Managua (Nicaragua)

After out wretched day with border nonsense, I think we were all a bit excited to park it for a bit in one place. Nicole and Jared had scheduled Spanish classes in Managua at 10am, so we woke up in Somoto at almost 5am, and header out for our drive. The drive was speedy, as the road conditions were above average. Small glitch came when we were just outside of Managua. Unlike every other country, where people take the driving laws more as guidelines that actual rules, Nicaraguan police officers will in fact pull you over for an infraction. Jared was cruising along, and passed a person on the highway. As we approached a hill, an officer came out from under a tree and flagged us down. He said he had seen us pass the car on a double yellow line, and was going to give Jared a ticket, which would require the officer to keep his license until we picked it up the next day in that district. We were pretty bummed, and I explained to the officer that it was difficult to know all the driving laws in every country, but was resigned to the ticket. Just as he was writing down our information, with Jared's license in hand, he started asking about our roof equipment, the trip, surfing and no joke...I talked us out of the ticket!! I wasn't even attempting to do that, but he finally said that he didn't want this to ruin our time in Nicaragua and would let us off with a warning! Obviously, my powers of persuasion are much stronger in Central America than they are in the US! We thanked the officer, and I took over driving for the last leg of the trip.
We cruised into Managua in good time, and went to my best friend, Eliza's house. Jared and Nicole quick showered, and we headed out to their Spanish classes, which are only about a 5-10 minute drive from her place. The rest of the day, I relaxed in Eliza's awesome backyard. We went to lunch with some of her friends and at 5pm went to pick up our students. They looked pretty pooped after an intense 7 hour Spanish session, but optimistic. The ladies went off to a salon for some much needed grooming, while Jared stayed at the house (accidentally locked out for about 15 minutes) and hung out with Eliza's roommate Dave and Jay, whom we had met in El Zunte. That night, we went to dinner at a local Nicaraguan eatery and then played cards and drank a bit back at the house until we headed to bed.