Hola parientes! Today is Friday April 13, and we have finally made it to Nicaragua! We would like to extend a personal THANK YOU to all parents that brought us to the airport at 2 a.m.. Although the flight was early, it was smooth sailing and gave most of us the opportunity to catch a few hours of sleep. After a lengthy layover, we were able to finally board the plane leaving for Nicaragua; however, we do not have Maria Sofia (Bailey) anymore, but we are hoping for a recovery and return!
  After landing in Nicaragua and going through customs, we were able to meet our driver and head towards Mariposa to become acquainted with our home for the next 10 days. As we drove toward Mariposa, we were able to see the living conditions of people living in Managua. Unfortunately driving through the area made it more apparent that these people are living in extremely poor and dirty conditions, and their struggle to find money.
  Although we witnessed sad scenery on our way through Managua, as we got closer to Mariposa it became obvious that our home for the next 10 days would be absolutely beautiful. When we arrived, we were greeted by young, happy children, and an extremely friendly staff. A women named Hazel gave us a general introduction to what we would be doing. After we set up our rooms, we all sat together on the hammocks and talked. Soon after, dinner was ready to be served and we all sat down and began to feast! Dinner was AMAZING, consisting of rice, vegetables, and dessert. This place is beautiful and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Today was our last full day!! We woke up and ate breakfast as normal, and left at about 8 am to go on a hike. Oscar and pedro, and two other guides brought us down a long bendy steep path. We arrived at a beach, on lake Masaya. We followed our guides through the woods, where we found snakes, bats, frogs, cows, birds, and everything in between. We saw the summer home of one if the first presidents. The hike back was rugged. It felt like the hottest day yet, hiking uphill in the hot sun. We were thrilled to arrive back at the van. We all relaxed for a while, some of us napped while some dedicated students **cough cough Evan, Oskar, and Corey, did calculus.  Later after lunch, we had some visitors from the Pulsera Project! Three pulsera artists helped us each make a bracelet. They're much harder than they look! It was all good in the end, classic rice and bean dinner! However we had a minor catastrophe, Savita got lost! I don't know if we will ever see her again. Sad times sad times. However the rest of us will see you tomorrow!!  <--- that was a joke, by Grace, of course.

Today was our trip to Granada. First we visited a cemetery which had rental coffins. Afterwards we went to a church, and climbed up a bell tower which had really short stairs. At the top there was an amazing view of the city. Then we made our way to Lake Nicaragua which used to hold the world's only freshwater shark (and still might?). We saw some incredibly big island houses which belong to some really rich people. Then we jumped off the side of the boat and took a swim. (Rachel had a little trouble getting back on). Afterwards we went to the "Hotel con Corazón" (hotel with a heart). At the hotel, we met up with people  from the Pulsera project and had lunch. When lunch was over, we headed into town for some shopping. Ally Bergeron finally got to see a kitten, after Corey saved it from falling off a ledge. There was also a free art exhibit near the park which was neat. After Evan ate three orders of chicken, we returned to El Piscacho. As we settled in, and people ate dinner, there was another bug in the shower, however this time Corey was the one who had it, and this time it was a SCORPION! But don't worry, their venom can only paralyze you for an entire day. We had the night guard Leopoldo remove it (after taking pictures). So we had an eventful end to our ninth day in Nicaragua. ¡Adios gringos!
                                                                                                                -Corey

today we were in granada, the oldest city in the americas...  we visited with some people who work for the pulsera project, took a boat ride, saw some monkeys, and did some shopping.

Hola mis amigos and familia!
Today was a fun packed filled day! We all woke up bright and early to get a good start to a long day. First, we had breakfast which consists of fruit, granola, and corn flakes the amazing cooks brought us out a spanish version of french toast! the pineapple here is soooo amazing because its so fresh. Then, we headed off into the "muy caliente" sun and volunteered at either the reserve or the schools. Rachel, Evan, Grace, Torri, and Both Ally's went to reserve and Shannon, Corey, Savita, Eilis, oscar, and Karley went to the two schools. At the reserve we all watered plants in the hot sun and a few people got to hang bananas in trees and cut down coconuts from the trees! Evan climbed up a ladder to shake coconuts down and he managed to balance the ladder on the tree! After volunteering, we had an an amazing lunch of rice, beans, and avocado! then we headed off to spanish class. Unfortunately, it was our last day of class but it was so fun because we went to san marco with our conversation teachers and rode a van packed like sardines! In one van there was about 32 people! It was insane how many people fit into one van! then we saw the nicaraguan "wal-mart" interestingly enough, wal-art owns this company. There, we got ice cream from eskimo or a refreshing cold drink or popsicle to cool off from the blistering heat. Getting home from the city was a whole other story! A teacher's husband who drives trucks picked us up and we all rode in the bed of the truck! Although it may be illegal in the U.S, it is such a common way of transportation here. we all bounced around from the bumpy rode in the back and had the time of our lives. At night we had yet another history lesson from chester. He taught us all about the nicaraguan revolution. oh crap, we have to run because they're coming, okay bye!

Hola Amigos
Today was our fourth day of volunteering and spanish classes! Half of the group went to the schools to help the teachers and work with the children. The other half went to the reserve and helped plant seeds and various plants. After volunteering we went back for lunch at El Piscacho and then on to the spanish lessons. We continued with our grammar lessons and for conversation class we went back into town with our teachers. Later we went La Concha, to a restaurant with pool. We were able to enjoy the pool and cool off, good food, and cold drinks. We are all definitely enjoying our time here in Nicaragua!
Hasta luego  (Karley)

Playing Santa at the schools

¿Qué pasa amigos?
It's only Wednesday and we already decided to ditch our community service. Instead we slept in and ate breakfast at eight. Then it was off to Rueben Dario and Panama Schools to deliver supplies. At the first school we handed out stuffed animals to all the preschoolers and as many of the first graders as possible. The rest of the first graders and all the second graders received backpacks. Teachers got paper, pens, and coloring supplies. Then at Panama School every student was given a mechanical pencil, a colored pencil, three regular pencils, erasers, and a notebook. Each teacher got handfuls of pens, glue sticks, dry erase markers, etc. Even after that we had a mound of supplies left over. We organized it nicely for the afternoon kids, which are older and set aside other piles to be distributed at a later time. The kids were extremely appreciative of every item they received. Thinking about the impact of these simple tasks is insane. I can not think of one time where if my parents could not get me pencils or a notebook that my teacher would not have one for me. These children rely on help to get  supplies that does not necessarily come from their parents or the teachers but from people like the ones who donated who are willing to give and help. It's amazing how little can go a long way here.

When we were finished at the schools we came back to Piscacho and enjoy lunch with Paulette, the women in charge of Mariposa and numerous other projects. She told us the projects she has and is currently working on and it is truly insane. Then after lunch it was time for grammar and conversation classes. For conversation class we went into town again and got pan dulce from the panadería(aka a bakery for all you gringo's 😉😈 ). It was delicious. After classes it was back to Piscacho for dinner where we had a lesson on the canal. We learned about the debate over it and how it won't really benefit Nicaragua and the government is lying to the people because the people here do not have the best education. Any ways it was interesting. We also learned the reason for free wifi in the parks is because if you use it the government can have access to what you're doing. We think that's why Mrs. Lonergan is having a difficult time posting the blogs.
Hasta luego,
Ally L.