They have flooded this field not far from Estelí getting ready to plant rice, a major staple food here in Nicaragua. http://www.spanishclassesonline.biz/

I took this photo in October of 2009 at nearly the beginning of the homesteading rush in the yet unnamed Alexis Arguello barrio on the outskirts of Estelí, Nicaragua. This was once vacant scrub land that the owners were not using for farming or raising livestock. It was unproductive land waiting to be used.
After the successful conclusion of the revolutionary war in 1979 the new Sandinista government wrote into their new constitution a provision that gave unproductive land over to the landless peasants to build houses for their families. First dozens, then hundreds and eventually thousands of homesteaders flooded into the area to claim their government offered prize.
A village sprung up like spring flowers on a warm spring day. It was hard for the settlers because there was no water or sewers or electricity. In a matter of months the new inhabitants stripped the land bare of brush and trees as they burnt them to cook their meals over open camp fires.
Notice the line of rocks on the bare ground. They denote the property boundaries until the surveyors came in to parcel out the land legally and give them lot numbers.
This is a benevolent government at work helping the numberless poor get a better start in life.
http://www.spanishconversation.net/
    

Spanish Conversation School of Estelí is in the middle of coffee growing country in the central mountain area of Nicaragua. The natives have picked their own beans, shelled them and roasted them for their own coffee pots.
Juanita is sorting out the beans that didn't roast well. She will make a fresh pot after grinding the newly roasted beans for the freshest coffee you can ever brew. http://www.spanishclassesonline.biz/

Si-Dun Huang recently came to Nicaragua to work in the agriculture community not far from Spanish Conversation School of Estelí. He needs Spanish to interact with the people surrounding him each day. He is very busy during the day so, even though he lives only a short distance away, he cannot come to take classes in the school.
He is very smart and heard that we have online Skype Spanish classes with the same excellent teachers that teach here in our school building. So he signed up for classes online and he pays the low price for his once-a-day class by using PayPal as so many of our students do. He buys 10 115-minute classes at a time which makes it a little more convenient.
Yorleni, his Spanish tutor, speaks English and so does he which makes it easier for him to learn Spanish online. He has a pretty heavy Chinese accent in his English speech and sometimes it is hard to understand a few words. So they just type it out in the Skype message area and everything becomes clear. 
He's coming along very well and has fun talking and asking plenty of questions. I can hear them laughing sometimes when they hit a funny word or tell a funny story.
http://www.spanishclassesonline.biz

Welcome Klimentiy Belov to our Skype online Spanish school. There is a 10+ hour difference from St. Petersburg, Russia to Estelí, Nicaragua. He will have classes at 8:00 pm in his home while it is 10:00 am here.
He just returned from Ecuador two weeks ago where he studied Spanish for eleven weeks. He says that he wants to continue practicing his newly acquired language and not lose any of it due to lack of use. He really likes talking Spanish with Yorleni his online teacher. He just ordered ten more classes. 

This is a house on the side of a steep mountain above San Juan del Sur that faces the Pacific ocean. This house is about 200 feet above the streets of the town. They have to carry water up on a steep trail usually in two pails hanging from either side of a pole resting heavily on the man's shoulders. Small water pumps can't lift the water to that altitude. This house has a magnificent view of the picturesque cruise ship and fishing harbor. Houses like this are for sale. http://www.spanishconversation.net/

I saw this mural on a wall of a building in León near the park of the poets. They still remember and honor the heroes of an old war. http://www.spanishclassesonline.biz

This photo is of a model of the proposed canal that will  be built to pass through Central America and compete with the Panama Canal.
You will see this in Central Park in front of the main cathedral in the city of León, Nicaragua during the Christmas season. http://www.spanishclassesonline.biz