By Raúl Gavarrette O.
The former Escuela de Español Laguna de Apoyo, in Masaya – later in 1995 known as Escuela de Español Proyecto Ecológico Laguna de Apoyo – was founded in 1992, by the McKaye family. Beverly McKaye a South African artist became its first Director. The McKaye family had arrived in Nicaragua for scientist search project in early 1992 and having plans for living in the country, started looking for a language Spanish school to learn the language as they spoke English only. Since they did not find any school in the area and urged to learn how to speak Spanish, they went to Guatemala to take an intensive Spanish course in a very popular known school in Antigua. When they came back to Nicaragua, the McKaye family was very enthusiastic with the idea of starting a language Spanish School in Laguna de Apoyo and right after they returned to the country, they started preparation for that interesting project. Lorenzo López, Bismarck Calero, and Cándida López who were already working for the McKaye’s in many different jobs, were then trained by some Guatemalan experienced Spanish instructors brought from Guatemala by the McKaye’s family for an intensive training workshop. Those Nicaraguan teachers became the first three Spanish teachers in the Escuela de Español Laguna de Apoyo. In 1995 and following years some more teachers joined among them Professor Raúl Gavarrette who had worked for years as a language teacher in Universities in Managua and had been pioneer in teaching one-to-one Spanish lessons in Managua in the eighties. Raúl Gavarrette along with Bismarck, Cándida, Lorenzo and Beverly made a perfect team to lead the Spanish school as a successful language school in Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua. In the 90´s there were some European NGO´s in Nicaragua which brought volunteers to help villagers in projects in rural areas of the North of the country. Those large groups of volunteers from Europe, mostly from Denmark, Norway and Sweden came to this Spanish language school to learn some Spanish and enjoy the beauty nature of Laguna de Apoyo, the beautiful crater lake of pristine waters.
In 2006, another school which started business in Masaya, was La Mariposa Spanish school and Hotel in San Juan de Concepción.
Other independent Spanish schools opened in 2008 among them Nicaragua Spanish Institute -NicaSpan- in Masaya, which founders and Co-Directors were Professor Raúl Gavarrette and Bismarck Calero.
The Spanish school located in Laguna de Apoyo managed lately by Jeffrey McCrary got apart from its former financial partner and founder Dr. McKaye in 2009, and continued the programs by himself in another location right next to the former Spanish school Proyecto Ecológico. McKaye family returned from the United States to Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua in 2011 and reopened the language school under a new name called Laguna de Apoyo Spanish School and Cultural Center. This new Spanish school in Laguna de Apoyo was then managed by enthusiastic and dynamic Donaldo Silva, a former Spanish teacher in Apoyo School. NicaSpan school in Masaya city closed in 2014, and by that date, one of the founders had already started a new branch-out Spanish school Gran Manquesa, in the same city. Laguna de Apoyo Spanish School and Cultural Center closed in 2017.
Instituto Lingüístico started offering in-home lessons program in Masaya in 2017, and stablished alliances with a diving school in Laguna de Apoyo to offer Spanish lessons on site combining water sports and Spanish.
The economic situation in Nicaragua in 2018 affected the industry not only in the major hubs like Granada, León, and San Juan del Sur but also in Masaya. Due to the international hight cost of oil and its consequences on the flights cost at present (2026), there are few visitors coming to Central American countries, affecting the local economy and impacting even more the current economic situation, as a matter of fact some of the Spanish schools in Nicaragua has closed permanently.
The current schools in operations in Masaya are:
Instituto Lingüístico Inter-Cultural in Laguna de Apoyo
Instituto Lingüístico Inter-Cultural in Masaya city
La Mariposa in San Juan de Concepción, Masaya
Gran Manquesa in Masaya city
