Bucknell Brigade Travel Blog

Our final day in Nicaragua was certainly an eventful one. We woke up later than normal (a whopping 30 minutes later!!!) After breakfast we piled into the van and headed out to the Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua’s very first national park. The volcano is active but luckily nobody from our group fell in. We were told that if the wind changed direction while we were up on the volcanic rim then we would have had to book it back to the bus given the danger of the sulfuric acid smoke, but the winds were in our favor. While we were there, […]

Continue reading The final day… »

We started today with a challenge. We were divided into four teams and sent into the mercado with only 200 cordobas (around $6) to our name, and ordered to buy food for a family of six in Nueva Vida for one week. We needed around ten lbs of rice, six lbs of beans, three bags of corn meal, a liter of oil, five pounds of sugar, five pounds of salt, and enough fruit for juice for the week. We quickly realized that we has been sent out on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. The vendors laughed at the fact that we wanted to […]

Continue reading Adios a Nueva Vida »

Today, we started off our day with a guest speaker who fought in the Sandinista Revolution.  He gave us a brief overview of Nicaraguan history and explained his perspective on Nicaraguan politics. Unlike Tuesday’s speaker who is supportive of the Ortega, today’s speaker expressed many concerns about the policies of Ortega. Hearing these two different perspectives has allowed to think more critically about the political climate of Nicaragua. After the guest speaker, we headed off to the Nueva Vida Medical Clinic to continue our work. We laid concrete for two rooms in the new building and continued painting in one […]

Continue reading Soaking up the Sun »

We took a break from working at the clinic today to visit the coffee co-op that JHC works with in El Porvenir. JHC has been working with the coffee farmers for over a decade to support fair trade and assist in obtaining an organic farming certification. The Brigade left CEPS around 8:00am to start our day. The drive, which included a bus as well as a tractor, took about two hours in all. In order to get to the very top of the mountain, we all piled in the town taxi, essentially a tractor which is used by the locals. […]

Continue reading It’s A Brew-tiful Day! »

Today was a nice breezy day but it was still in the low 90s. It is the middle of the Nicaraguan summer after all. Our group split up into different work areas again today. Some worked at the pharmacy filling prescriptions, others painted walls inside the clinic, others cleaned leaves off the roof, and again people were working to finish laying concrete for the floors of the new clinic building. People did these shifts in the morning from 8:45 to 11:30 and then in the afternoon from 2 to 4:40. Most people rotated shifts to try different tasks through out […]

Continue reading A Day Working at the Clinic »

Buenos Dias Familias y Amigos, Our day started with us all waking up after a much needed good nights sleep. It was VERY HOT as usual, but we are starting to get used to the weather and enjoying a break from the cold. For breakfast, we enjoyed beans, eggs, fruit, and fresh bread. Once we were energized and ready to start our day, Becca from the JHC came to talk to us about what their organization does. It was interesting to learn about how JHC got its roots in Nicaragua, and how much Bucknell contributed to the process. We now […]

Continue reading Getting To Work! »

¡Hola todos! Today we had a very educational day touring Managua and Ciudad Sandino. We started at CEPS with a delicious breakfast of rice and beans, fried plantains, fresh fruit, and coffee. Then, we all piled into the van to start our adventure. Our tour guide, Becca, is from JHC, and she gave us a very comprehensive experience with Nicaraguan history and culture. We visited the Lead Hill, which is the home to the Memorial of Heroes and Martyrs. While we enjoyed the view, we were sure to keep in mind the past use of the land as a dumping […]

Continue reading Managua tour day! »

To all family, friends, past Brigadistas and loved ones, Our day began at 3:45am when our bus left Bucknell and we arrived in D.C. at Dulles Airport shortly before 7am. Our flights to San Salvador and Managua were easy and quick and we happily arrived at 3:45pm. We’re enjoying the hot weather and had a wonderful dinner of rice, vegetables, chicken, and French fries. We looked at the stars and the sky before going to bed and we’re all very excited about touring Managua tomorrow! Nica love, Student co-leaders- Cali and Abigail

Continue reading Arrived Safely! »