This blog post is being written from the Houston Airport at 6 am Nicaragua time, during our stop on our way home. Yesterday was an amazing last day! We started off with breakfast in our hotel and set off bright and early at 8:30 am. Our first stop was the largest market in Central America, which we walked to and on the way saw beautiful churches, parks, and enormously high chairs. Unfortunately when we arrived to the market it was closed for Good Friday, but we got to watch a breathtaking procession of people carrying a statue of Jesus with his cross instead. My favorite part of today happened right after when we went to visit a town known for its artisanal ceramics. We visited one of the schools/workshops where they gave us a tour and showed us exactly how they make each pot from the moment that they make the clay from volcanic mud, to the moment they put the last polish on a piece that is ready to be sold. They have been creating these ceramics for hundreds of years and still use volcanic minerals to paint, rocks and seeds to polish, and wood ovens to burn. They even make their paintbrushes out of the hair of the women!
After buying some ceramic souvenirs we headed over to a tourist-y town right on the edge of the lagoon that borders Lake Nicaragua, where we took pictures, listened to local musicians, and ate a delicious lunch. Now it was time to head to the actual lake, which we have been studying as part of our awareness of the interconnectedness of the environment and the oppression of the poor. We arrived in the city of Granada to 3 horse drawn carriages that took us on a tour of the city. Granada was striking due to its incredible history and beautiful churches, although many of them are only there due to the influence of the Spanish. Our carriage ride ended at the edge of Lake Nicaragua where a boat was waiting to take us out.
As we rode through the lake, our captain pointed out all of the private islands with hundred thousand dollar houses on them which belonged to the monopolists of Nicaragua. One of them even owned 3 private islands, with a private helicopter landing pad! It was so striking and sickening to experience this amount of wealth and poverty in such close proximity to one another. After about a half hour ride we reached a private part of the lake and were able to jump out and swim around for about an hour. Floating and looking up at the sky in that lake was one of the most peaceful moments on the trip.
When we got back from our boat trip we drove back to Granada to have our final reflection of the trip as a group. We talked about what this trip has helped us to reinforce that we learned in class, what is something that we regret about the trip, and how we can continue to take what we have learned in this class and trip and apply it to our lives. After a heartwarming and thoughtful reflection we walked to our last dinner together and then headed to the airport to begin a 12+ hour journey back home.
By Gabriela Nagle-Alverio
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