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 11-18, 2009
Counter Culture Coffee Tour for CCC's Customers
Contact: Kim Bullock 919-361-5282
hrkbullock@counterculturecoffee.com
FULLY SUBSCRIBED
February 1-8,2009
Cultural Immersion Ecotour to San Ramon, Nicaragua for Farmers and Friends
$680 per person for people who earn their living farming or as a farmers'
market vendor. $880 all others.
Trip Leader: Ben Bergman, Fickle Creek Farm, 919-724-6826
ficklecreek@gmail.com
Trip co leader:Lonna Harkrader. 919 489-1656,
Lharkrader@mindspring.com
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| Read Ben's Bio |
Feb 15-22, 2009
Cultural Immersion and Experiential Learning Ecotour for Eno River UU Fellowship and friends. $880.
SPACE AVAILABLE
Contact: Lonna Harkrader. 919 489-1656,
Lharkrader@mindspring.com
Feb 26-March 5, 2009
Cultural Immersion and Experiential Learning Ecotour for NC School of Science and Math.
Leader: Jonathan Bennett, 919 416-2760,
bennett@ncssm.edu
March 1-8, 2009
OPEN
March 6-11, 2009
EcoQuest Travel. Birding and Wildlife Exploration for Guilford College.
Leader: EcoQuest Travel. Dave Davenport.
ddavenport@earthlink.net
March 15-22, 2009
Cultural Immersion and Experiential Learning Ecotour for
UU congregations and friends.
SPACE AVAILABLE
Leader: Ken Knight. 336-294-2428
March 22-29,2009
Nia Nicaragua! (See flier for exciting details!)
*Nia is a body-mind-spirit fitness and lifestyle practice. Through expressive movement-The Body's Way-Nia empowers people to achieve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.
Space available! Please contact trip leaders!
Leaders: Kate Finlayson and Irena Brezenski
kate@naturenia.com
dancenia@gmail.com
Blackbelts in Nia
919 545-0737 or 919 599-2355
Trip Flyer
April 5-12, 2009
Cultural Immersion, Experiential Learning and Reunion with Sister School Ecotour.East Chapel Hill HS.
Leader: Sandy Williamson.
swilliamson@chccs.k12.nc.us
April 12-19
Open
April 19-26
Open
April 26-May 3
Open
May 17-31 (approx.)
Cultural Immersion and Alternative Technology Exploration. Appalachian State U.
February 8-15, 2010
Mountains to Sea Nicaraguan Holiday. $1,280
Trip Leader: Lonna Harkrader Lharkrader@mindspring.com 919 489-1656
Trip Leader and fisherman: Richard Harkrader rharkrader@mindspring.com
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:
- 56K
modem
- high speed
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
Mary Hernandez
305-668-4524 direct
Int'l. Group Travel Consultant
2250 Southwest 3rd Ave.,Ste 200
305-285-2822 direct
877-311-7331 toll free
Fax: 305-854-422
www.mtstravel.com
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.