Several weeks ago all the students saw the Laguna de Apoyo, a 3-mile diameter lake in the hole left by a volcano that blew its top off in a violent explosion more than a million years ago. Aaron is working at a small biological field station at the edge…
An SST tradition is to have, the last night before students leave for their service assignments, a farewell (despedida) party with their host families and language teachers. During their last Spanish classes before the event the students had practiced several actos to perform in Spanish for their families. The students…
On Friday the students left for their service assignments. Since then we’ve received word that they are all with their service host family now. Their placements are as indicated on the map, and the work assignments are as follows: Aaron B. – Laguna de Apoyo; creating a mural and…
In their journals last week several students wrote about the impact of the visits in Esteli and El Lagartillo. Below is an entry from Bobby’s journal. Bobby shopping for pottery The more time I spend in Nicaragua and learn about its culture and history, the more I…
From shortly before our field trip to Matagalpa and in the following days we have a number of smaller events to share. At our twice weekly Coyunturas we realized that during our lunch on the back porch we were getting regular visits from Nicaragua’s national bird, the guardabarranco (ravine…
A day in the campo starts with a cup of coffee and a piece of bread as early as the eastern sky begins to get light, which is at 5 a.m. In our different homes we watched families in their morning routines, like making tortillas and hitching up the…
Saturday was an emotionally intense day that saw tears as well as incredible inspiration. Our textbook on Nicaragua begins the history section with this quote: The history of Nicaragua is among the most turbulent and interesting in all of the Americas. If, on the one hand, it features…
Last Friday we left on a 3-day field trip to mountainous north-central Nicaragua to learn about coffee, land, and other agricultural issues, as well as to hear firsthand from some local residents about their experiences in the two recent wars. After a 4-hour drive into increasingly higher mountains we…
Below is another student’s journal entry, this one from Elise. My family’s Christian faith has been evident to me since day one. They are very active members of their church, and they make spiritual disciplines an important part of each day. My mother’s commitment to reading her Bible and…
Below is a recent journal entry from Aaron reflecting, as did Caleb, on topics from our field trip to the Atlantic coast. Tomorrow our group leaves for a three-day field trip to northern Nicaragua, and we’ll be back with more posts next week. When I first tried to…
