Hello Families and friends.

My name is Denis Vallejos, Site Manager in Matagalpa. I am so glad to share with you what the Glimpsers got to experienced in this day.  Are you ready?, here we go.

The day began at 6:30 am with a wake up call, after that we had our first Nicaraguan Breakfast which it was Gallo pinto, cheese and fried plantain. Right after that we had our first mental warm up, it was about the history of Nicaragua. All of the students were engaged and participating in the seminar.  This mental warm up helped them to better understand the history of Nicaragua and prepared them for  today’s activity. Janice (Program coordinator and I) led the culture and safety orientation and taught the Glimpsers how to navigate in the Nicaraguan culture, they had so much fun learning about the culture and how to be more sensitive with different cultures.

20160610_090133      20160610_094253

After these two seminars, we got to know the beautiful city of Matagalpa. During the city tour all the Glimpsers  were  inquisitive and eager to learn more about their host city. Matagalpa is known as the capital of coffee and its cool climate, we visited the most historical places in the city. We challenged students to take personal challenges like buying fruits from a local, talk to locals and immerse in the Matagalpa culture. We visited  a local souvenirs shop owned by Doña Ernestina, a local artist who makes black ceramic, a traditional art from Matagalpa. During the city tour the Glimpsers learnt that during the 80’s, in Nicaraguan we had  a literacy campaign promoted by the Sandinista  government. Basically people who knew how to read and to write went to the country side to teach farmers who did not know these basic skills.

 

20160610_103746 20160610_110653 20160610_113743

At noon we had a delicious lunch cooked by Doña Francis, her food is delicious and all the students are loving it. In the afternoon we listened to Doña Sonia’s speech. Doña Sonia is an ex sandinista  soldier who fought against the dictatorship of Somoza in the 70’s and the 80’s. Her speech truly impacted their minds and hearts because she shared with the Glimpsers that when she was sixteen she got involved with the Sandinista army in order to free Nicaragua from the dictatorship. At the end of the speech each of the Glimpsers showed appreciation to her by personally saying thank you to her, definitely that was one of the most powerful moments of the day despite the language barrier they wanted to show that they truly appreciate their time and her words

 

20160610_160250

At the end of the afternoon we visited El calvario hill, a historical place in Matagalpa that now is a natural reserve where people from Matagalpa and tourists go to get in contact with nature. It is amazing how the group is becoming stronger each day, taking care of each other and appreciating other’s differences

.  20160610_16460720160610_170059

We finish the day with our nightly meeting and watching game 4 of Warriors  vs Cleveland. They got so excited supporting their basketball team.  That is for the day, thank you for reading and stay tuned for more fun adventures with the Glimpsers in Matagalpa

.20160610_205558

P.S: I want to encourage parents and friends to write comments on the blog because during the nightly meeting  we will be sharing all your comments with the glimpsers so they can feel the love from home. Thank you