Taylor Blythe
I don’t think I could have had a better alarm this morning…mariachi music at 7 AM. Although it may have been blaring in my ears, it was the perfect way to start our last day in Nicaragua.
After getting around and eating breakfast, we were off to the city of Granada, an old Spanish colonial town with plenty of history. As we entered the city, everyone could noticed the beautiful architecture. It truly was stunning. Granada is the oldest colonial city in Central America that hasn’t been relocated at some point. Our first stop was to the old cathedral to walk up the bell tower, which Joe claimed to be the best view in Granada. As usual, Joe didn’t disappoint. The view was awesome! In order to see the view from the tower, we had to climb up these spiral steps that could barely fit both feet on one step, but it was worth it.
Our next stop was to the hammock factory, Tío Antonio. My first impression of the factory was that it wasn’t really a factory at all. Only one small room was truly dedicated to making hammocks, the rest of it was an open area and a coffee shop. During our time, we discussed how Antonio and his journey. He has helped so many people from all walks of life, especially young disabled people and mothers. Antonio truly is inspirational, he is a go getter and never gives up.
Olivia Pflaume
Laguna de Apoyo
After an exciting morning shopping and learning about several of the social issues facing the citizens here in Nicaragua, we traveled to Laguna de Apoyo for a relaxing last day. After about an hour long bus ride we arrived at the volcanic crater where we were able to swim, kayak, drink smoothies, and enjoy the beach.
While I was there I took advantage of the dock off shore. A lot of us swam out to the dock to do flips, sunbathe, and hangout. There was a nice hangout spot for people to buy food and drinks and sit around and chat. My favorite part of the trip was seeing the sun set around the mountains of the lake. Being able to end our time in Nicaragua with a relaxing beach was almost surreal.
Hannah Maggard
PIZZA!
That was the key word of the day. While all of us were getting over the upset stomach stage and rice and beans, it was nice to have something familiar. Especially something so good.
Today we went to the smile cafe which was a cafe where deaf and blind people could work. The founder/owner gave such an inspiring speech I think all of us left feeling a greater sense of gratitude for the country and coming on the trip. This was exactly what we needed on the last day of the trip.
We then headed to a lake that was inside a nonactive volcano. Let me just tell you how cool that was.Definitely a highlight of the trip. We got to layout in the Nicaragua sun that has been avoiding us and just relax for awhile. We shared many laughs, conversations and AMAZING Nicaraguan smoothies!
To end the night we came back to the hotel for PIZZA! After enjoying this amazing pizza and soda in glass bottles, we started our night out on the town! We went through this amazing array of Christmas lights (They are way more festive than the United States). It was the best time to jam music from the bus because we found out Marvin had an aux cord, and to look at Christmas lights! Getting us in the Christmas spirit we have all been lacking due to the warm weather. We then walked around by the lake and looked at a carnival type event in Nicaragua. They are so festive it’s crazy to think! We were all exhausted but very happy to have some fun before heading home!
All in all, today was by far one of my favorite days. After all the rainfall, hectic, and tiring days we had time to relax and hear a really awesome story, shop a little, swim in an old volcano, have some great smoothies, PIZZA, and have an amazing night on the town.
