León, Spanish classes and a (belated) farewell to Nicaragua

Just wanted to do a little wrap up of my time in Nicaragua.  Even though I spent close to 7 weeks there I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface of the country.  I didn't even make it over to the Caribbean coast and spent only a few days in more mountainous Northern parts of the country.  This lack is partly due to my taking several weeks of Spanish classes but mostly because there is so much to see in Nicaragua.  It is a truly amazing country and I would love to return one day to see everything I missed the first time around.

One of the many old churches around Leon

My last two weeks in Nicaragua were spent in Leòn taking 20 hours a week of private Spanish lessons.  The lessons ran from 8am 'til noon and then after lunch they would organize activities for us in the afternoon.  These could be things like trips to various museums or exploring the painted murals around the city depicting Leon's history.  Sometimes we would go to the nearby beaches to get a little reprieve from the heat and humidity of the city.  The nightlife in Leòn is good though I imagine if you stayed there long enough it might get a little repetitive.

Giant beetles at the entymology museum.

The hostel I stayed at, Hostel Albergue, was great as well.  It was a little more relaxed than some of the other party hostels, was Nicaraguan run, and had a kitchen.  Since I was staying so long they were nice enough to give me a discount on my stay and the staff was fantastic.  I would often go out with one of the staff members and he introduced me to many people and places that I would otherwise have missed if I had been going out with other travelers to the normal, touristy spots.

My teacher, Jairo, giving me my Diploma at the end of my Spanish classes.

Unfortunately, my flight out was from Managua at 1am.  I  postponed leaving Leon for as long as possible but since I didn't want to arrive in Managua at night, (when it is much more dangerous) I ended up taking a bus and getting to the airport around 7pm meaning I had a lot of time to kill.  I made sure to pick up a couple bottles of Flor de Caña, a truly excellent Nicaraguan rum, to bring back to the states.  

The main Plaza

 After eating dinner and reading my book for a while I still had some leftover Cordobas which I needed to get rid of.  The local Nicaraguan currency is essentially worthless outside of the country and even neighboring countries like Costa Rica and Honduras won't exchange money for Cordobas.  I ended up taking my money to the bar where, after talking with the bartender for a while, I asked her to teach me how to make a good Michelada.  Armed with my new knowledge I felt ready to return to the States though I'm sure I'll be back some day.