We flew into Managua, spent the night at "Nicaragua Guesthouse" where they offer the good deal of picking you up at the airport, putting you up for the night for $15/person, in modest but clean accommodations. Our first week's travel took us to Leon, then up, up, up a less developed roadway to El Sauce and then to Esteli. It was great fun to ride on top of the old refurbished schoolbus through beautiful countryside. El Sauce, population of 11,000+ , comes alive in January with the celebration of El Senor de Esquipulas, or the black Christ.

Esteli has almost 100,000 people and is home to several Spanish language schools. It has a pleasantly cool climate at an altitude of 844 m.
I stayed with an Esteli family for two weeks while studying