. And we did. It turned into a late night but fun was had by all. What I failed to realize at the time was all the plans we were making for the next day. Our last day in Muy Muy was also to become our busiest day yet

The end of a vacation

Monday morning we got up and packed for our trip home.
It was hard to believe that I would be back in the cold in less than 12 hours. The good thing was it was already March 4. How much longer could winter last. Lindsey and Heber walked down to our hotel to say goodbye. When we got in the car to leave I realized we had just hugged our safety net goodbye. No more translator. No more help with directions. No one to read road signs. The last one didn't matter because there are no road signs. Being submersed in the Nica culture for a week taught us a hablar just enough espaniol to get nosotros en problemas. We left early enough so if there were problems we could still make our flight. This time everything went perfect. We didn't get stopped by police, there weren't any horses or cattle in the road and there were very few rough patches of road. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to return the rental car, get a bite to eat , check in and do a little duty free shopping. Check in seemed to be taking longer than normal and the  woman behind the counter seem to be getting alittle anxious. We were suppose to fly out of managua to Houston. Lay over for 2 hours and then fly to Ohare. Unfortunately our flight from Houston to Ohare had been canceled. She managed to book us on another flight but there was one problem. The lay over was only 50 minutes. 50 minutes to pick up our luggage, get through customs and take the tram to another terminal. I could see the wheels turning in Becky's head.
Then, when we found out there was a blizzard heading for Chicago tonight , we knew if we missed this flight we might be waiting for a long time. The trip to Houston went well and we arrived on time. The airline magazine on the plane had a map of the Houston airport and we were able to map out our exit strategy. So when we hit the ground we rushed down to baggage claim.....and waited for the carousel to start. We grabbed our luggage and rushed over to customs....and waited in line. Long line. The wheels in Becs head were on the verge of panic mode. It seemed like everyone in front of us left some change in there pockets or forgot to remove their belt or shoes or had a hip replacement or a metal plate in their head. I don't know what was going on but it seemed like it took forever and when we got through... The race was on. We ran to the tram  and when we got off we ran to our gate.
We got there with 20 min. to spare but no one else was there. There was one guy sitting near the gate. He said he heard the flight was canceled and he thought everyone went to customer service.
Well, it was a nice try. Customer service was close by so we went there and told them we had boarding passes for the flight that had been canceled. "Canceled?  That flight wasn't canceled. They just changed it from gate 22 to gate 44. If you hurry you can still make it. " 22 gates is along way to run through an airport. Luckily one of the airport employees with a cart saw us running and picked us up and drove us down the hall way to gate 44. We made it. But the plane was suppose to leave in 7 minutes. Shouldn't everyone be boarded by now. Every chair in the area was full. Then we look at the sign  behind the boarding desk.
 FLIGHT DELAYED 1 HOUR
What a relief. We didn't miss it. But all that running for nothing.
I slept most of the way from  Houston to Ohare. We beat the snow storm and had a nice drive home too. It did however snow so much that night , I couldn't go to work the next day. Everything always seems to work out very well in the end.
A snow day.......What a great way to end a vacation.

That´s a rap

  Having the day off after a long vacation is always nice. Spending half the day removing snow .... Not so much. It did , however give us time to think about  a few things from our trip.
Everyone driving in Nicaragua is in a hurry. I guess , so they can get where they're going faster and do nothing longer.
 Since they saved all this time driving fast. They should  spend the extra nothing time picking up trash.
 I think nicaragua should do an anti pollution campaign. Like "Give a hoot don't pollute. " Or the Indian with the tear in his eye from the 70s. Remember
how bad our roadsides looked before that.
Everywhere in Nicaragua there is barbed wire fences.  No real fence poles. Just straight sticks in the ground with barbed wire attached. Even the small yards in town have them. I'm just not sure what they're trying to keep in or out because their animals are always in the road.
The mornings we spent on the road we would see people fetching their water for the day. Or down at the river wash clothes or bathing their children. If you told them they could have water to there house with 2 or 3 weeks of hard labor , digging or drilling every day. I think they would say ,"That's ok. We we'll just go down to the river. "
 Lindsey said when they put the roundabout in Muy Muy with the big statue in the middle, they ran out of money to finish fixing the road so they left it torn up  with huge ruts.
English lessons  and beer don't mix.
Although Jackson could say
Facebook and I doe no. Usually followed by. Da Da Da.
"I doe no DaDaDa. DaDaDa. " That was his imitation of us.
I have alway been sympathetic about Lindsey circumstances in Nicaragua.
Life there is not always easy and some situations have been tough. But it's March 27 and there is still snow on the ground up here. No more sympathy.
Envy.
Nicaragua is a beautiful country. We were luck enough to have someone along that could speak the language. I do recommend vacationing there. I also recommend Spanish lessons before you go. A small sacrifice will make your time at this  diamond in the rough more enjoyable.
If you do get a chance to go to nicaragua. Don't forget to set  watch back...... To 1930.
 Thanks Lindsey. We all had a great time. Looks like you'll be giving some Spanish lessons when you get home.