A Small Town Girl’s Dreams

By Michelle Quezada

HAVANA TIMES – My name is Michelle and I am a 20-year-old Nicaraguan woman, who is interested in the environment and loves to explore and learn new things. I was born and grew up in San Marcos, a small town located in the heart of the Carazo planteau in southern Nicaragua.

Defined by its tropical and cool climate, the soil is very good quality for farming. Coffee plantations are very common in some parts of the municipality.

Local celebrations are celebrated on April 24th and 25th, in tribute to San Marcos, the patron saint, who gave his name to the city. These local celebrations normally have folkloric dance performances such as: Los Diablitos, El Güegüense, El Toro Huaco, the Las Inditas dance and the La Vaquita de San Marcos dance.

I grew up with a longing to explore the world, I finished high school in 2017.

The city has a campus belonging to a US university, Keiser University. It has a residential campus and follows the US academic calendar. I was a student at this university in the languages department, studying an intensive one-year course in order to learn English.

I’ve known all my life that you can reach your goals with discipline, love and dedication.

I consider myself a determined person who dreams and is resolute. When we like things and do them with passion, we enjoy them and they don’t feel like a burden.

My interest in Nature began when I turned 11 years old. I like to hike and be surrounded by Nature. Sometimes, I think the city is too loud for me, and I’ve had the chance to see some tourist spots in Nicaragua, and in Norway where I am currently living because of some unexpected turns in Life.

I want to study Environmental Engineering. I also like fashion and one of my ambitions is to create an eco-friendly clothes label.

In these times, we let ourselves be dragged more by vanity and don’t realize that the environment is suffering every year with the sheer amount of clothes that end up in the garbage or aren’t recycled. This can change but first we need to all gain awareness.

The world is suffering because we human beings have made sure to gradually damage it. We can see this in forests being cut down, in polluted lakes, and in nature reserves that are practically destroyed, and some don’t even exist anymore.

Something that really caught my eye during the 2020 lockdown was seeing how Nature and animals were reclaiming their space. For example, in Italy, cities were completely empty and alone, and dolphins began to swim along the Cagliari coast.  

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