HI EVERYONE! It’s Tiffany and Rylan here, today was a very exciting day. Today I (Rylan) accidentally woke up Tiffany a WHOLE HOUR early due to miscommunication with my watch… Oops. While Tiffany went back to sleep, I went to the top of the hostel to watch over the city of Matagalpa. During my early morning watch, I spotted and heard several different things. In the distance was the usual city noise of car horns and loud birds. Parked on one of the streets was a bright orange Volkswagen Bug. An interesting sight was seeing two small kids, who looked like brother and sister, walk out and playing on homemade swings, but suddenly, they decided to have a fist fight, leading to screaming and crying. Reminds me of my own brother and our many fights. As the growing sound of drums grew in the distance, it was beginning to be time to return back down and wake Tiffany and the group up at the correct time.

Morning in Matagalpa

Since it was a free day, everyone took their time to wake up and get ready. We ate a delicious breakfast as everyone chatted about where they wanted to go for the day. As plates were being emptied into stomachs, I took everyone’s attention to see how our free day would be organized. After seeing the chaotic mess of discussions, I had to take charge and decide on my own what would happen as all that was happening was the burning of time. Two groups were created and we finally went on our way.

Happy Birthday Carla!

‘Sup my wonderful people, this is Tiffany, today was a pretty hectic day, we explored many different places in a very short amount of time. We found many shops that we hadn’t seen before. It showed us how much of the city we haven’t yet explored, and how much this city has to offer. The whole experience was exciting, we saw many sites that were breathtaking, like the architectural designs of the city. The differences in our communities and theirs showed me how lucky we are to have the lives that we do. The children and elderly on the streets who were begging for money really hurt my heart and made me realize that although our lives may have problems and sometimes we may feel down, at least we don’t have to beg for money on the side of the streets. Compared to the US there are a lot more stray animals that also taught me a lot about the differences about the society in the US compared to Nicaragua. In the US animal rights are more enforced than here which also made me think about my own pets and how their lives would be impacted by less animal rights.

Kiss Me Ice Cream

The second time we went out Rylan was on a search for a new cowboy hat, although he has not found the one yet he still has hopes that the cowboy hat that he is dreaming about will one day be his. On the way back the rain started to pour A LOT! Everyone got soaked by the time that we got back to the hostel. After we got back, we had a delicious dinner and then went to English tutoring. At 8 we had our nightly meeting and celebrated Carla’s birthday! We had LOTS OF BALLOONS!! We also had really good cake(SHOUTOUT TO JULIANNA AND ALEX).

Boxing a balloon

Signing off for now,

Rylan and Tiffany