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