My first days in Nicaragua!

Hola Amigos!

It has been quite the adventure traveling to Nicaragua! I will admit it has been pretty overwhelming traveling alone in a country that I don´t know the language of. I learn a couple of spanish words each day, and meet people everyday who speak spanish too! I can feel and hear my english becoming more simplified because most of the english I speak is to local Nicaraguans, where english is their second languange.

I am staying in the city of Moyogalpa on the island called Ometepe. I have woken up both morning to the sound of roosters calling and birds chirping. it helped me tremendously to just sit and listen to the birds and admire the beautiful landscape when I first got here, to relieve my nerves.

I will stay on Moyogalpa through New Years, and then travel to other parts of the island. The volcano on this side of the island is absolutely magnificent. It takes about 10 hours to hike it if you are in very good shape... I think i will try to hike the other volcano on the other side that only takes 8 hours, and is not active, with a lake at the top! Of course I will hike it with a guide.

I hope all of you in North America are surviving the cold weather. I am feeling good in my skirt, tank top and flip-flops!

Adios!

Next Stop, Nicaragua!

For those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! As I am gearing up for my Christmas celebrations with my family, I am also balancing my time packing for Nicaragua. I will spending three months down there, mostly on an Island called Ometepe. There are three different farms I will be staying at on the island, volunteering my time and learning about their various, organic and permaculture practices. Each of the three farms have different unique qualities to them.

The first farm, El Zopilote, is the largest of the farms, and closely focuses on all the different aspects of permaculture. The second farm, Inan Itah, has a strong spiritual aspect to it's community. They offer yoga and meditation classes throughout the week. The final farm, Project Bona Fide, is the most impressive in my opinoin, as they have an expansive sustainable farm, and also use it as a teaching tool for local Nicaraguans.

Towards the end of my trip I will take two to three weeks to travel around northern Nicaragua and exploring the culture.

It would be dishonest to say I'm not nervous for this trip. I've never traveled alone before, and I've never been to a developing country. I can say, however, that for every nervous emotion there is an equal feeling of excitement. I truly think my time in Nicaragua will be a time that I will look back on fondly.

There are internet cafes that I hope I can post from in Nicaragua, so that I can continue to tell the story of my adventure!

And More Farm!

After lunch, I harvest a big bag of arugula to take home to my Mom as Sharon, Lauren, Dan and Chuck work to week the beets. Not easy work, but the weather is beautiful on this December afternoon.

I say my good-byes and then after a final look at the flowers, I give a final good-bye to City Roots and ride my bike home!

South Carolina has been good to me. As I sit typing this in the guest room of Greg and Karen's home, my bags are packed and I am bracing myself for the 20 hour drive home. I'll be back in Massachusetts by this time tomorrow! I'll be home for a mere two weeks, to celebrate Christmas and share all the stories that didn't make it to the blog. I hope you keep following me, as my adventure is soon from over. On December 28th I will be leaving for Nicaragua!!!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures :-)

More Farm

After the Micro Green are harvested, Sharon wheels them inside so that Beth, the green house manager, can wash and dry them.

Most importantly! The carrots! After a quick wash they are glistening in the morning sunlight in no time. If you can believe it, they actually are better than they look!

A Final Day on the Farm, Through Smiles and Tears

I'm going to make this easy for both of us and tell the story of the last day on the farm through pictures!

Today was the first day of a Winter CSA - hard to imagine in Massachusetts, but very possible in South Carolina. To the left Seth is carrying a crate of freshly harvested lettuce to a washing station. Above, I'm washing off some freshly harvested Joi Choy.

 

Here's Dan and Sharon, harvesting some Sun Flower micro greens. Not an easy or particularly fun process, but they keep each other company!

Holding Chickens and Driving Tractors!

 My day at City Roots started with microgreen harvesting and processing - just an average day. After lunch, Robbie, the farm owner asked, "Hannah, it's coming down to your last days on the farm, is there anything you've been wanting to do?" I looked at him, and reluctantly smiled. "Well", I started, "I told myself I would overcome my fear of picking up a chicken before I left"... Robbie is a fast moving guy, so without missing a beat, he states, "Ok! To the chicken coop. After, I'll teach you how to drive the tractor." My mind didn't even have time to process it, but my legs started moving as I followed Robbie the the back of the farm.

Once in the chicken coop I went over to collect the eggs, in hope of prolonging the big moment any bit more. As I put the last egg in the basket, I looked up and Robbie was walking toward me with a chicken in his hands. "Here" he says. He hands the chicken over to me without giving me a chance to think twice. I opened my arms, tried to get squirmish and accepted the chicken. Once in my hands the fear had totally passed, and the only thing I could do was stroke it's feathers! It was far bonier than I imagined it being, and thankfully very calm. I won't go as far as to say I'd want one as a pet to crawl into bed with me at night but I can imagine I'll grow some sort of special love for them.

Next we moved over to the tractor where there was a large mass of compost to be moved around.  Robbie started by climbing into the tractor, and explained what all the levers and pedals did as I watched and listened. I got into the drivers seat as soon as he would let me and just went for it. Some how a heavy piece of machinery made me much less nervous than and small animal with feathers. I successfully moved 3 bucket loads of compost, and I would have stayed on it for the rest of the day if I could. If fact, the only reason a tractor isn't on my Christmas list, is they haven't come out with a solar powered one yet!


Another day, another adventure! Thanks for reading! Peace.