Hello all! My name is Kendall Hefner. I was the first student leader of the day. Our theme of the day was the preservation of local customs through art.
Our day started off with a trip to El Jalacate. El Jalacate is a place in the mountains founded by Alfonso Gutierrez. Guiterrez has been an artist for 40 years in Esteli, Nicaragua. Guiterrez is a former alcoholic who believes he was visited by angels who told him to stop drinking alcohol and focus on creating artwork instead. Whenever Guiterrez had the urge to drink, he instead began to carve rocks. Forty years later, we can see examples of his stone carvings along the entire mountainside. His carvings depict religious scenes, animals and Nicaraguan culture. Gutierrez was extremely welcoming and happy to share his art with us.
After lunch, the group took a walk to El Centro de Culture to partake in forms of visual art and dance. We first were introduced to a local art form involving dyed corn husks that we cut and arranged in to a art piece. After working with the corn husks, we met Hugo and Michael, local dance instructors. The two proceeded to teach us a variety of native dances , including the samba and a type of polka dance with its origin in Northern Nicaragua. Our group bonded over our range of dancing skill level.
Although today was filled with fun, we were able to learn a lot about the power of art. From carvings to Samba , we learned a bit more about the Nicaraguan culture. At the end of the day, the group met to debrief and discuss our personal take aways from our experiences. We were able to relate our experience in Nicaragua to our lives in the U.S. I personally enjoyed the dance unit as we were able to communicate with something other than speaking, which made the language barrier a lot more bearable and allowed those that are not comfortable speaking Spanish to feel more included in the activity.
Kendall Hefner
Good job Monster! I’m glad you guys had a great day and hopefully you danced your butt off.
When you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you danced..
Love ya
Thank you for the great recap of today’s activities. It sounds like your trip is off to a great start. – Ayla’s mom
Sounds like a fun day….great pictures…
Miss you David
Yoooo, is there a David Ladder in this group? If not, whoops sorry dudes. But if there is, I’m mad you never told me what trip you were going on so I had to look at like 3 other blogs that left the same day ?? anyways, can’t wait to see you soon!! Don’t get sick and have a great time! Miss u!!
AWW GINA U LOOK SO CLUELESS AS ALWAYS anyways we miss you and we are glad you are having a good time since you are smiling in every photo
Also linden celebrated his birthday by himself cause you and arden arent home smh
BORMA ALL THE WAY FROM THE 510. Love you dude! I hope you’re having an amazing time and you’re learning about yourself more and more each day! I miss you and loveeeeee u
Hope you’re having a lot of fun Brandon. Hard work is coming, but you will reap the rewards in the end.
Mom, Dad and Jayden.
love hearing about the day-to-day activities! keep ’em coming! Cameron, Mom, Dad and Goomba say, !HOLA!
Kendall it sounds like you will have a lot to share. You adventure sounds like. fun and learning. I hope you will show us the dances. Gram
So glad you guys are having fun immersing yourselves in the Nicaraguan culture! Tiffany, you better be able to talk to me in Spanish when you get back!!
-Mitchell
Looks like you’re having a great time K! Can’t wait to hear all about it 🙂