Nicaragua Bootcamp 2015

PWB Nicaragua bootcamp was an incredible bonding experience,
We met in Granada at ‘El Berrinche Ambiental’, a circus and street performance festival. This was a great chance to get to know each other before we started work and to see some of central America. We saw lots of shows on the festival site and around the town center, were impressed by the general skill level but particularly by their understanding of clowning, especially the younger performers.
After this we headed to Las Peñitas, near León, where we stayed at Rigo’s guest house. We all felt very blessed to be given such a beautiful location to learn and share with one another, plus the most wonderful breakfasts!
Our days were spent sharing games and workshops. We took it in turns to teach morning activities, had Spanish lessons every day and were amazed by how much we learnt in such a short space of time. Our new skills were put into practice during teaching sessions. Clowning activities helped our true colours to shine through as we grew to love and respect each other.
We worked each day on combining our skills and creating a show. It’s funny and fabulous, sparkly and splendid. Acts include tango hooping, beatbox hat juggling and a MASSIVE poi rave. Our finale is an ensemble club passing/acro balance act.
We had the pleasure of working with a local after school club where we trial ran our workshops and debuted our show. The kids even made us a lovely poster and invited the local community. We performed in a dusty courtyard with the sun in our eyes, which ironically opened our eyes to what was to come.

We’ve all grown heaps and had many new experiences already. For all of us it’s our first time in Nicaragua so we were grateful to have Emily to show us the ropes, give us information about previous years and to be our tour guide. We can safely say we’ve bonded and bootcamp was a success.
We’re now settled into our new base in the stunning colonial town of León where we will spend a month working with the children at El Barrilete.

PWB Nicaragua team 2015