Hello friends and family!

Our first fun day has come and gone in an instant. This morning we woke up at 6, grabbed our sunscreen, swim suits, and towels, and headed out to Masaya (a three hour drive). Most of the glimpsers were rocked to sleep by the sound of the bus bumbling along the road but a few stayed awake to sing and dance their hearts out to bad remixes on the only English radio station since I forgot my iPod 🙁 . Finally the long drive was over and we got off the bus, only to be standing in a cloud bank that stretched for miles. We knew we would not be able to see Laguna de Apoyo but we went down to the look out point anyway. All we could see was a huge white wall of fluffy fog and one of our leaders suggested that we jump right into the seemingly cushion-like air. Since Laguna de Apoyo is a large tourist attraction, we went to the small shops to look for knick knacks and bracelets. While we were shopping, we noticed that most of the items were priced with American dollars which made us think back to our question of the day: Is it possible to use natural resources for tourism while still maintaining and preserving the area? So while we asked what the prices in cordobas was, we also thought about how being a tourist affects the community. Once back on the bus, we rode up to the Monkey Hut to start our swimming adventure. Finally we could look out over a lagoon! We put on our huge life vests (chalecos de salvavidas) and waded in. The water was warm and we found a strange phenomenon: floating rocks!

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Some time later we ate our delicious lunches, bought Coca Cola and then went right back in for more swimming. In the last few minutes of our time at Monkey Hut we took some great pictures of us in the lagoon.

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After we changed we hopped back on the bus for our second 3 hour drive, for which many slept and only the best few continued our remix-bus-karaoke. When we got back to Hotel Chico we ate (more like inhaled) delicious traditional tamales, had our first CAP Seminar, and a nightly meeting. It was a great experience visiting the natural wonders of Nicaragua and we learned a lot even though it was a “fun day”. We can’t wait to start our research for our CAP project tomorrow!

 

“Peace out from Esteli 1A, later!”