March 19th- Andrea Kyeremeh

Time in San Juan del Sur seems to move slowly; we've been here for a week and it only feels like a couple of days. San Juan del Sur is a beautiful town with the beach just down the street from our hotel. When you are walking around, you find that everyone is really friendly and will smile or wave as you walk by. Our hotel, Villa Isabella has become our home away from home and I'm starting to get used to Roxanna (our chef) cooking us breakfast every morning.

I have had so many amazing moments here in Nicaragua, but my most memorable experiences have been interacting with the locals. Today while working in the library, I met Michael. He is a student at one of the university's in Nicaragua and he is also a local entrepreneur. He told me about his plans to open up a new restaurant in San Juan del Sur that appeals to tourists. He had a questionnaire asking questions like "how often do you eat out during the week" that he wanted me to look over for him. I spent the next thirty minutes talking to Michael about his business and reassuring him that his English was great and that he didn't need to be nervous when asking tourists to fill out his survey. Moments like these are what I came to Nicaragua for. Despite our cultural differences, we can still communicate and understand one another based on our similarities as people.

I've had great time working on my team as well. We've collaborated really well and have found solutions to some of Pablo's concerns. One of our goals is to create a plan that is sustainable and has attainable goals that Pablo can actually accomplish. With that in mind, today we worked on the bulk of our project by creating a cost spreadsheet and a revenue tracking spreadsheet for Pablo. We also stopped by the library to get his Facebook up and running and talk to his wife Heidi about anything else we might need from Pablo. Interacting with Heidi has been a great experience as well because she is such a loving and open person that is also really driven and intelligent. She's also really patient when communicating with us since our Spanish is not always very clear.

At around 4 today, half of the group went to one beach and the rest of us went to another beach close by. The beach was calm and secluded and we felt like we were the only ones there. It was a great way to distress and relax after a long day in front of the computer. Once we got back from the beach, we had a large group meeting to decide how we would divide the money we had raised. Listening to everyone tell their entrepreneurs' story and express the needs that each business had, made me realize how much work we had all done in a short amount of time. I think we all felt a sense of accomplishment when we were able to divide the money in a way that would meet each team's needs.

To cap the night off, we dinner at Pelican Eyes overlooking the whole city of San Juan. Bruno (one of the post entrepreneurs) prepared a traditional Nicaraguan performance for us and we had amazing food at the resort/restaurant.

"Adventure is worthwhile"- Aristotle