After breakfast, we took the bus to a beautiful vista point. After a short hike, we were treated with a breathtaking view of the mountains and even a couple volcanos. Then we loaded back on the bus, plugged back in the iPod, and headed to Don Alberto’s home to see his art. This was no ordinary art, nor was Don Alberto an ordinary man! This man has spent 38 years carving rocks and has truly dedicated his life to his art. In fact, he hasn’t left the area surrounding his home in Jalacate in 29 years. The rock carvings peppered the trail and were impressively intricate! Though he lives in a remote area, his carvings have attained such notoriety that his home is recognized by Esteli as an official place of tourism. The walk back to the bus was an uphill battle (literally and figuratively) and though we got a little winded, we made it!

After lunch, we walked to Casa de Cultura and learned about Tusa art which comes from dyed corn husks and even got to create our own cards! Then we stayed there for a dance class where we danced to a variety of Nicaraguan songs and learned traditional dances from the various regions of the country. The group consensus was that the Caribbean dances were the most fun (shout out to Bev’s gente!) We put aside our pride and danced our hearts out. Some of us were a step behind, while others were 5 steps behind, but we were all stepping!

We were physically exhausted by the time we returned to the hostel, but still felt invigorated from our dance lesson.  We gathered in the meeting room and had our first introduction to the English tutoring that will be happening 3 days a week for the next 2 and a half weeks! Groups were assigned and curriculum is starting to take shape. All the glimpsers are excited to get the opportunity to work with the students and to help them achieve their goals of learning English!

Glimpsers were ROCKSTARS today! They hare continued to demonstrate their innate leadership skills while learning new things about themselves and their peers each day! We have been asked what day it is more than once today because it feels like we have been here longer than just two days and the Glimpsers have bonded so much in such a short amount of time! Things are going well here, we’re having a blast and creating plenty of memories!

Dont forget to leave us some love in the comments! Saturday is the first free day where students have access to the internet and contacting home! If you checked out the blog last night before bed, look back now because more pictures were added! Check back often in case the wifi doesn’t allow us to upload pictures before bed!! 👍🏽

E1C over and out!