Hello all! Cammie and Tyler here. Today was fun culture day―an exhausting venture, but filled to the brim with exciting and blood-pumping activities. We started the day off at the crack of dawn, and we had the tiring job of waking up everyone up at 6:00 am. By 6:45, we were on our way to breakfast, it was the same as yesterday, but there was a new kind of juice (yum!). After breakfast, we boarded a bus to Jalacate, a beautiful and green tinged mountain landscape littered with cows, bulls, horses, stray dogs―the works. Upon arriving in Jalacate, we began the gut-wrenching descent into the mouth of the valley to find the hidden village.
Despite the slippery trail, we all made it in one piece to visit our guest speaker, Alberto Gutiérrez Jirón, a man who has devoted his life to carving various sculptures throughout the lush village he lives in. His story was awe-inspiring and touched all of our hearts. He has had thousands of visitors and showed us all of the global gifts he has received. He also recited a couple poems that spoke to how powerful his friendships are to his happiness and work. We then had the opportunity to visit his sculptures that were nestled into the rock face―it was truly incredible. We clawed our way back to the bus and endured another hour ride back to Estelí, where we had lunch at the buffet. After lunch, we had a quick break before going to the Casa de Cultura. There, we got to paint with the famous Julio Moreno, an artist whose murals are showcased locally (including the “La Mujer”mural from yesterday) and worldwide.
Everyone produced some breathtaking paintings using various mediums which varied from cows to orchids to landscapes. After our paintings were finalized, we headed upstairs for a dance lesson, where we learned the traditional Nicaraguan dances before we shared some of our own. While it was physically draining, the payoff was worth it, and everyone finished with big smiles on their faces.
We departed from the cultural center to Coffee and Cocktails, where we frolicked on the playground before enjoying a delicious Nicaraguan dinner. Then we headed home and held the nightly meeting, where we discussed the different activities of the day, gave Big Love to our compadres, and then passed the torch to the tomorrow’sleaders. It was an eventful, fun, beautiful, happy, intriguing, and eye opening day. To all the partners, families, pets, and friends reading this – we love and miss you all and look forward to your comments!!!Until tomorrow, the Estelí 2 Global Glimpsers
Kelsey-
Dude you look pretty baller over there! hope you are chillin and stay fresh dude. Have fun and be safe! Watch out for the big bugs!
Kels!!
HI, hope you’re having a super great time and doing great things over there!! The pictures that this blog posts are super cute (esp. the food, looks really good:))
enjoy your trip and the cute comments from your bffs, imy! <3333 -Z
Kelsey! I hope you’re having fun! You’ve only be gone for three days and we all already miss you! Haha stay safe and be nice to your friends! Hahaha
Wow! Love the pictures! Daisy, DUBS win 2017 NBA champions! Hope you can bring the painting home! I will frame it and hang it on the wall of my office 😀
Wow! What another spectacular day! Thanks for the vivid updates, Cammie and Tyler! That elephant in the hidden village is fantastic.
Keep the adventures coming,
Love, Jenne
[Tyler: At Point Isabel today Mako sucked up TWO foxtails in his left nostril. I just got back from the vet at 1:04AM! He’s okay, and the vet gave me the bloody weed in a test tube. I knew you’d want to see them.]
Tyler and Cammie, Thanks for the great photos and write up of your day’s activities. All of the days so far seem so full and jammed with incredible activities and opportunities to see how people in other parts of the world live, work, learn, and play.
I admire you all so much for spending your summer in this way. I can’t wait to hear how this whole experience has impacted you and perhaps changed your world view. While we miss you much we’re all impressed and following your activities. Congratulations Esteli crew. Kudos to you all.
[Tyler’s family sends their best to all of you.]
What an adventure.. they look so happy. Thank you for all the updates. Be safe out there and keep up the good work.
Thank you Cammie and Tyler for such a detailed account of your incredible fun filled, jam packed day. I envy your experience. OXOX Cammie’s Mom
Kelsey!
Hope you’re having a lot of fun! 🙂 We can’t wait for you to come back and hear all your stories. Wish I was there with you!
xx, Emily
Omg Kels, I know you rocked that Nicaraguan dance 🙂 (#Dance1 am I right) The trip looks tiring but so worth it! Make sure to take care of yourself, rest up while you can, and drink lots of water. Have fun babe! <3
Thanks for your descriptive account of your day. Sounds exciting as well as exhausting.What a great experience to be able to learn about a culture while actually living it. I’m sure it well remain with you forever as one of those special memories in your life.
Kenna I know you’re enjoying this trip and can’t wait to hear all about it. After you learned some Nicaraguan dances I hope you shared some of your Polynesian dances with them! 🙂 Enjoy every day. Have fun and be safe. Love you. Grammie
Love reading your blog Cammie and Tyler, what wonderful adventures—so glad it wasn’t me that had to climb down to the village!
XXOO
Jane –Cammie’s grandma
DUDE!!! my mind is hella blown at this day! it seems like y’all did a lot. Jalacate seems like such a beautiful adventure. It looks so ethereal. I wish could’ve experienced Alberto Gutiérrez Jirón reciting his poems! And the painting with the local artist after!! Paulette, I can’t wait to see a picture of your painting when you come back! There’s a girls head blocking the picture they posted here LOL but it’s ok but hers is beautiful too hehe. Hope you learned some cool new dance moves n can’t wait to read the next blog post! Much love! or should i say big love! *ba dum tss* (to the person reading this post please b sure to add the ba dum tss sound effect thank u! hehe)
Hello Sid!!! its Hunter here i hope your having a wonderful time! we miss you so much!
Wow!!! What a great day this seems to have been!! Thanks so much for the details, except for the killer hike into the village, I would have loved to have been with you all! I hope Brendan got to share his dance moves with the group tonight, I am sure you all know by now about his dancing and singing friends! I see the weather looks to be rainy and thunderstormish the entire time you are there, stay dry and don’t forget your mosquito repellant! Tell Brendan all his doggies miss him! Heather Green, Brendan’s mom……
ba dum tss!!!
You guys all look so happy!!!! We look forward to the blog and pictures everyday! Continue to have fun and stay safe.
Sammy Soo…. do not forget to give the SF postcards to the children there.
Thank you leaders for the updates. Looks like everyone is having a great time. Who is taking the awesome pics? Is it a different person each day? The valley of the hidden village reminds one of Shangri-la.
LA, you are in a special place among wonderful people. Please try to keep a diary or a picture diary at least.
Keep safe, love mom and dad.
Abi,
Thank you for giving me and for giving yourself a chance to go out there and explore a different country. .. you look Beautiful in every single picture. Thank you for calling me, mostly thank you por ser a wonderful daughter. Te Amo
Great adventures and fun, you guys are living and experiencing the real struggles and reality of the Nicaraguan people. Please appreciate the culture and learn as much as you can from all the wonderful people you’re meeting.
Have a great time and be back soon, we all miss you very much. Thank you for being a great daughter. We love you very much.
Hey Cammie it’s Maya! I’m so happy to hear that you are enjoying your trip and that you haven’t died (thank goodness!) life has been nothing but boring with out my best friend by my side ?. I miss you with all my heart ❤️and will be counting down the days till we can eat curly fries and chill in the hot tub (I was tempted to say tube ?). Have fun and don’t die! Love you lots!!
-Your twinzy ❤️❤️