Hola from the other side!!!
It’s Zach and Carmen your not-so-local locals. As usual everyday exactly at 6 in the morning the avocado man bikes by our hotel with a basket of avocados to sell, screaming “Aguacates!!” to wake us up bright and early. At 7 am we officially woke everyone up. For breakfast we had some freshly mixed exotic fruits paired with the original never-can-go-wrong, OJ. Then we had a program seminar writing letters to the global glimpse donors, writing hit-ya-over-the-heart letters.
Qucikly, we grouped up and went on a shopping trip. The trip felt as if we were filming the Amazing Race. In Esteli, they are known for having hardware stores with no wood or plastic. Did you know there are more ten plastic stores in just a few blocks of Esteli? Crazy right? The hardware group raced through five different hardware stores with no wood. They came back with zipties and cotton. As the paint group sprinted through all the different Paint stores, they ended up buying paint from the first and closest store. We waited for a taxi filled with flowers ready to go to Fundacion Cristal. For lunch we had chicken, vegetables and rice. Super yum!
At 1, we went to Fundacion Cristal but had a detour to another hardware store which had wood! We finally arrived to Fundacion Cristal which is 30 minutes away from our hostel. At the Fundacion multiple volunteers were waiting for us coated in Green Paint because they had already painted some tires for the playground. They welcomed us with open arms and we all went straight to work.
After 3 hours of straightening rocks, shoveling gravel and dirt, painting tires, and planting plants, a bus filled with tired glimpsers went back to the hostel. When we got there, we changed our clothes and went to the long-awaited “American Night” dinner at PaPa Jams Pizzeria. A group of five glimpers (Tejas, Seth, Allison, Jessica, and Rishi) ordered the biggest pizza on the menú, and could barely finish it as Tejas ate 11 pieces and Rishi pulling in 2nd with 10 pieces. Unfortunately, Zach didn’t eat a piece from that and yes, the picture makes it look like he did but we are sad to notify you, the internet does lie.
All in all it was another great day out here in the not-so -city-city. Continuing from our CAP day 1 we’ll be back out at Fundacion Cristal with our new LDDs Makenna and Jack. Please look out for our next blog.
Warmly, Carmen and Zach your LDD’s for the day
Hi Zach,
Holy cow, that pizza is huge! Picture makes it look like you started eating during the day and finished sometime that night. Sad to find out not everything on the internet’s true 🙁 Amazing Race style shopping sounds like a lot of fun.
Very exciting to tell you we received a letter today from Sequoia inviting you to Join The National Society of High School Scholars! Mr. Rosario is a member. It’s a one-time lifetime membership like the ones I joined. You’ll receive and extra tassel to wear at graduation. I’ll wait until you come back and we can go online to sign you up.
Love you! So proud of you!
I can’t stop looking at the group picture for today. Everyone has such great smiles. I like the before and after pictures, also the handsome froggy prince n princess ?.
Vivian, Ong ngoi n ba ngoi wanted you to know that they have been thinking of you. They love the glimpse pictures that I showed them so far. Can’t wait till u bring more home. Hailey is making carrot cake?
We love u..
Mommy Daddy
Hi all
Thanks for the post. Real hard work today.
Rishi, on Father’s Day am so proud of you in working hard on the CAP project.? Hope it was satisfying to build something with basic materials. Hope the pizza was also satisfying ??
Love you lots
Papa
Carmen and Zach, thanks for the great post. We love reading it and sense that the group has bonded very well. We can also feel your excitement and energy into the Community Action Project. Can’t wait to see the finished garden. Be careful out there on the streets. I heard traffic can be bad (no one follows traffic rules?)
Alison, we’ll go to Jules when you get back 🙂 We miss you so much.
Lovely post , Zach and Carmen! Great pictures with all lovely smile. Great job everyone!
Hi Teju, 11 slices, really ?, must be a hard working day for sure?. It looks like you are having a great time, so proud of you. Looking at the progress I am sure we are going to see a beautiful garden, looking forward to see the finished project!!
Love,
Mom
It seems like there’s not a moments rest with all the interesting and exciting things you have on your schedule. Sounds like fun. Thanks for the updates. I’m enjoying reading them. Kenna, that sure looks larger than a Vinnie’s pizza but I bet it was yummy. Can’t wait to see you. Hope you are taking lots of pictures. Sending lots of love your way. Xoxo
Hey Jack! It’s been super fun keeping up with your adventures and it’s made me miss my own trip like crazy. I’m so glad that you’re learning a lot and having a ton of fun. Remember to keep living in the moment and keep taking it all in. Can’t wait to hear more about your trip when you get back!
Katherine and your Tino Ambassadors
Alison,
Why does it not surprise me that you were one of the ones who ordered the biggest pizza? Haha, seems like it was well earned from the day’s work. The garden is looking good! It must feel awesome knowing your group’s hard work is going to have a lasting impact on the community there. Stay safe, miss you lots!
Love, Amanda
Thank you for the blog , Zach and Carmen!
CAP is really picking up steam. Nice co-ordination to get materials and make it happen!
Pizza looks yummy.
Cannot wait to see all the wonderful pics!
Tejas, You working on CAP and helping the needy is the best fathers day gift.
Stay safe and have fun everyone!
Love
Appa
Carmen,
Hope you’re enjoying the food there! So glad you’re enjoying your time there & I want to hear more about your trip and your day as Lider Del Dia when you come back. Reading this blog makes me miss your humor more. Be safe and have fun!!
Hola Jessica!
You have a new baby sister named Liyi. We adopted (sponsored) a 2 1/2 year old from Mexico. We were hoping for a girl from Nicaragua, but God chose Liyi for us. You always wanted a baby sister and what a great fathers’s day present to welcome a new member to our familia. I’m sure mamá will be surprised to hear this news, but that’s what happens when all the girls are away and only boys are left home.
xoxo D
Jessica,
Can you imagine my surprise when I landed after a 10 hour flight in Australia and saw all the messages about our new little girl Liyi?!! It was wonderfully emotional and exciting for me, especially as I thought about you in Nicaragua and all that you have experienced so far and the people you have met. Liyi is adorable – there’s a picture of her with two little pigtails and her birthday is just one day before yours! It’ll be easy to remember and celebrate her birthday! What a truly special Fathers Day it was for us.
Looks like a beautiful indoor garden
Now you folks are experts and zip can ask Anya to help with my garden projects.
Pizza looked great
Enjoy every day. You are in the second half of the trip.
Who’s the princess and who’s the frog? Just kidding, that’s my princess. Leave it to Mikayla to watch out for the wildlife. What a great day and quite the adventure…it sounds like fun, in hindsight sort of way.
That is really big pizza. Looks like every one enjoys the life over there with a lot of fun.
Holy cow that pizza is huge! Looks like everyone’s having fun-I look forward to seeing more of these interesting stories!