My name is Melissa Martinez; I attend high school at Lionel Wilson Prep Academy. I was El Leader Del Dia for day 11th in Nicaragua. I had started the morning by harassing all of the group’s doors with many knocks and bangs at 7 AM, till every Global Glimpser was awake. Then by 8 AM we were having a light breakfast to prepare us for the exhausting hike ahead of us along with a full hour and a half to prep and gather any important hiking materials. By 9:30 AM we all gathered outside excitingly awaiting the bus for the field trip to Cerro Apante: and we were off! Although the bus ride was short, the noise and laughter was evident; it echoed throughout the enormous bus hitting everyone with positivity. Before we started our long adventure we had a safety speech which included preparatory stretches for our bodies. Another important part of the safety speech was pairing people up this was most important for the Glimpsers to have some sort of responsibility and compassion towards one another; to basically keep an eye out for each other. As we walked up the steep hills it was amazing to see every Glimpser stepping up in their own way whether it was telling partners to drink water look out for certain things or just being super encouraging all around, throughout the hike you could hear: Are you okay?”, “Keep it up you’re doing so good!”, “Just breath and keep going”. Even though it was a tough walk, up the sights we got to see along the way and at the end blurred out all the negativity for example the Glimpsers got to experience seeing a waterfall, which quickly became our “tourist attraction” along with amazing bird’s eye view of Matagalpa. At the pinnacle of this adventure, a religious cross was waiting for us. We got to have many snacks and an abundance of pictures were taken together, for the view was our back drop. In total, it took us about two and half hours to finish the hike. As we returned to the hostel with almost limp bodies our mood was raised once again with food and the idea of having three hours of free time. Many Glimpsers separated into groups and sprinted to the nearest cyber café where they could communicate with their loved ones either through the internet or through long distance phone calls. Then we came back to have a lovely dinner together. From there I coordinated a nightly meeting to talk about all positives and not so good moments of the day as well as some wishes and pluses of the group’s behavior as a whole. But by the end of the night every Glimpser was proud to have spent a day in Nicaragua’s nature and comparing the differences to our own parks and such. We ended it off with big love shout outs just to appreciate one another’s positivity and help and a big unity clap for the next day.

Made it to the top!

Made it to the top!

Creepy crawlers that responded to voice commands

Creepy crawlers that responded to voice commands

Happy to take a break

Happy to take a break

View of Matagalpa from Cerro Apante

View of Matagalpa from Cerro Apante