Dear Friends and Family,

Sophie and Malia here! It’s officially been one week since we have arrived in Nicaragua, and it has been a very educational experience thus far. Today was “Working Like a Local” day, or Global Business Day. We had the amazing opportunity to work in the Mercado with vendors selling their goods. We spent an hour working with them, and we had the challenge of having to come up with creative ways to sell products. Personally(Malia), the best method found was saying “Buenos Dias” or “Hola” with a huge smile :D. Despite the positive response to our creativity (and Malia’s bad Spanish), we were unable to sell any products, but we learned a huge lesson in that perseverance and dedication is key; not everyone responds positively or at all, but if you keep smiling, eventually you will meet another English speaker or a very nice Nicaraguan. Other members of the delegation: Juan, Leslie, Abi, Brian, Ralph, and Daisy, each sold one item.

After having lunch with the families in the Mercado, we headed on our second field trip of the day: Sandalias Tosca. Upon arrival at the workshop, we were greeted by Hisel Martinez, the manager at Sandalias Tosca. Summer then led us on a tour of the factory and gave a detailed explanation of each step in the process. Following the tour, we all got the chance to purchase our very own sandals, which we all were very excited about (and ended up wearing around the hostel any chance we got).

To conclude, today we all learned about the business world in Nicaragua and about how much work, dedication, and perseverance is required to succeed in selling just one shoe. In addition to the field trips we took today, we also presented our Community Action Project(CAP). Check back tomorrow for updates about Cerro Negro and our fun day. No spoilers about our CAP project, but we start on Wednesday (which you all will hear more about later!)

Love,
Malia and Sophie

PS:(Malia) Congratulations to Garrett’s water polo team! I am so proud of him 🙂 I miss you all so much, but I will try and call tomorrow ASAP <3 Happy early birthday Kaela— if I don’t call you on your big day! Again, I miss you lots, but I am having a ton of fun making friends, meeting people, and sorta learning Spanish. Love you guys <3 Side note I totally bought extra sandals for y’all and plan on buying plenty of gifts, but Grammy is OOL. Love ya, miss ya; I hope you miss me! <3 <3 <3

(Sophie): I don’t know if my family is reading this, as I forgot to tell them about it (hehe :D). But if you happen to be reading this mom, I want you to know that I’m safe and having a very good, educational and positive experience. I have also made many friends, such as Malia who I shared my leadership experience with. I have purchased lots of pretty things (and plan on buying more), and there are so many cool things to buy in the markets here! Can’t wait to share all of my stories and gifts with everyone. I love you!