Erick is a native Costa Rican who enjoys the outdoors and traveling around the world. He graduated from Berea College in Kentucky where he studied biology and Business Administration. 
Tai has a passion for teaching and travel. She currently lives in the Rocky Mountain town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She arrived there from the colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua where she helped open the first Waldorf School in the country. 
Jessy has worked for GW since 2004 taking groups to Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Nicaragua. She is addicted to world travel, dance, rock climbing and cooking. She can't wait to return to Nicaragua this summer- her favorite Central American country! Welcome Global Works travelers, parents and friends. We are excited to share with you trip updates from around the world. As our main office receives updates from the trips we will update the page as we receive the updates.
Update #1:
Arriving tired in Managua our all-star group jumped right into learning the culture of Nicaragua and each other. We proceeded to Granada where we stayed at the Oasis hostel. On our first day we spend time doing icebreakers and getting to know each other better. Then we figured out our personal and group goals for the trip. Later we did some sightseeing in the beautiful colonial city Granada. We stopped for lunch and walked to the central plaza for an exciting scavenger hunt. After relaxing back at the hostel in hammocks and rocking chairs we had a grand dinner in one of the many wonderful restaurants you can find in the Calzada, which is the main tourist strip. We ended the night with a dip in the pool sharing stories from our hometowns; it was a great bonding time!
We spent the next morning in Granada taking pictures from the bell tower and exploring the central plaza. We hopped on a bus and after a scenic drive hour drive we found ourselves in Esteli, a city nestled in a valley surrounded by green beautiful mountain. We checked into Estelimar, our home for the next five days, an oasis of education, fun and tranquility. Our fist night in Esteli we played fun group games in the game room and spend a lot of time talking about our day. In the morning we got on the bus and drove to the community of San Pedro de Esteli, where the whole school had a welcoming ceremony planned out for us. There was dancing by the little kids and we interacted with the older kids playing baseball, soccer and jump rope. It amazed us how sports can be a universal language. We look forward to the hard work ahead of us.
Update #2:
During our stay in Esteli, we worked in a small school named San Pedro with only five classrooms at the elementary level. In the three days that we were there we painted three classrooms, put up secure windows, taught English to the kids, built a new basketball hoop, mixed cement for three sinks to wash their little, dirty hands and planted a garden. At the end of the week, for our “despedida fiesta”,(our goodbye party), we held a carnival. We put together games such as, face painting, bracelet making, candy pong and tire hoops. At the end of an interesting show, done by the Nicaraguans, we gave the kids basketballs, soccer balls, baseball bats, baseballs and gloves so that they could improve their already amazing athletic talents. Yet, with all of these accomplishments, most of all we succeeded in the most important task, which was putting a smile on every little kid’s face. It was sad to say goodbye and as we left the kids hugged each of us saying that they were going to miss us. After we left the school we went to a nature reserve with a waterfall to bathe and bask in its celestial waters.
Today, on our way to Ometepe we stopped at a mall to browse some of the shops and eat some American food. We took a nice ferry ride at sunset to view the two volcanic peaks of the island we will be staying within. We will be resting in serenity, on the lake, right in the center of the two peaks.
Update #3:
Since arriving on the Island of Ometepe earlier this week, we have gotten a lot of work done! We have also found many opportunities to take advantage of the peaceful landscpaes surrounding us here on this island of two volcanoes. We are staying at Playa Teguizapa, aka ´Don Julios Place¨. The loveley, small resort is right on the Lake (El Lago de Nicaragua) and it has been super refreshing to jump in for a swim everyday after working hard on our service project here. The project has been at La Escuela Taller Ometepe– it´s like a public, vocational school for the youth of the island who would like to learn how to work with electricity, home building, welding, and carpentry. The school has grown a lot since it started two years ago, and the demands on the water system have been extreme. To help with this problem, we used shovels and picks to create a long, deep trench to access the current too-small water pipes. Then we laid new, much larger pipes and refilled our ditches. This job left us sweaty and dirty at the end of everyday, and with sore muscles in the morning, but it was worth it to help this cool school increase its ability to serve the youth of the community! We even got to work side by side with some of the students at the school on the ditch– they are our age and it was fun to get to know them and use some Spanish skills. We can´t believe that tomorrow we get on the ferry to leave this place. We know we will miss it, but we are also looking forward to being back home soon to share our stories of what has been a true adventure here in Nicaragua.
Trip Photos:
