The sun rose on a brisk morning over the beautiful city of Matagalpa. Little did it know, but it would soon be over-run by M1A. We woke after a solid snooze at 8:00 to a delicious breakfast of piping hot pancakes. Now nourished, we were ready to take to the streets in a final attempt to empty our pockets of cordobas. Our main targets were the numerous souvenir shops, the delicious Besame ice cream parlor, supermarkets for last minute snacks, and the bakeries where we could buy a succulent baked good for 15 cents.

We took a well-needed break from shopping at noon to refuel our bodies with lunch before hitting the streets again. This time, one young maiden in particular (Jo Jo) had a quest: find eight perfect avocados for her famous guacamole. This was part one of the celebration of Siale’s birthday. In the meantime, the rest of the group scattered to various coffee shops to work on English tutoring prep and the final drafts of their letters of appreciation.

At about 5:30 we converged back at the hostel before heading back out to our final English tutoring lessons. The first hour of fun review games transitioned into teary farewells and social media exchanges.

Upon returning to the hostel, we unwittingly stumbled into a surprise celebration that was both for Siale’s birthday, and our final dinner party. We feasted on nachos and danced for an hour before singing happy birthday to the gal of the day, Siale.

While scarfing down the neopolitan cake, we were entertained by our amazing GG leaders’ talents. To kick it off, Alex showed us his ninja karate skills. Next, Lauren and Noelle sang us their original song, “M1A”, to the tune of “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift. This was promptly followed by more dancing which ended in a group circle, swaying to the emotional heartwarming song “See You Again”. This is where we said our last goodbyes to the furture president of Nicaragua and our Nicaraguan little brother, Chepe.

With these final farewells, the Glimpsers drifted off to sleep in their separate rooms, ready to awaken for their last sunrise in the city of Matagalpa. We can’t wait to see you families, thank you so much for supporting us.

 

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REMINDER:

Pick up at International Terminal at SFO tomorrow night

Avianca Flight #560 arrives to San Francisco at 12:10 am, Pick up at 12:30-12:40

Then we will head to Denny’s for a family welcome home with the whole group!

🙂