La Mariposa News – more upbeat – come on down!

Welcome to La Mariposa

La Mariposa has students and reservations – We have been busy with students at the Mariposa Spanish School and Eco Hotel. First a family of 5, including Cheyanne, 3 years old, stayed with us for 6 weeks over Xmas – they helped us release 30 iguana back into the wild. It was very hard to see them go as they had become part of the Mariposa but the same day a group from the USA arrived to stay in the hotel, take classes and do trips. This group included another family with a child of 8, she enjoyed her one on one teachers, the cooking class and of course our animal life.

La Mariposa Comes Alive!

Releasing iguana back into the wild

Proud of her cooking results!

It seems from talking to members of the group that people feel safer coming here with an organised group than travelling alone.  This one was co-led by Brian Peterson, an old friend of La Mariposa and of course our wonderful staff were on hand to arrange anything from a special outing to a room change. The success we had with this group made me think we should do it again! Also worth remembering that La Mariposa has many years of experience working with groups of university and high school students at the Study Center which is available and much cheaper than the hotel…….SO if any of you are in a position to recruit a group, of any age group, let us know. Or indeed if you know anybody who might be interested. The work on your side really involves mostly the publicity – we can do the rest and as we employ excellent tour guides you are welcome to be a group member rather than leader once here. I attach the flier we used for this trip…..If you can bring 6 or more, we will offer a special price and YOU get a free place!

2019 Nicaraguan Adventure Brochure (1)2019 Nicaraguan Adventure Brochure pg. 2 (1)

Roof tops of Granada

Masaya Volcano

We are now offering our FULL program of afternoon/weekend activities from live volcano, beach & colonial city to horseriding & salsa classes! As well as one on one Spanish with trained and experienced teachers, accomodation in delightful natural settings and great, mostly vegetarian, food. You can volunteer…below Mark leads a horse on our equino therapy project for disabled children. We very much welcome families with children of any age – they also have one on one classes or activity sessions with specially trained teachers. 

One on one Spanish with Marvin

Day trip to the beach

Volunteer with us on the equino therapy project

We do currently have a scattering of reservations throughout the year and it does seem as if international tourism is beginning to make a slight but noticeable recovery. It is important to stress that Nicaragua is SAFE for tourists and, in spite of the deteriorating economic situation here for many people, ordinary crime has NOT risen. And please note that the UK, USA and Canadian governments are still advising caution but not against travel here.

Read and pass on our reviews from December 2018 and this year.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.mx/Hotel_Review-g551472-d677852-Reviews-La_Mariposa_Spanish_School_and_Eco_Hotel-Masaya_Masaya_Department.html

La Mariposas SKYPE class initiative has also been going well and kept several of our excellent teachers employed. At $12 per hour they are great value. Contact us on lamariposaspanishschool06@gmail.com for details.

News from Asocacion Tierra and the projects – ALL of our projects are up and running,and we still have 60 employees, though clearly we have cut back on outgoings in general and most are on half time. Chispa de Vida, the equino therapy, the hydro therapy, the community based children’s reading and play centers, the English class project in Panama are all still going strong. We are maintaining the nature reserves and are planning a lot more reforestation in the coming year. The crisis has also had the positive result in pushing us to grow more of our own food – so we now produce more of our own organic coffee, beans, fruit, eggs as well as veggies. We had a huge harvest of mandarins this year.

You will probably all think us crazy – opening a new community based childrens project when we have no money. Two reasons – the need is obvious, around 100 kids and their parents turned up for the opening.
Second, this is in a barrio commonly referred to as El Chirigete which is highly offensive and means ‘dirty’ – it is the barrio everyone else blames for thefts or when anything goes wrong! Ignored in general by the authorites (except the police), the people of San Pedro were very involved in the opposition to the government and the building of roadblocks. Most of the young men fled from this barrio during ‘Operation Clean Up’ and are now in Costa Rica.
So the idea of this project was to contribute to the process of reconciliation – I have been invited 3 times to join the local Council of Reconciliation and have always accepted the invitation with great enthusiasm. But as far as I know, it has never actually met so we decided to go ahead and do our bit anyway.
It seems to have worked – you can see how many kids showed up! A message of hope and a future for the kids of this community.
If you would like to contribute, please donate via www.masmariposas.org

 

Although we have cut back on sterilization clinics, we are still helping animals. A  magnificent two toed sloth arrived at the gate. We normally resist the purchase of wild animals for obvious reasons but sometimes the need of the individual animal takes over. They are in danger of extinction and now rarely seen around here. Our vet Sergio happened to be around and he pronounced her very healthy so she was taken to join our male (as luck would have it) at the Canada Honda nature reserve.
We have also taken in a few abandoned puppies and kittens- below they are being bathed and deflead by Sergio.

On her way to Canada Honda, our nature reserve

We have also undertaken a number of environmental projects including regular street cleaning with the Ministry of Health and building ‘pozos’ in backyards to clean soapy water….we are trying to persuade local people to join us!

Lots of people – students, staff, interns – have helped us enormously to stay alive and keep some employment and hope alive in our community. Too many to thank everyone individually – below is Michelle doing a fundraiser for us.

Wish us all luck and if you would like to help us help the environment and people of our community, especially the children, and our animals then please contribute on www.masmariposas.org THANK YOU!

Earth Day at La Mariposa by Wylie (intern)

 

Piles of children hang onto the back of La Mariposa pickup truck.  A jabbering gang of fifth graders from the Barrio Panama primary school have just helped me flip a large blue barrel full of water onto its side in the bed of the truck.  The water pours from the barrel, over the grinning, yelling children, onto a dried out sandlot in the hills of Barrio Panama.  Clouds of dust billow into the hot air as the truck drives in circles around the small brown rectangle of land we’ve chosen to commandeer for our Earth Day soccer tournament.  The small hilly outcropping above the field is lined with children.  They cheer on the progress of the truck, in eager anticipation for the moment when the field is completely watered and La Mariposa interns finally relinquish control of the soccer ball to let the tournament begin.

                The black pickup, adorned with side by side decals of Mazda and Che Guevara, progresses across the small field in jolting zigzags and tight circles before the flow of water tapers off.  Students flood onto the field as the truck leaves, only to be corralled back to the edges by a small group of shouting, sweaty teachers.  With surprising efficiency two teams occupy opposing sides of the makeshift soccer field.  I raise the ball above my head as I step into the center of the slightly damp, but newly dust repellant, soccer pitch.  My explanation of the rules, delivered in stilted, improvisational Spanish, is widely ignored and as the ball is released the entire field erupts into frenzied, kicking activity.

                The soccer tournament was just one part of La Mariposa organized Earth Day activities at Escuela Panama and Ruben Dario.  In order to both raise awareness of the environment, and to physically improve the litter situation surrounding both schools, La Mariposa interns organized a day long trash cleanup project, which was completed successfully last Wednesday. 

                At Escuela Panama, the students were divided into six different teams, distinguished by different colored masking tape stuck to their shirts, and given recycled rice sacks to collect trash as they walked down the street towards the makeshift soccer field.  They brandished posters with phrases such as “Feliz Dia de la Tiera” and “Mi Comunidad es Bonita Porque yo no Boto la Basura en la Calle” to passing motorists.  Upon arrival at the soccer field the group paused for a midmorning snack of fresh fruit and juice, and then continued with the grand, exciting, Earth Day soccer tournament.  La Mariposa’s dirt covered interns ate a hurried lunch back at the Spanish school and headed out again to repeat the process at Escuela Ruben Dario that afternoon.

Not even the presence of Mariposa volunteers could stop a rowdy group of older Ruben Dario students from secretly mixing their team labels and plunging the afternoon soccer tournament into an anarchic free for all.  After three games I was forced to give up on the tournament bracket in order to refocus efforts on including the younger teams. 

“Who here is on the Black team,” I shout to a group of over forty giddy Ruben Dario students.  All hands are raised. Children who just played in the Blue vs Red match push their way to the front of the crowd to assure me of their allegiance to the Black team. One would be footballer tries to pull the ball from under my elbow.  I raise the ball above my head, pick out five kids who had been standing in the Black team’s general area at snack time, and watch as the entire group fights their way towards the soccer two PVC pipe goals.    

As the “tournament” crashed along at this disorganized pace, and I began to recognize the repeat offenders sneaking into every game, the more competitive soccer players lost interest and drifted back in the direction of public transportation and their homes. The day concluded with an ecstatic group of girls kicking the soccer ball down the street as the dirt covered Mariposa interns trucked bags of collected garbage back home for later sorting. 

A resounding success.      

The Mariposa Eco Built Study Centre

Our new study centre is a pretty amazing place. It is built on a piece of land about 10 minutes from the original Mariposa, up on the ridge behind and with exceptional views over the pueblo of San Juan de la Concha. The smoky live crater of the Masaya volcano is visible to one side and the outline of Lake Managua, with the hills of Esteli in the background, on the other. The above photo shows a pile of volcanic rock in the foreground which we used in building the walls of both the dormitory and the classrooms, and in the background is the volcano which would have originally thrown out these rocks during an eruption. The rocks are now lying around in people’s backyards and fields, making life difficult for crops and grazing animals. So it helps out that we buy this rock, transport it here and then use it.

The first part of the study centre (there are 3 – the comedor or eating/meeting area, the dormitory and the classrooms) is located where there had previously been a house, which the sellers took with them but leaving the cement floor behind. So we used what was already in place and built the comedor over the existing floor. This photo shows the frame going up for the thatch roof. Sadly the skill for thatching has died out around San Juan so a team from near Leon came in. They are super fast and very professional.

This photo shows the recycled tyres which formed the foundation and retaining wall for the classroom building. The tyres are filled with earth which is then compacted down hard. Interestingly, this was the only sustainable building material which proved hard for the building team to get their heads around! The team consisted entirely of local guys from San Juan, as per the objective of the Mariposa of always providing as much employment for local people as possible. It occurred to me that all of the other materials we used – the rock, bamboo, straw, palms for thatching – all these have a history from indigenous times and are therefore part of local knowledge.

You can also see in this photo some of the volunteers who came to work with us on the project. We were particularly lucky to have two architecture students from the University of Maine who helped with the design of the comedor (the wavy lines were their design) and with the tricky bit of the classrooms being on a fairly steep slope.

Sadly, we had to render the straw walls of the comedor with a thin layer of cement in order to keep undesirables such as dampness and mice out! This is a great picture of Noel rendering one of the arched windows which he designed and built. Once he got into the notion of wavy lines there was no stopping him! Noel had built several straw bale houses before ours, including his own, but he commented that they were all just boring square jobs!! Our entire team worked exceptionally well and had the project finished within four months and on budget!!! A team of 14 guys, plus occasional volunteers, and everything done by hand including digging out 15 metre deep latrines.

The straw walls before rendering. Beautiful.

This is the dormitory, two rooms which will have four bunk beds in each. The beds themselves are made from strips of recycled tyre rubber and are very comfortable.

The almost finished classrooms. A great design incorporating the tyres, volcanic rock, cana and straw. The view from the classrooms is also pretty wonderful.

La Mariposa Group Study Centre

Our new group study centre is really coming along fast. The eating and meeting area which is built out of straw bales is absolutely amazing. There will several arch shaped windows overlooking great views to the north and a huge Panama tree to the south. The windows will have ledges for sitting and gazing! Work is also well under way on the dormitory but we have now started, with the help of two architects from the University of Maine the building where Spanish classes and other classes on Nicaraguan history, culture, politics will take place. The centre will of course also host groups who want to do volunteer work on our community projects.

Below is a photo of one of the south facing windows and another view of the inside of the eating area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Gallery

Lots of happenings at the Mariposa over the Xmas period, photographed by Steve Pollock, one of the Spanish students who celebrated the festivities with us and kindly said we could use his photos – starting at the end of November with the coffee harvest which has to be done in two parts as the berries don’t all ripen at the same time.  We are now including an afternoon activity picking the beans and then visiting a processing plant to see what happens – it’s actually pretty complicated and though I have now been two or three time I still can’t describe for certain how the process works – though at least the basics of drying in the sun, taking off the shell, taking off the shell again and then toasting and milling are fairly obvious. The processing plants have machinary which in some cases is over a hundred years old (health and safety fanatics have to look the other way) and one small plant (ie the back patio of a house in San Marcos) uses a standard fan to lieterally blow away the shells of the beans…..fascinating and helps one appreciate that morning cup of cafeine. We have hopefully harvested enough to see us thorough the year.

Paulette, Ismael and Cassidy bringing in the coffee harvest

But the big event of course was the party we had at the Mariposa for the primary age school kids  from Panama.  Over a hundred, plus assorted teachers, had to be collected from Panama and brought to the Mariposa. It took several microbus journeys and the first to arrive sat incredibly patiently waiting for their classmates to arrive.  They all enjoyed being introduced to Suki, our ocelot kitten (who is getting pretty big now but she’s fairly tame as we had to hand rear her) and our newest animal arrival, Suki Junior (a tiny ocelot kitten who is much wilder and still has to be given her own name!!).

Ismael, Daniel, Suki, Cabezon, Franklin taking it easy before the onslaught of kids

As you can see from the pic, Suki likes to play with the dogs. Cabezon (which means Big Head!) is not one of our dogs, he belongs to Daniel but follows him absolutely everywhere. When Daniel goes to the loo he sits outside wimpering!!! he looks such a toughie…..we do hav eanother rescued dog, a little sweetie called Foxy for obvious reasons. Enough dogs. But we hav egiven away all our rescued kittens (that was hard) so our number of cats has gone down from 13 to 5!!!

Panama kids waiting patiently for the festivities to begin

You can just see our wonderful (best and cheapest I’ve ever had) Xmas tree in the background – made form a dead coffee tree branch and decorated by Guillermina and Cassidy.

Paulette and Bergman also waiting but not so patiently!

The party was a huge success, the kids had a semi-nutritious meal of rice and chicken, cooked on our open cooker which uses firewood gathered in our little piece of land. They had cake and, of course, a pinata which showers sweets over everyone and sends the kids mad with delight……

Melba and Chayo cooking up a treat

Say hi to everyone

Guillermina doing her thing

Just a great picture

Finalmente - la pinata

Xmas Greetings

This blog may well be the nearest I get to wishing everyone out there – old friends, new friends and friends of the Mariposa a very happy Xmas and a great new year in 2009.  We are really gearing up for Xmas here, I have no idea how it is going to turn out!! Could all be  a complete disaster or really good fun or a combination of both (most likely the latter). Guillermina and Cassidy (our youngest guest at five years old) spent a couple of Spanish classes putting up the  Xmas tree and it is the BEST!!! It consists of a dead coffee tree branch stuck in a pot (we have also just done the coffee harvest and those of you who have tasted the Mariposa coffee will know how exciting that news is!) covered in silver paper and with all of my ancient decorations from the UK plus afew newer acquistions. And lights of course….one of the guests commented it looks like something out of  aVogue magazine…….We have a lunchtime party here at the mariposa tomorrow (the 20th dec) for over a 100 of the primary aged kids from Panama – we have to get them all here which means a few journeys in the bus and the camionetta…..then we are doing lunch, a cake, pinatas and hopefully we can get the kids to play some games. The general behaviour of kids at parties here is to sit absolutely still in a circle of plastic chairs and not respond to any entreaties from strange extranjeras to dance, play games or otherwise have fun; but then go absolutely wild when the pinata gets strung up….I will try and post some photos. The 24th is the traditional Xmas meal here and we doing one for all of the workers and their families which will involve, again, over 100 people! I am really keen to do it though as a way of saying thank you – we now have at the Mariposa (and I really don’t know anyone who has stayed here who would disagree with me) the best team in the world…..to the point that, in October, when we were really low in numbers and funds everyone worked for over a month on half pay. So I am going to make  a little speech….that will be some test of my Spanish and I think I might get a little over emotional!! Then the 25th all of the guests (did I mention we are full over Xmas, throughout January and into Febuary????) and all of the workers are going to the beach….I don’t know how yet but Ismael and Bergman are organising it……

Well, that’s it for the Xmas post……I hope the rest of the world in 2009 can take from the incredible spirit and humour that Nicaraguans use to get them through the tough times…….and most importantly I hope the big powerful nations learn a bit of humility and stop punishing the little guys!! Is that too much to ask for?????