Day 5: Hikes, Hammocks, and Hydrocortisone
Goodbye San Juan Del Sur! This morning, we packed our bags and left our little beach town, but not before completing a "quick little hike." It was not quick, nor was it little, however, it was a hike! We basically walked directly uphill for 30 minutes. Okay, 30 minutes is not that long for a hike, but NOT KIDDING, we were going straight up. Sure, we are athletes, but no Dixon Plan workout could prepare us for the severity of a Nicaraguan hike. Once we got to the top, though, the view was well worth it.
A 72 foot Jesus statue stood tall in the middle, overlooking the entire area. From the top, we could spot our hotel, the places we volunteered, and the mountain we zip lined on. The vast ocean took up most of the view which reached all the way to the horizon. If we were to travel on a straight line west off of Nicaragua, the next land we would hit is the Philippines, an 8 hour time difference. That's a lot of ocean.
I can't decide which event it is from (the zip lining, the hiking, etc) but each one of us is covered in constellations of bug bites. Head to toe hydrocortisone has become our only source of salvation.
After the hike, we hopped on the bus en route to Granada. For this section of the blog, I've decided to explain the ride with a compilation of photos.
We got to Granada and went straight to Cafe de la Soneisas, which is a restaurant as well as a hammock factory that employs deaf people. The owner spoke to us before we got to work, and it was absolutely incredible to hear his story. Originally from Spain, he moved to Latin America, and became a chef at a local school. Immediately, he noticed a need for help in the deaf community. None of the deaf kids could get employed, so he decided to create jobs for them. After spotting a tourist with a hammock, he knew it'd be the golden ticket. When their first products were sold, he felt the buyers were interested in the disability rather than the product, so he shut down the business. Once they adopted a method to create quality hammocks, he restored it. Now the factory consists of over 30 people and they have sold their hammocks in 38 countries. They even made a hammock strong enough to hold eight of us.
One of the deaf workers taught us our name in sign language, and then gave us a nickname which correlates to a feature of our face. While most of my teammates were granted with a sign that means "nice smile" or "cute cheeks," I got "eyebrows." It was incredible to be in the midst of a small business producing so much good for the community.
Our next activity was match number three against the Nicaraguan team. Again, we were playing on a (extremely slippery) concrete floor, but this time, indoors! We ended up losing in five sets, 25-17, 18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 11-15. Tough first loss, but I know it will fire us up for our last match against the team later on.
We ended the night with bottomless pizza, which very well may have been the most beautiful sight of the day. Tomorrow we hit the water via boat for a jungle tour.
Can't wait to let you know about it,
Tess :)
A 72 foot Jesus statue stood tall in the middle, overlooking the entire area. From the top, we could spot our hotel, the places we volunteered, and the mountain we zip lined on. The vast ocean took up most of the view which reached all the way to the horizon. If we were to travel on a straight line west off of Nicaragua, the next land we would hit is the Philippines, an 8 hour time difference. That's a lot of ocean.
I can't decide which event it is from (the zip lining, the hiking, etc) but each one of us is covered in constellations of bug bites. Head to toe hydrocortisone has become our only source of salvation.
After the hike, we hopped on the bus en route to Granada. For this section of the blog, I've decided to explain the ride with a compilation of photos.
We got to Granada and went straight to Cafe de la Soneisas, which is a restaurant as well as a hammock factory that employs deaf people. The owner spoke to us before we got to work, and it was absolutely incredible to hear his story. Originally from Spain, he moved to Latin America, and became a chef at a local school. Immediately, he noticed a need for help in the deaf community. None of the deaf kids could get employed, so he decided to create jobs for them. After spotting a tourist with a hammock, he knew it'd be the golden ticket. When their first products were sold, he felt the buyers were interested in the disability rather than the product, so he shut down the business. Once they adopted a method to create quality hammocks, he restored it. Now the factory consists of over 30 people and they have sold their hammocks in 38 countries. They even made a hammock strong enough to hold eight of us.
One of the deaf workers taught us our name in sign language, and then gave us a nickname which correlates to a feature of our face. While most of my teammates were granted with a sign that means "nice smile" or "cute cheeks," I got "eyebrows." It was incredible to be in the midst of a small business producing so much good for the community.
Our next activity was match number three against the Nicaraguan team. Again, we were playing on a (extremely slippery) concrete floor, but this time, indoors! We ended up losing in five sets, 25-17, 18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 11-15. Tough first loss, but I know it will fire us up for our last match against the team later on.
We ended the night with bottomless pizza, which very well may have been the most beautiful sight of the day. Tomorrow we hit the water via boat for a jungle tour.
Can't wait to let you know about it,
Tess :)
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