Making cement is a big, challenging, and dirty job. Many people took a turn at this task.

Making cement is a big, challenging, and dirty job. Many people took a turn at this task.

Angelic, Amanda, and some of the local girls help to collect rocks to fill the tables and chairs.  Sean, Ally, and Angelic place rocks in the tires to prep the hopscotch for cement. After cement was poured and smoothed into the tires, they put colored bottle caps in for the numbers.  Volunteers and Glimpsers work at digging holes, setting up tables and chairs, and filling the tables with rocks and dirt before cement.

Angelic, Amanda, and some of the local girls help to collect rocks to fill the tables and chairs. Sean, Ally, and Angelic place rocks in the tires to prep the hopscotch for cement. After cement was poured and smoothed into the tires, they put colored bottle caps in for the numbers. Volunteers and Glimpsers work at digging holes, setting up tables and chairs, and filling the tables with rocks and dirt before cement.

imageHola family and friends. Today was CAP Day 2 and as you all learned we are creating a meeting area for the children of ECO Kids. After waking up at 6 am we headed to Buffet Estelí to eat breakfast. Then we made a quick stop to purchase more shovels for our project. After arriving at Mujeres Ambientalistas we all broke up into 3 groups. Some worked on assembling the tires while the two other groups picked up rocks and mixed the cement. We all experienced the hard work of cement mixing. It was quite challenging to carry the heavy bags of sand and cement. Leeza stated feeling sore from all the carrying. We all showed off our strength and muscles by mixing the heavy cement, sand, and water. With the help of our experienced volunteers we made the cement possible. Rocio helped dig up holes in order to place the tire seats while Lupe also helped dig up large holes for the tables. Clara, Bonnie, and I with the help from Sonati placed bottle caps to represent the numbers for the hopscotch.

After a very intense and hardworking day it was time we took a short break. We ate packed lunch from Buffet Estelí along side the delicious agua de tamarindo. Yummy! We once again broke into groups with Sean and Bonnie helping mix cement while Allie and Carla continued placing rocks into tires. After sweating like crazy we accomplished our goal!!! We finished cementing the tables, chairs, and hopscotch. The Glimpsers were really excited to see the semi complete project. Along with our projected we also got the opportunity to interact with the volunteers and children helping us. At the end we were surprised with a little boy repeating squad along with Leeza and Lupe. Along side Jenny, Lupe, Rocio, Karla, and I learned a new word “Twanis” (I think that’s how you spell it) which means cool. Family and friends— expect to hear it soon. After an intense day we traveled back to the hostel to take well deserved showers. We then had our very final English tutoring prep which was also followed by free time. Many glimpsers went out to purchase tasty Nicaraguan treats; while others decided to buy final pieces for our CAP project. We then all came back to the hostel and headed out to Vida Joven to have our last English tutoring class. Many of the students stated their gratitude by bringing gifts for the glimpsers. Crystal received a lovely bracelet from one of her students. It was time to say goodbye and many students decided to stay  a couple extra minutes to exchange contact info with the glimpsers. Finally we headed to Buffet Estelí and then to the hostel. We had our nightly meeting were we expressed our success and joy for the CAP project. It was time to pass on the leadership role to Frannie challenging her to either tell us a secret or do the worm. She ended up telling us a very interesting story. With that she will be the leader for our last CAP day. Well this is it for tonight. See you soon ! Peace out!

We worked hard today digging holes, filling them, making cement, and placing bottle caps in the tables.

We worked hard today digging holes, filling them, making cement, and placing bottle caps in the tables.

Much love,

Jessica

Esteli2A Squad video