Day 17: Final Reflection

For final reflection day we had our typical wake up call at 7am, and headed over to La Familiar for breakfast which consisted of eggs, bread, gallo pinto, and starfruit juice to wash it down. Afterwards we began our hike up to La Pena De La Cruz, accompanied by a few students from our English tutoring class. As we looked up from the streets of Jinotega to the cross, many of us felt intimidated by the distance and the hundreds of steps we were about to face, but having done a couple hikes before, we knew this was another obstacle we were going to overcome. It wasn’t an easy journey, but with our resilience, determination, and support for one another, we were able to finish the climb strong and were greeted by an outstanding view of the city. We had the perfect view of the green valleys along with an overlook of the buildings. A few of the Glimpsers were even able to see the classroom we constructed for the CAP project. After taking a thousand photos and having our snack, we started our reflection for the day with a silent, anonymous activity that followed a prompt that said “touch someone that…”, and had the ones standing tap those who were sitting, then the two groups would switch roles. Next we headed back to La Familiar and had chicken stew, tortilla, rice, and papaya juice. With the end of lunch, we moved onto free time where we finished our donation letters, showered, and packed. And of course, we couldn’t forget about our program seminar where we had more reflections individually, in partners, and as a whole group. After the two hours of reflecting, we had our last dinner at La Familiar which was salad, pico de gallo, gallo pinto, tortilla, and rice water. Sadly we didn’t have anymore English tutoring, so we headed back to the hostel and congregated for our nightly meeting. We ended with our final unity clap where we shouted “Jinotega!”

Today was an emotional day where we said our final goodbyes to the few English tutoring students that were with us, and had time to contemplate about what happened in the last sixteen days. As a result, we learned to open up to one another and realized that it was okay to cry and be honest about our feelings because this is a safe space. But what surprised me most was how in tune we were with each other. As the leader of the day, I was more focused and observant with the group, so I was able to see the balance we had and saw that we were able to provide support for one another. Even though we were only with one another for approximately three weeks, it seemed like we knew each other for three years. I’m proud of our group for being able to get along so well, but I’m most proud of us for completing the hike and making it up to the cross. Being a leader has always come naturally to me, so I wasn’t nervous about being El Lider Del Dia for today. But what I should always remember is that if you’re confident in yourself you will be a strong leader.