In the House EWB Built

September 3rd

Today we had our first day off in 10 days!!! We started out by going this small resort called the Monkey Hut on Laguna de Apoyo. This lake is in the crater of a dormant volcano and the water is so clear and somewhat warm. There we swam for a little bit then we had lunch.

Later we went to an artisans co-op and learned how the authentic pottery is made. A few of us then got to try at the wheel and paint some pieces of pottery. We were also able to purchase some of the works of art for our own.

The bus was then going to drop some of us off in Masaya to catch a bus to Granada. A group of us were going to spend our weekend off in Granada and an island called Omotepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. Well the bus got lost and ended up running out of gas so that the people who needed to get to Granada jumped on an Express bus to Granada. Apparently “express” in Central America does not really mean express as we proceeded to stop at every street corner.

Finally Maliha, Jeremy F, Jeremy H, Alyssa, and Erica made it in to Granada. We checked into a hostel and Maliha got a hotel. We had dinner at a restaurant and then called it a night.

September 4th

This morning we got up and headed to Malihas hotel for breakfast. Afterwards we went to our favorite smoothie place in Granada, where you can order any combination of fruit that you like. We then walked around a chocolate factory called Choco and the artisan market in the central square. We walked around the big yellow cathedral in the middle of the square.

At noon we got a car from Granada to the ferry dock in San Jorge to take the ferry to Omotepe. The car ride was about 1 hour and a half on we had to stop for road construction? We got to the dock with about a half hour till the ferry was leaving. We took the ferry to Omotepe where we called a car to take us to our hotel, Hotel Villa Paraiso, located on the isthmus of Omotepe.

That night we had dinner and went swimming for a little bit in the lake.

September 5th

We again spent another few hours swimming and relaxing by the lake, reading and playing dominos. Then our car took us to a different ferry port on Omotepe for our return ferry to San Jorge. We then hopped on a bus from San Jorge all the way to Managua (another “express” bus) and finally made it into Managua at about 8:30 pm. All in all it was a nice weekend.

Ill give an update on what work went on while we were away this weekend and let you know what has happened thus far.

September 6th

Upon getting to the site today we were excited to see that the masonry walls had been completed, cut to match the slope of the roof, and the bolts installed for the roof installation. They had also started cutting out the slab for the footings for the columns.

Today we finished digging and filling in the footings for the columns. We also almost completed grouting all of the masonry walls, something we can finish easily tomorrow morning. We also began cutting the studs for the wall.