VISITING
FINCA ESPERANZA VERDE IN SMALL GROUPS
" Supporting a rural Nicaragua community - one visit at a time"
Trips for groups originating outside Nicaragua
Ecotourist trips to Finca Eperanza Verde and San Ramón are an opportunity not only to enjoy the stunning beauty of the mountainous Matagalpa region of Nicaragua but also to meet local people. On a typical group trip to San Ramón, you will spend four days at Finca Esperanza Verde and three with a host family in town. You will come away with an understanding of what life is like for people in underdeveloped countries and especially the wonderful people you have met.
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Your guide will greet you at the Managua airport and escort you to the public bus stop where you are immediately part of the local scene. When you arrive at Finca Esperanza Verde the staff is ready to show you what they have accomplished in developing the farm's lodge and cabins, shade grown organic coffee, butterfly farm and camp ground. Before you can put your bag in your cabin, you will be planning outings to search for leaf cutter ants, howler monkeys, toucans, migratory birds from North America and waterfalls. After dinner you may star gaze, take a hike in search of nocturnal creatures or listen to a talk about organic coffee farming. For those who would like to help out, there is always work to do on the farm picking coffee (December to March), gathering food for the butterfly caterpillars or repairing hiking trails. Local groups come in the evening to sing and to perform traditional dances. On request, local farmers will take you on horseback rides into the countryside. |
Ecotourists can pick coffee and learn
about the coffeee production process while visiting San Ramon. |
Members of the Tourist Guide Club |
Host families, the Tourist Guide Club, farm staff, and cultural performance groups greatly appreciate the income ecotourism brings them and their economically depressed community. In addition, 10% of the trip fee is designated for projects which improve health care, education and cultural arts for the people of San Ramón. |
You
will spend three days as the guest of a host family, where you can
try out your Spanish, learn to wash clothes Nica style, or accompany
a family member to the mill to have corn ground for tortillas. Young
people, members of the San Ramón Guide Club, will introduce
you to small town life and take you on walks to the honey factory,
the local schools and to view The Sister Communities of San Ramón ,Nicaragua, also has a variety of ecotourist trips to San Ramón
tailored for groups wishing to concentrate on (follow links for sample
itineraries):
- high
school exchanges
- cultural
immersion
- all about
coffee
- herbal medicine
- birding
- reforestation (May – August)
- family reunions and retreats.
January 21-25, 2010 4 nights
Counter Culture Coffee
Leader: Kim Bullock
kim@counterculturecoffee.com
January 22-29, 2010, 7 nights. $1,300
Birding: Pacific Shore to Finca Esperanza Verde
Trip leaders: Richard and Lonna Harkrader
Lharkrader@mindspring.com
919 489-1656
February 14-21, 2010, 7 nights $880
Eno River UU Fellowship and Friends Cultural Immersion Ecotour
Trip leader: Lonna Harkrader
Lharkrader@mindspring.com
919 489-1656
February 25-March 4, 2010
North Carolina School of Science and Math
Trip leader: Sarah Russell
russell@ncssm.edu
March 7-14, 2010, 7 nights, $880
Durham Academy-Cultural Immersion Ecotour
Trip organizer: Prof. Jordan Adair
jadair@da.org
March 12-17, 2010, 5 nights
EcoQuest-All about Birds
Leader: David Davenport
ddavenport@earthlink.net
March 14-21, 2010
March 21-28, 2010 7 nights $1,250
Nia Nicaragua!
Leaders; Kate Finlayson & Lynda Heymenbr
kate@naturenia.com
919 545-0737
Visit Exotic Fauna and Flora
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: JANUARY 31, 2010
Join an exotic, transformative Eco-tour April 4-11, 2010. If you would like to wake up to the sounds of exotic birds, have a cup of local organic shade grown coffee, mingle with the locals, take a walk in a rainforest to a beautiful waterfall past multicolored butterflies and orchids blooming, watch monkeys play in the trees and sloths saunter by, then return to a delicious, organic meal and an exhilarating, star filled night sky, while contributing to the education and wellbeing of the local families, then join our Eco-tour to San Ramon, Nicaragua, April 4-11, 2010.
Leader: Paulette Sokolow falconer8@gmail.comPhone: (828) 545-2905
May 16-29, 2010, 13 nights
Appropriate Technology/Cultural Immersion
Leader: Ray Sinclair
Rs78102@appstate.edu
SCHOOL GROUPS
"My trip to San Ramon, Nicaragua has changed my life. Not only did it improve my
Spanish, but it taught me valuable lessons I will never forget. I saw first-hand
the effects of poverty on the people and the land. I would strongly recommend
this trip to others; I am confident it will change their lives as well." Barrett
Williams, Raleigh Charter High School student.
Digital video of FEV and our ecotours
Use either of the following links to view a digital video of Finca Esperanza Verde and of our ecotours:
The all inclusive trip fee excluding air fare per person is: $880 for 7 days in Finca Esperanza Verde and San Ramón. Cost of airfare from the US East Coast ranges widely. American Airlines is the only airline with a flight arriving early enough in the day to allow time for the group to travel to FEV the same day. AA also has a flight leaving late enough in the day to allow the group to travel from San Ramon to the airport for a flight which arrives in the US on the same day. The only additional expense is the Nicaraguan entry visa of $5 which you purchase at the airport. If you have enjoyed your trip, we suggest tipping the staff at Finca Esperanza Verde $20-40. The trip fee includes meals, lodging, transportation, and a full schedule of organized activities and cultural performances. The trip price is low because the organizers in the U.S. are volunteers. Ten percent of the trip fee funds water and education projects in San Ramón. In 2001 and 2002, ecotourism income provided $5000 to build a rural elementary school near the farm, in 2003, 2004 and 2005 $6000 for a community built, gravity-fed water system in the La Pita Coffee Cooperative near the town of San Ramón and in 2006 and 2007 $14,783 for construction of the municipal water project for the town of San Ramón. And in 2008 $15,000 to install electric service to Las Delicias community which was accomplished with volunteer effort by the community.
Reservation form and liability waiver
Download the reservation form and liability waiver for our ecotourism trips:
- Reservation form: word
document or Adobe Acrobat
PDF
- Liability waiver: word document
or Adobe Acrobat PDF
Travel agents who have worked with Sister Communities of San Ramon and Finca Esperanza Verde
MTS Travel Service
www.mtstravel.com
MTS TRAVEL is the North American leader in providing special airfares for those
working on behalf of church, mission, humanitarian relief and developmental
organizations. In order to ensure the integrity of this special program with the
airlines, it is imperative that these fares are not used by those traveling for
a company or for vacation. If fares are used improperly, it could ruin the
program for thousands of non-profit travelers. These travelers save money each
year, allowing them to do more good around the world.
Group trips are organized by volunteer trip coordinators who go for FREE, including a $600 allowance for airfare, when they recruit 10 or more people or earn 50% of their trip cost when they recruit 7 – 9 people to go on an ecotour.
Working in the community and service trips
All trips include a rich array of activities and interactions with the local community. For those wishing to be of service to the community, here are some suggestions of activities tourists have enjoyed sharing with schools and community groups:
- Teach English in small groups to high school students in their classroom.
- Teach a children's game or art project to preschool-K children.
- Carry out a science experiment in a high school class room.
- Read a children's book in Spanish to K-3rd grade. Donate the book to the
class.
- Teach chess to children in the Municipal Library.
- Plant trees under the direction of Finca Esperanza Verde staff.
- Help out at the herbal medicine garden and pharmacy.
- Teach a child to play a band instrument.
- Lend moral support and/or expertise at the Los Pipitos Center for Handicapped
Children.
- Teach school children to play field sports.
Bring all equipment and supplies you will need and, when possible, donate them to the school or group you have worked with. Prepare written instructions in Spanish describing how the game or activity is carried out and leave them with the teacher. If you do not speak Spanish, we will try to provide a translator.