As soon as I landed at Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, I knew that this summer was going to be a special one. After backpacking Peru for two weeks and tasting South American culture for the first time prior to flying into Nicaragua, I was deeply excited to see what Central America had in store for us. I used the little Spanish I gathered from class at Ivey and my Peru travels to catch a ride on a "chicken bus", as the locals fondly call it, to Pochomil, a small fishing village on the west coast of Nicaragua, where several Ivey friends were already having an amazing start to their IGL experience. We spent two amazing days relaxing in tiny Pochomil, tossing a frisbee around and lazing on the beach, before heading south to San Juan del Sur to meet the rest of the IGL family.
San Juan del Sur is a beautiful beach town famous across Central America for its awesome waves and amazing food. It was the perfect place to start off our journey in Nicaragua! The town is quaint and walking around the streets was an immense pleasure. Hiking up to a statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks the town rewards you with some of the most breathtaking sights I've seen anywhere. I've come to learn, however, that the best part about IGL really is the amazing Ivey colleagues that you're with. We became incredibly close in the two weeks we spent in San Juan del Sur, reflecting fondly on our semester at Ivey and expressing our excitement for the IGL experiences to come!
After two weeks in San Juan Del Sur, our shuttle took us to our homestays, where we would be spending the week with a host family prior to settling into our longer-term accommodations at Hotel Angel Azul. My host family was Maria and her family, alongside perhaps the cutest puppy on the planet, Lola. Maria was an amazing host and constantly went out of her way to help us out with our Spanish and understand the local culture in Nicaragua. She was truly an amazing person and welcomed us into her home with open arms. The house itself was quite nice, however, there was no air conditioner or hot water, something some had grown accustomed to in previous travels but was new to others. The biggest perk of the homestay, however, was definitely the food! After eating out for two weeks, there was simply nothing better than getting fed three home-cooked meals a day! Nicaraguan food traditionally consists of Gallo Pinto (rice mixed with beans), plantains and chicken and is simply a must try for every traveler.
During the week, we studied at VIVA Spanish School which was literally right next to our homestays! We attended classes four hours a day, building on our existing knowledge of Spanish from Ivey by practicing speaking and reviewing grammar. Our teacher Jason was really great at helping us grow our vocabulary by pushing us to speak about complex topics. In the afternoon’s, we play played cards, spent time with our host families and explored Managua! Near our homestay’s there was a huge shopping mall called Metrocentro where we spent the vast majority of our time. It was a great place to relax under the air conditioning, buy groceries and explore the various stores.
Wednesday was the first day we finally got to go to our offices! I’m working for Invercasa and my team and I quickly came to learn that Invercasa is a pretty big deal in Nicaragua. The conglomerate owns various companies in the country, and even controls 50% of the profits in the brokerage industry! Our office is quite modern and comparable to Canadian standards. We have air conditioning, glass windows and an amazing cafeteria with many tasty and economical options. Working in Central American culture has been fun, but of course, it does have its own challenges. The work culture is a lot slower than what we’re used to in East Coast Toronto, and locals have said the word “tranquilo” more than once to us, a Spanish saying that essentially means “relax”, or “take it easy”.
Overall, everyone in Team Nicaragua had a great time at their homestays and are extremely excited to deliver value to their companies while learning how to work in a completely different culture. We look forward to exploring the rest of Nicaragua and hope to make the most out of the rest of our IGL!
Look forward to touching base with us again during our interim presentations!
Sincerely,
Abdul Basharat