Ahhhhh...sweet tangibility

Kaitlyn and I wrapped up a small project last week, just in time before our trip back to the States on the 15th. We completed a mural of the world on an inside wall of our town's library. World maps are popular PC side-projects, especially among education volunteers. Primarily these maps are useful to the community since most classrooms lack the resources of atlases, globes, or large maps. However the project was also successful in promoting artistic creativity among youth as well as developing cooperative relationships among the various groups that came together to make the map project possible. Initially we received permission to use the space from our local mayor and librarian, were given the funds to buy the paint and other supplies from the local sister-city project (Norwalk-Nagarote), and did the actual painting with the help of the teacher and students from the sister-city project's art class. In all it took us three long, hard days to finish, but the results speak for themselves. We were blown away by the hard-work and creativity generated by the art students. As the pictures show, the true essence of the mural lies in the accompanying paintings located above the map that include: the national bird (guardabarranco), nicaraguan flag, and our town's icon the genizaro tree.