I cannot believe that the end of January officially marks my first 6 months in site. Time has flown by, and although I know I have accomplished quite a bit already, I can't help but think that I should do so much more. Good thing is that I still have 18 months to do that, so there is that, right?
Speaking of doing more, I will be doing 2 Community Bank training workshops in the next two weeks as a cross sectoral effort. This means that I will be working with two different environmental volunteers that live somewhat near me in Matagalpa to start community based savings and loan banks. I could go on for hours about the different methods that you can use to start these banks, but the most important aspect is that it empowers its members to save and loan their own money! No outside funds needed! It really is a great program and I had been looking for different ways to start one or two, and then these opportunities just fell into my lap! So horray! What a gift for my 6th month anniversary!
To celebrate, this past weekend, I went with some fellow volunteers, including one that is leaving in April :( , to a waterfall that is about 30 minutes from the city and we went hiking and swimming! It started to rain as we were leaving, and there were no buses so we had to walk about 3km before we could get a ride and we were soaking wet, but it was a great day! Its nice to get out of the city every once and awhile. Here are some pictures!
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| We missed our bus stop so we had to walk back a bit... oops! |
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| Walking down to the falls! |
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| Pretty right? |
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| La Casada Blanca |
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| Ryan in the cave behind the falls |
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| Me behind the falls |
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| Sarah and Casi after our swim |
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| Ryan and Mclaine |
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| Me after the invigorating swim, and loving my new Keen Sandals! |
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| The view of the entry point from the road in case you ever want to go yourself! |
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| At lunch after a great day, Mclaine, Me, Ryan, and Casi. |
I look forward to another great 18 months in site, and many more great adventures. This week, its community banks, then back to school! Wish me luck and make good choices!
Too bad we didn't know about the falls two weeks ago! Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteAnother beautiful sight in Nicaragua! I hope you and the other volunteers continue to have many wonderful experiences over the next 18 months.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful site to celebrate your six month stay bench mark. Best of luck with the bank start ups. Sounds like a challenging and rewarding experience to be involved in getting set up. I'll have to research Keen sandals. They look comfy and pactical in your photo.
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