Today was culture and fun day for us here in León, we embarked on two field trips, one to the beach and the other to a local art school. Our focus for today was on how culture can shape the life of an individual as well as a community, students were encouraged to reflect on their own lives and determine the major factors that have shaped them into who they are today and to compare their findings to the local culture in León.
The field trip to the beach included a boat ride through an estuary lined with mangrove trees and local wildlife, upon exiting the boats, we walked to a 22-kilometer-long beach which mainly serves as a turtle sanctuary. This sanctuary is funded by the surrounding community and has been run by a group of men since they were 18 years-old, this year is the twelfth year they have been maintaining this sanctuary which saved and released the eggs from roughly 700 sea turtles last year! Once arriving at the beach about half the students took advantage of the Pacific and enjoyed the cool water.
Our second field trip was to a local art school where we learned the Xuchialt tradition of sawdust carpet making, after a brief lesson, we all worked together to create our own carpet depicting San Francisco and León connected by the Golden Gate Bridge.
Today I became the first student Lider Del Dia and received great responses from students who courageously combated the elements (sun and dehydration) with a constant reminder to drink water; because of the welcome I received, my anxiety over being LDD was put at ease and my responsibilities seemed to turn into reminders for my Global Glimpse Family. As a fun fact for today, I learned that my brother who went with Global Glimpse to Granada, Nicaragua in 2015 and I both had the same program coordinator!
How fun to have had two adventures in one day! I bet the turtles were amazing…how cool that they have a sanctuary! Did the Pacific ocean in Nicaragua feel like the Pacific ocean in San Francisco?! We were connected today by a vast span of ocean…also very cool! And a reminder for when you return of how we are all connected! Logan hope you are having a good time and enjoying the journey. We miss you very much…I keep calling Luke “Logan”…he is bearing with me! LOL Lots of love to you, Mom and Luke
PS Warriors lost tonight 116 – 137 Next game is Sunday. Still in 3 games to 1!
Good day! Great ways to learn about the local culture! The group of young men putting in work to save & help populate sea turtles, to see the beautiful ocean from a place you have never been, to learn and work together to create a traditional local way of making a rug…how exiting!
Way to lead by example! Setting aside your anxiety and enjoying leading as well as learning!
In the Bay Area, sun is out, with a breeze/windy, possible rain later. Going to visit Grandma Debbie along the way to see the Nor Cal Family. I can’t wait to share the experiences of the first few days. Enjoy building your life changing memories!
Love and miss you sweetheart. xoxo
Hey Em !!! It’s Alina, you’re favorite Ambassador ! I hope you are having as much fun as I did when I went to León last summer. Hey and I saw Yader in one of the pictures, tell him I said hi !! Miss you, work isn’t the same. Can’t wait for you to come back and tell me all about your trip !! Much love !
It is hard to believe this is already Day 3! We just looked up sawdust carpets on the Interweb – had never heard of this before…cool tradition.
Elizabeth – the Brewers remain in 1st place in the NL Central after splitting the series with the Giants (2-2) and beating the AZ Diamondbacks yesterday 8-6. In-house draw took place this week and we’ll have 2 Stanford baseball players in the dorm next year (not sure if we have any softball players).
I’m also considering shaving my beard to see if it will grow back before you return. 🙂
Looks and sounds like everyone is having a great time!
Hey Em, it’s Junior! Hope you’re having a blast! I’m counting down the days until I you come back, I’ve reverted to working to keep myself occupied. I can’t wait to hear the stories when you get back. I love you and I hope you are having a great time:)
Hi Karen! Told you needed some stuff for the beach. Ha! I hope you are drinking lots of water cause u need it. That walk sounds really fun and I hope you are enjoying the beautiful nature 🙂 Talk to you on the next blog 🙂
Beautiful pictures! Dayanara everybody misseed you at Arleth’s quinceañera!!!
Fun fact for 6/12/17……….
The Warriors did it in Game#5 last night, THE WARRIORS ARE 2017 NBA CHAMPIONS!! What a series!!!!!
Meanwhile, Thank you for the Blogs, we really enjoy hearing whats going on, it definitely keeps us in the know and wanting more!
Great job on the blog Sam, we love hearing how you stepped it up!! Drew and I miss you much! Sending well wishes to all, keep up the important work.