It's been a while- I guess that's what happens when you actually are working hard- I ran out of time to blog last week! The new organization has been going great! We're creating a whole business plan for a property that the organization owns on the island of Ometepe, which is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. We spent last week preparing interviews for tourists and various tourist offices, and mayor offices and hotels etc. And then on Thursday we came to the island to begin our market research! I once told people I wanted to do marketing, so long as it wasnt marketing research- I think I meant, my dream is to do marketing research...because here, doing marketing research means you go around the island living in paradise with all expenses paid for a week, while just talking to people- lots of american tourists to be specific, and hotel owners. It's incredible. And in case I for some reason don't return home, I've probably bought property on the island and have chosen to become an entrepeneur- so don't be alarmed.
I felt soooo useful today. Sometimes I don't feel so incredibly useful, because i'm slower to respond with Spanish, and it definitely does sometimes hurt my ability to contribute. Fortunately, my partners speak almost-perfect english, so they help me if I can't figure something out. But, something that never crossed my mind- they can't understand english if the person has an accent of any type--so today when we had to interview the hotel owner with an Irish accent: boom! all me. this afternoon, when we had to interview an australian hotel owner- boom. all me. Yesterday when we interviewed the Canadian hotel/restaurant owner- yup- that was me. LOVE IT!!!
It's really weird being here on the island. The local native Nicaraguans are so poor, and you still see the tin roof, straw wall homes with dirt floors, and people half naked because they dont have clothes- and then there's rich tourists and foreign business owners- and the land is just absolutely mind-blowing and amazing- so its a really really weird mix that seems so wrong, and yet so beautiful and wonderful all at the same time.
But I love it here- I absolutely love it. This work is amazing, this place is amazing. The natives actually thought this was God's promised land- trust me, if you saw it, you'd believe it. Anyhow I'm going to add some pics and then head to bed. Got to get up at 6! eek!!
Goodnight!!
Rachel
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| The Island- volcano conception on the left, volcano maderas on the right |
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| Go ahead- tell me you can't understand if I stay here... |
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| drinking coconut juice (milk?) straight from the coconut! |
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| Volcano Conception |
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