Can you believe it's day 5?!?

Today we continued to build walls and pour concrete at the learning center. Lexi and Hannah K were powerhouses mixing cement by hand and helping the work crew pour the cement. Lauren, Hanna and Scott worked on strengthening the walls and preparing them for a thin layer of concrete. A local family stops by everyday to deliver us food for lunch and it continues to be delicious authentic Nicaragua cuisine. Delicioso!! (Our Spanish is drastically improving on and off the construction site. Especially Ms Keenan's). We ended the day zip lining down Mombacho Volcano, which was quite an experience! Some kids even went down super man style! Our new amigo Enoc, a staff member of Amped's partner organization La Esperanza de Granada, gave everyone handmade bracelets at dinner tonight. It was a very thoughtful gift and he really appreciated us coming down to help out. We are greatly enjoying our time here and are grateful to be helping the community. Tomorrow is our last day volunteering and then we are off to Apoyo Lagoon!

Lauren's reflections of the day:

I swear the trip gets better everyday! Yesterday we worked and visited a learning center in action. It was amazing to see all the children and how our work will enhance their education. The children were so excited to see us many waved others gave hugs and I attempted to speak Spanish (mainly introducing myself). After that we went on a tour of lake Nicaragua saw some beautiful mansions, had drinks on a local persons island, and fed monkeys which was super cool! The day concluded with some awesome pizza. Today was more work and it's difficult at times with the language barrier, but with lots of gestures and repetition we eventually understand each other. The hard day of work was followed by zip lining down a volcano. We flew over the trees occasionally like superman or superwoman and even got the chance to hang upside down over the trees which was my personal favorite. After our excursion we went to another restaurant, but people were aloud to smoke inside which is very different. I also tried some of Ms Keenan's avocado fries which were quite an experience, but I liked them even though I don't like avocados and Enoc a recent graduate of Nicaragua who was working with us gave us all friendship bracelets that he made himself! It was so thoughtful and sweet! Overall everything is amazing and I can't wait to see what else lies ahead!

Hanna's reflections of the day:

Today was another hard day of work it started right away. We had to mix more cement by hand to finish the courtyard. It was eye opening to see what Nicaraguan workers could accomplish with very little tools, just with sand, rocks, cement mix, shovels  and a lot of hard work we covered a court yard. While many people worked on cement other nailed wood into cement walls to make a guide to put more cement to even out the walls, it was very frustrating because the walls were too hard for the small little nails they gave us. After a long day of hard work we got to unwind by going zip lining while it was sprinkling. This experience will be unforgettable.