Day 6 - Jesus on the point, Los Pipitos, and Jinotepe

It is hard to believe that we only have one day left in Nicaragua! We had another full and rewarding day. Here is Claire’s, aka Yogi’s, account of the day…

“Today started early. Kiki and I got up around 7 and did some reading in the hammocks on the front porch of Hotel Casablanca. From there we had a view of the beach and one of the main streets in San Juan del Sur. The breakfasts at Hotel Casablanca have been my favorite meals so far. Every morning we have coffee, orange juice, fruits, scrambled eggs, rice and beans, and toast with guava jelly. The best part of all is the chile sauce that I put on everything, most notably on the guava jelly toast. After breakfast, we drove up to the giant Jesus that overlooks the harbor. There was a great view from up there, and it was cool to see the shadows of the clouds move across the beach and harbor beneath us. Next, we visited the special needs school Los Pipitos, which was one of the best experiences so far. When we arrived, Abby and I went outside with two students to play with chalk. We were very enthusiastic and Abby was more than willing to sacrifice her clean shirt and lay down on the dusty sidewalk so we could trace her. Her sidewalk double came out great, but when we asked one of the students if he wanted to be traced, he looked at us like we were crazy and said, “No, es sucio” or “No, it is too dirty.” After the school, we checked out and moved on to Jinotepe. The bus driver blared some music on the way, including but not limited to Michael Jackson and Guns and Roses. We arrived in Jinotepe and checked into another great hotel, which has 3 parrots that greet guests with a friendly ‘Hola!’”

After we all walked around exploring Jinotepe on foot, we had our last match to play. We played the Nicaraguan National team one last time. We came up a bit short again, but there were some strings of points of great play. This gym was much cooler as there is a nice breeze here this evening. Their team was very gracious and appreciative of having strong competition to play all week. Their coach told us multiple times that they have a difficult time finding quality teams to play except when teams come down from the United States. Overall, playing under such harsh conditions and against our worthy opponents (several of whom were in their late twenties or early thirties) will serve us well this fall. Our young group of players learned a ton about themselves and each other this week on and off the court. Buenas noches!