Hello, my name is Xavier Andrada from Dougherty Valley High School and today was FUN DAY!!! Our day started bright and early at 5 o’clock in the morning. Once everybody was up, we had breakfast with two new lifeguards for today’s endeavor. Our first stop was the volcano Masaya museum where we gathered information about an active volcano in Nicaragua. Some interesting facts to note about this particular volcano was that corrupt political leaders would throw opposition into the mouth of the volcano giving it the name “The Devil’s Mouth”. We then traveled to the mouth and were able to take part in horseback riding and soaking up the whole environment through the smell of the sulfur to the high altitude of the volcano and other factors that allowed us to be totally engulfed in this magnificent experience. Once, we were done at the Volcano, we traveled to one of the biggest, touristy markets in Nicaragua. From there, we were able to browse different merchandise and purchase gifts for loved ones back home. I must note that today was a gift and an opportunity to break away from our normal routine as Glimpsers. These past two weeks, we have completed a variety of reality challenges which made us aware of the hardships that people endure on a daily basis and once again I think we were given a great opportunity to see the beauty of Nicaragua through a different light. However, I also felt proud of myself today. I truly believe that the Global Glimpse program has done a great job of immersing young leaders through all aspects of Central American culture, (politically, economically, socially, and artistically) that once we were placed back with all the tourist in the market and at the volcano, I realized that all of us were here for a purpose to better ourselves and develop our leadership skills while thinking and acting like a responsible global citizen and not here just to have fun and escape the grasp of our parents for a whole two weeks. With that I will pass it on to Cecilia, my co-leader of the day.
Hello everyone! My name is Cecilia Vu, I am from Seattle, WA and I currently attend Evergreen High School. Continuing from where Xavier left off; after visiting the Market of Masaya, we continued our day to the Laguna de Masaya aka Monkey Hut! As we arrived, everyone was stoked to jump into the water, especially after spending hours in the hot and humid air. Of course, there was a beautiful view of the water, and the mountains in the distance. It was a very touristy area; where we met some groups who were in Nicaragua for vacation, or groups that were very similar to Global Glimpse that came to Nicaragua with a mission and purpose. Everyone at the Lagoon seemed to be having a good time. We all immediately dropped our stuff, went over safety guidelines and went into the water. The water was very refreshing, and surprisingly warm… As we all agreed, that water was probably the warmest water we’ve been in for the last 2 weeks since we’ve been taking cold showers. A few of us really enjoyed kayaking, while some of us loved relaxing and floating around in the water, especially when it started to rain a couple of times, and the big waves started coming. Everyone was enjoying the great company of each other, with a couple days left in beautiful Nicaragua. The entire day was full of smiles and laughter and it was definitely fun!! Even though we seemed like tourists vacationing in Nicaragua today, I will always keep in mind why everyone had the opportunity to be in such a wonderful country. Yes, we want to have fun and enjoy ourselves, which was what today was all about, but we’ve also been enjoying ourselves throughout all the days we’ve spent learning new things about everyday lives of others in Nicaragua. We have all opened our eyes so much these last two weeks to this greater world, and we have grown a lot, especially as leaders. Like Xavier has already said, as Global Glimpsers, we have a purpose. And I feel like we have all done a good job with keeping that purpose in mind, and reaching for the goals that we wanted out of this trip. This has been an amazing journey and great learning experience, and I can’t wait to come home to tell everyone about it.