Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Last replied
22 Apr 2024
Feedback
4
Email verified
Badges (1)
Details
Description
Hi everybody, sorry to be a poor host, we have had very poor internet for a long time.
My wife, (and our two daughters, Daphne and Trixie) have a farm in the mountains of Nicaragua. We have cows, pigs, dogs, bananas (lots of bananas!) and are expanding our list monthly. We have 5 acres of passion fruit as well.
We were going to build cabanas and offer farm stays/horse back tours through coffee country,.. and we will when the tourists come back. There are currently only very adventurous travellers here at the moment, although the political situation is up in the air at the moment, Nicaragua is still far safer than other countries in Central America.
As our number of animals increases we are constantly building new accommodation for them, just finishing stage one of the new pig house and planting an acre of sorghum and beans to keep them fed.
Our goal is self sustainability including food for ourselves, 3 full time workers and the 50 odd animals roaming about the place.
I am Canadian, my wife is Salvadorena.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Charity Work
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Hospitality/Tourism
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
You will definitely learn Spanish if you work with our guys. You will learn a lot about rural Nicaraguan life and more technical stuff like how to tube a cow, how to shoe a horse, how to pull a stuck calf, even how to administer IV fluids if you choose.
If you choose to work around the house and gardens instead of the barn, you will learn how to compost, build a raised garden, manage an irrigation system. Opportunities are endless. Our typical week includes welding, carpentry, brick laying, gardening, animal wrangling and cooking. Lots of cooking! I am a former chef and my wife an excellent baker, hopefully our brick oven will be up and running, if not, you can help build it and learn how to make refractory cement at home!
Opportunities to volunteer at the local school (which is next door) are available teaching grades 1 through 7. Distributing smokeless wood stoves, training horses (our foreman is a master horse trainer- requires good knowledge of Spanish obviously) learning about the coffee industry, cultivating, picking, pulping...
Lots to do here.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Gardening, building stuff, looking after baby cows if they aren't feeling well. We are also involved in distributing smokeless stoves to the community with the financial assistance of a group of vet clinics in Canada. Hopefully bringing tourists on horse back tours through coffee country will be a thing again soon as well.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Accommodation
As of now, you will be living in the main house in the guest room, private bath, garden access, mountain view and all the dogs you wish to cuddle with. Guest house, 100 metres away is ready to be built. Foundation in place, stones and wood ready,... come build it! Dinner will be with us (Saturday is pizza night) where you will eat with a very entertaining 1 year old. We eat simply for breakfast and lunch (oatmeal or eggs for breakfast, bruschetta or quinoa for lunch and extravagantly for dinner,.. roast chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, butternut squash, arugula/beet salad for dinner tonight)
What else ...
We are 40 minutes from Matagalpa, a vibrant coffee centre city of Nicaragua. 20 minutes up the mountain is deep jungle and coffee plantations. Quetzals and exotic birding, jungle walks at Esperanza Verde, indigenous villages, but really, you will just want to sit on the steps, stare at the view and pet the dogs, play fetch with Spooky the cattle dog and have a cold beer after a day of work. That is what we do at least.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (3)
Well, an unused farm building was the starting point but he is very competent builder and we hope to have him back soon.
He has been helpful in ways I cannot even begin to express but he was a lifesaver in a crunch and very reliable, level headed fellow.
Come… read more
I assisted as much as I could with household chores like sweeping, cleaning the kitchen,… read more
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.7)
Cultural exchange:
(4.3)
Communication:
(4.3)
Well, an unused farm building was the starting point but he is very competent builder and we hope to have him back soon.
He has been helpful in ways I cannot even begin to express but he was a lifesaver in a crunch and very reliable, level headed fellow.
Come… read more
I assisted as much as I could with household chores like sweeping, cleaning the kitchen,… read more
If you are interested in farming, this is the place. From day one on we learned so many things about all different kinds of fruits and vegetables, construction work and farming in general.
James, Enedy, their cute daugther Trixie and their 8 (!!!) well trained dogs… read more
