2015 Nicaragua: The Wonders of Cement and Managua

Ximena writes:

After a night of rest here in Nicaragua I regained all my sleep.

So waking up at 6:20AM started to become difficult. I stayed in bed for a good 15 minutes longer before I actually woke up and started my day. We ate our breakfast this morning in the mist of a princess for it was Angela’s birthday. after breakfast we went strait to work at AMC. Carlos, Henry, and Alberto took the time to teach us how to properly put the cement mixture on the wall. They were very patient with us and would not mind to show us how to properly do our work as much as we needed. The work was challenging at first, but once you get an idea and a flow of it we got better. Basically, what we did was take a cement mixture and put it on the walls as a finish in two coats. The first coat was rough for the most part and it was very hard to actually get it smooth on the wall. Leann and I were given the opportunity to redeem ourselves from yesterday's okay work of putting the first coat on a few of the walls, by putting the second finishing coat. this made us worry since this one had to be perfect and flat. Luckily for us, we were able to wet the wall and smooth it out after the last coat was put out. I got into it and was covered in cement. while we were thinking that we were not doing it as perfect as they wanted, Carlos and Henry kept telling up that it was all good and always reassuring us. Carlos was joking with us and saying that we were going to have to move to Managua and he would have to fire Henry to hire us because our work was that good.

After we were done working for the day at around 12, we showered at the AMC bathrooms, had lunch (which was so good and fresh!), and went off to do what Americans in a different country do best: we became tourist. Freddie took us to some of the places we learned about in our history lesson yesterday. We went to Samosa’s Palace (Lomas Tiscapa) where we were able to see the old and new Managua on either side of the palace. We event went downstairs to the torture room where we saw where Samosa kept all his enemies close to him and tortured them. From there, we went to the original Roman Cathedral Church (Catedral Santiago de Managua) where we took a group selfie with my selfie stick in front of the church. It was built after the 1931 earthquake. It didn't collapsed but was the only standing structure after the next earthquake, but is now condemned because it is structurally unsound. Within that location there was the presidential palace, which was turned into a national museum, and the three graves of the revolutionary martyrs. After that, we went to a boardwalk location (Paseo Xolotlan) to enjoy ourselves a bit in and walk around. There was a plane in the middle of the field for people to enter. For most of the people in Managua, that would be the only time they would enter a plane. We even got to see the mini Managua that showed how Managua looked liked before the earthquake hit and wiped everything. We took all the classic photos near the building like holding it or leaning on them (p.s. you know you are short when even the mini building are taller than you…).

We ended our day at Pops to get ice cream. I was so worried I would give them the wrong amount of U.S. dollars (the ratio is 27:1 (well technically its 27.024 to 1)) but, with the help of others, I was able to get my $3 mint cappuccino. We sang happy birthday to Angela while eating our ice cream. We relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the day and shared our views with one another of how our days went. We talked about our God moments and just conversed and laughed while enjoying dinner (seriously, the food here is great! 10/10 would eat again). God is truly working through us and is visible through how we can connect and show our true selves with one another and with others.

by Ximena B. Varas