I arrived in El Sauce on the 7th of January, 2011. I came with a group called “Four Walls,” a small non-profit that builds houses for El Sauce’s poorest families. The people I met in Four Walls were some of the best people I have ever met. It was truly a pleasure to have gotten to know them and worked with them. We spent four days building houses and then went in a pick-up truck to Ocotal, a nearby village community situated on a mountain overlooking the coastal plane. As the pick-up truck struggled to make its way up the mountain you could notice the change in temperature and the transition from deciduous trees to pine needle forests. We spent the afternoon staring out over the distance from the top of Ocotal to Lake Managua, two volcanoes, and El Sauce down below and relaxing at the Ocotal visitors’ center. After a couple more days working on houses we went down to Las Penitas, a beach not far from Léon. On the 18th of January I said goodbye to the four walls people and returned to El Sauce to start my work with Enlace.
Enlace is a not-for-profit economic development organization in El Sauce, Nicaragua. At night they teach English classes for adults, and during the day they promote some businesses and tourism to El Sauce. As an Enlace volunteer I taught an English class for kids, aged 7-11. They were great kids, very eager and enthusiastic and always wanting to play a game. They learned a lot in the short time I was there, as did I. I finished my work with Enlace on the fifteenth of January and headed back home on the 16th.
I’d say that some of the best times I had in El Sauce were working with Kellan and Yacarely, the directors of Enlace and teaching the children English. I also really enjoyed working with the Four Walls people. Building houses was really fun and rewarding and the new owners were extremely helpful and grateful for our work. I also enjoyed spending time after-hours at El Sauce’s bars and restaurants with the Four Walls people. Another highlight of my trip was going to Las Penitas, but the nearby towns of Léon and Matagalpa also offered exciting weekend excursions. Probably my worst experience in El Sauce was drinking a glass of unpasteurized milk and spending the whole day vomiting. But generally speaking everything else you eat is fine and at 30 cordobas ($1.50) an entrée the prices are good, and with 42 days of continuous sunshine, the weather is even better.
I would highly recommend El Sauce. It is cheap, but not destitute. It is out of the way enough to be a genuine Nicaraguan experience, yet close enough to the other cities to offer easy access. It is not mobbed with tourists, yet there are always at least a few visitors there to meet. It’s friendly, welcoming, and very safe. I will be going there again soon.
Singing the ABC Song to the Children's English Class:
At Cerro Negro Volcano:
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