Hello to my fellow Glimpsers’ families and friends! Thanks for dropping by and reading my blog. Our theme for today was to work like a local in Estelí and today was our final challenge day. This morning everybody was relieved that our wake up call changed from 4 am to 5 am. Personally I am definitely the worst person for the job to wake everybody up at 4 am when I normally can’t even wake myself up at 11 in the morning. After everybody got ready for the day, we headed to Buffet Estelí as usual but was surprised with a Fruit Loops cereal breakfast with milk and bananas. With a sugary breakfast in our stomachs, we headed to Estelí’s local farmers market. From 7am to 12 pm we were all spread out in different food produce areas and were helping the local vendors sell their products. Jenny worked in a café preparing omelettes and serving them to customers. Sean carried cheese crates weighing more than 60 pounds and put them into the delivery truck. Meanwhile, Rocio became the queen of cheese! Clara and Frannie worked in a vegetable stand and they arranged veggies, sold tortillas, and cut taro root. Ally and Carla sold peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and chili. Leeza also worked at a vegetable stand and worked with an extremely large knife. Lupe and Bonnie rode a tricycle to where they were to work, counted 200 oranges and 200 lemons, and handled the profit of the business. Amanda and Angelic filled bags with cream and worked with dairy products like cheese. Last but not least, Jessica and I also worked at a local vegetable stand and we promoted avocados, limes, cucumbers, and oranges to passing customers and herded them towards our stand. Overall within the first half of today, we all really enjoyed working with these lovely locals and they welcomed us into this aspect of life.
In this experience of working like a Nicaraguan local, we all learned of the hardships faced in these local businesses. Many of the vendors struggle everyday to earn money to survive. At the moment, business has been very difficult and a majority of the workers are earning $20-$30 a day. Each day local workers wake at 4am and work until 5pm. A nerve wracking problem for these people is whether their products will get stolen overnight for all they do is cover their produce as they do not have a place to lock up their products. Many have to hire a watchman at night and this takes away from their wages to buy food for their families’ meals. Another problem is they don’t have freezers and refrigerators to keep their produce fresh so rotten products go to waste. There is competition between produce prices between the local businesses which decreases wages. But no matter the circumstances, these workers seem content and extremely proud of their work.
After giving the workers we worked with their gifts and saying our goodbyes, we headed back to the hostel and worked as a team to prepare our CAP Delivery Presentation. As soon as we were done, we all headed out for a much needed smoothie or froyo. When we returned, we got dressed in formal attire and got seated for our CAP Delivery Presentation led by Clara, Jenny, and Rocio. This presentation was a success and our project will commence. We continued on to our action plan for the CAP Project. Afterwards we headed to Downing Burgers for American food night! We enjoyed our burgers, tacos, salads, and spicy chicken wings with juice. With full and satisfied tummies, we headed back and had our nightly meeting. Then for Fran to earn leadership of the group, I challenged her to either slow dance with somebody or do the worm. She slow danced with Frannie and we ended the day with our unity clap and listening to Sean sing “Never Going to Give You Up” by Rick Astley so beautifully. Hope you enjoyed my blog and have a goodnight 🙂
Sincerely,
Crystal Lee
Another great activities summary – thanks a million!! Clara my pumpkin – they called us to let us know you have not been feeling well and went to the clinic but that you are feeling better with a prescription of antibiotics. Hope you are able to still participate and enjoy your amazing Nicaraguan experience. We went to dinner with Uncle Kurt and Aunt Sharon tonight and talked about our hopes for you to have a wonderful time in Esteli. We will leave in the morning after the dog walk (Thursday 6/25) to drive back to the Bay Area. Hard to believe you will be home in less than a week!!! Sending you all our love and healing good thoughts, xoxo – m & p
Thank you Cristal, for the fun and yet very clearly detailed post. Looks like you all worked the hardest today to learn firsthand the hardship and struggle faced by ordinary working people. Was it eye opening? Glad to see that you all survived it well. As it is said “if it doesnt kill you, it makes you stronger.”
Sean, proud of you for the effort. So glad that you sang for the team, that is awesome! Enjoy everyday.
Love you.
I’m so proud of you guys and all you’ve learned from this challenge. I’m sorry I missed this one! Keep up the good work and remember to Stay In It even when you’re tired!
Sooooo glad 2 see a pic of my baby girl! Ur loosing weight Leeza 😉 Looks like u all had a great challenging day!
Hey Leeza, I heard you were laid up for a couple of days. I’m glad you’re better and back with the group experiencing an amazing once in a life time adventure. I can’t wait to hear all about it. We miss you, especially your uncle Randy who is counting the days til you’re home. Love, MG
I can’t wait to see more pictures and hear more about this trip.
Francesca…Fresha…Frannie…
I won’t lie…
I MISSSSS YOU!!!!!!
Enjoy the last part of your journey. Get the most u out can from this trip. Proud of you daily. (This last part actually applies to all of you, gg’s. )
Mom/norah
Hey glimpsers sounds like a busy day at the market hope yall enjoyed it francesca i here you sold totilas For 20 $ a day like the local what a challenge you all are the best ho you,re doing great frannie i love you jasper and i hiked muir woods today to help ready us for the back packing trip to point reyes with sarah tomarrow were going to stison beech wish you were here xoxoxo. Dad
I miss you very much fran, and i hope your havibg a good time! And dexter bean says hi.
Hey Ally!! I have just one word…WOW! I cannot believe the difference in lifestyles and hardships endured between there and here. I guess it is a reminder of how much God has blessed us. Keep doing great work over there and can’t wait to here about it when you get back. Don’t rub your eyes after handling those peppers! 😉