Swimming in Spanish

  Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua
Friday, October 26, 2007

Last week, Andy and I decided that we were up for another week of Spanish school, so we took a shuttle to the Proyecto Ecologico at Laguna de Apoyo. It is quite an amazing place as the laguna is actually the crater of a volcano and measures up to 200 metres deep in places. The Projecto Ecologico offers Spanish classes and spearheads conservation of the area. So in addition to learning Spanish, we got to live in the forest and get a pretty good intro to the flora and fauna as well as the issues affecting the area.

It rained on and off last weekend when we arrived so we spent time playing board games and reading. We were the only students there but a guy from the U.S. was volunteering there so we had some company. The owners of the Proyecto Ecologico, Jeffery and Belen, were really hospitable and their 8 month old daughter Agata charmed all of us. I had a really nice teacher named Aura and Andyīs teacher Lorenzo was hilarious. Heīs been a Spanish teacher for 18 years so he has impeccable annunciation and talks really loud to boot. We think he missed his calling as a actor. We also met Pablo, the administrator for the school, and two of the cooks who made three healthy veggie filled meals for everyone daily. And I canīt forget about my classmates Blackie and Cuko. They sat next to me everyday in class but usually slept through the grammar lecture. Aura and I referred to them as īmal estudiantesī.

So on Monday we had class from 8 - 12:30 and then took a nature hike up from the Proyecto Ecologico to the main road. We spotted the national bird of Nicaragua, the Guardabarranco (or Motmot in English), howler monkeys and a lot of butterflies. Before she was a Spanish teacher, Aura studied and worked in Biology with a specialty in butterflies so she told us all about the local species.

On Tuesday we had class in the morning and then a free afternoon. Luckily it was a gorgeous day so we took out the kayaks for a few hours and got great views of the houses and forest from the lake. We also saw a lot of fish and rescued a butterfly and dragonfly stranded in the lake. Such conservationists we are now! Later on we went for a swim. The water in the laguna is the perfect temperature and for the most part very clear and clean. At the Proyecto Ecologico they are a bit worried about the future of the laguna though as there is some evidence of garbage around parts of the shore and we heard that one of the local restaurants lets their sewage out into the lake. Ewwww. It seems like it will be tricky to find a balance between environmental protection and the livelihood of local people.

Midweek we had a field trip to the Proyecto Ecologicoīs sister laguna and conservation area near Managua. At Laguna de Xiloa we visited a school that Jeffery and Belen helped to build with funding from the Japanese government. The kids were really cute and quite taken with my blond hair. We brought trees along for the kids to plant and monitor as part of their science classes. One that they planted in May had already grown a metre. We had class in the afternoon Wednesday and finished off the day with an action packed game of Monopoly en espaņol. I now know that the Spanish word for railroad is ferrocarria (roll those double īrīs!).

On Thursday and Friday we finished up our classes and enjoyed a bit more time at the Laguna. We watched a documentary about the poaching of sea turtle eggs in Nicaragua and were inspired to head to San Jan del Sur and La Flor to take a trip to the wildlife refuge. Responsible tourism to the beaches where the turtles nest can help to pay for wardens and keep poachers away from the eggs.

So... on to our last few days in Nicaragua. I hope to see a turtle!