Mariposa Adventure : History that runs in your blood

Moving out geologic and colonial time into the modern era, we visited the capital city of Managua for a history lesson from the multi-talented Bergman. Bergman is the expert administrator at the Mariposa language school, a Spanish teacher, a vet, history teacher, and all around awesome guy. His goal for our trip to Managua? To feel the history in our blood

With the contra war very much in living memory, everyone in Nicaragua values their hard-earned freedom from the dictatorship. Hot pink banners and light displays in support of the current regime are everywhere. Strike up a conversation with a friendly Nicaraguan and they will tell you of the many social services provided by the new government and usually share some ideas for the work that still needs to be done to improve these services.

Take education, for example. The free education system has increased the opportunities of many people still many rural children do not make it to secondary school and still these schools are packed. Despite, dividing the day into 4-hour sessions in the morning, afternoon, and night of which students attend one session, classes can still have 50 students. The public universities can only accommodate a fraction of the secondary school students.For those lucky and hard-working students who make it, the public universities are a tremendous opportunity. However, even a roundtrip daily commute of $3/day can be an insurmountable obstacle.

Interestingly enough, the public universities are far more respected than private schools. At private schools, teachers can often be bribed and consequently, grades can be bought. There is no toleration for this behavior at public universities and so these degrees are held in higher regard.

Below are some photos of Managua. Nicaragua has a fascinating history that I hope you will take time to learn more about!