Word spread quickly that the new teachers were here, and we had 7 eager students come to meet us last night, so we held a small class. We have our lessons planned for the rest of this week, and we begin classes officially tomorrow(Wed.). Although we told the students there would be no class tonight, 2 showed up and wanted to learn, so we taught! In this community, and many places around Nicaragua, people are eager to create tourism that will sustain their way of life and culture, which would allow them to better the quality of their life. It is very undeveloped here, and impovershed in places, and creating sustainable tourism without allowing colonization and Westernized companies to take over, is very appealing to many people here. Many of our students wish to become tour guides, and want to learn English, while others wish to attend University where English is the primary language. We will be teaching English while incorporating the importance of sustaining their Nicaraguan culture, way of life, and the Spanish language. It is important to us that we do both these things. We are so excited to start teaching tomorrow!
Today we hiked 8.7 miles to a waterfall on Volcan Maderas. It was a really tough hike but so worth it! The waterfall was easily the longest falls we've ever seen! We stood under the cold refreshing falls as our reward when we finally reached it. Two people we met last night came with us and they are really cool. We will post pics soon.
Tomorrow is DANS BIRTHDAY!!!!! I am having the kitchen make him a birthday cake for our dessert! We will also celebrate with the kids. Dan is excited because one of our students invited him to go fishing with him and his father who is a fisherman this weekend.
Love D&J