Hey y’all!! It’s Katherine here, today’s Leader of the Day. Today was Global Business Day, and we explored the successes and challenges of businesses in Nicaragua. We woke up bright and early at 6 am in order to fit in a jam packed day full of seminars, field trips, and activities. After breakfast, we attended a seminar led by our good friend Yader. Yader taught us about Fair Trade, and we taught each other about the working and living conditions of Nicaraguan farmworkers through hilarious skits and creative presentations. It was scary to learn about the terrible conditions that many workers face, but the Fair Trade system gives hope in its efforts to protect workers.

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Following the seminar, we were actually able to go on our first field trip of the day, a tour of a salt plant. We visited Salinsa, the biggest salt plant in all of Central America. The manager gave us a tour of the factory and explained the process of extracting salt from salt water. It was really awesome to hear how salt mining has been passed down in his family from his grandfather, to his father, and now to him. Near the end of the tour, we saw how the same salt gets packaged under two different brands; one brand sells for more than the other. It really got me thinking about what kind of products in the U.S. might be sold for more than the same item under a different brand. After the tour of the factory, we were able to see the pools from which the salt is extracted.

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After a delicious lunch at the comedor, we set out on the bus for our second field trip of the day. We got to visit the Tosca sandal factory, which is a very popular brand of sandals in Nicaragua. The factory was quite crowded, so we split into two groups for the tour. While one group was on the tour, the others kept busy by playing Ninja and the watermelon game outside. Even Nancy joined us in playing! During the tour, we saw how the sandals were made, from the sewing of the straps to the sanding of the finished product. We wore masks as a precaution due to the glues that some of the workers were using. After the tour, we even had a chance to purchase sandals from the factory!

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Our final activity of the day was English tutoring. We’ve all grown tremendously at teaching and developing lesson plans in just a short amount of time. These tutoring sessions have quickly become one of the highlights of our days, and it’s really rewarding to see our students improve. Hopefully we can continue to grow as teachers and keep having a blast with our students!

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Being Leader of the Day was definitely out of my comfort zone, but the support from my fellow Glimpsers made the experience a ton of fun! We continue to bond more and more every single day. I’ve never laughed harder than with this awesome group of people. From ugly whip circles, to long bus rides and card games, there’s never a dull moment. Thanks for staying updated on our adventures in León, and keep an eye out for what awesome stuff we get up to tomorrow!!