Drew and Amelia here! We’re on the scavenger hunt. So far we’ve exchanged our american money into cordobas, and got watermelon and strawberry smoothies at a stand in the central ‘park.’ (Shoutout to the sandias back home!) The cool thing about the smoothie place was the chairs were super tall. (Take a look at our photos!) Now we’re at an internet cafe with tons more to do on our list.
Getting here went pretty smoothly, but by the end of the day yesterday we were all wiped out. Even though we were all exhausted, we were also very excited to finally be here. So far the group seems to be bonding very well. It seems like we’ve know each other a lot longer than just thirty eight hours! Conversations yesterday pushed all of us to grow and open up about challenges we’re nervous to face.
We were thrown in headfirst to one of these challenges at dinner. We were approached by a legion of artisans, children waving beatifully crafted palm flowers at us. A hard situation, made more complicated because the craftsmen wanted money to pay for their school supplies. They kept asking us for money in exchange for the flowers throughout the whole outdoor dinner – saying ‘no gracias’ to no avail. These beautiful children were one thing, but at the end of our meal, a starving man asked to clear our plates, and instead quickly grabbed the remainder of our food to eat on a nearby stoop.
Later that night, we talked about how to giving these children money and food felt good but in the long run wouldn’t change their lives. Instead of this instant gratification, we need to work towards changing unfairness in the system. We discussed different ways to bring people up by supporting education, microloans, and women’s rights. At the end of the discussion, we all took a step back and realized this deep conversation was taking place after just a day together. With a first day like that, we’re excited to see where the next three months will take us! We’ll keep you posted!
Adios,
Amelia and Drew