January 28, 2003
Vacation at Ometepe (in Lake Nicaragua), Finca Magdalena Coffee Cooperative
Hello Friends,
We, too, will be listening to the State of the Union address tonight.
The general analysis here is that Bush will do war on Iraq no matter
what, it's just a matter of time. Sure hope this analysis is wrong!
After sending our last report (Bocana de Paiwas) I commented to Paul
that I thought I might be sugar coating our reports, mostly sending reports
that had a kernel of hope. That I wasn't really relaying the depth of the
pain. But, in reality, people do still have hope, they just don't have
a clear program of change to embrace. It's more of an abstract "hope". The
human spirit IS amazing.
At last we took some time off!! Courtney, my daughter, came
January 9th, what a treat!!! She continues to amaze me.
I do want to report on one piece of our vacation. We went to the island
of Ometepe (in Lake Nicaragua) and for three nights stayed at the base
of the Maderas volcano on a coffee cooperative. Beautiful setting,
warm fun cooperative members, and lots of monkeys! One day we climbed
the volcano, or actually, Paul and Courtney climbed the volcano. I went
half way and wisely decided my back wouldn't handle the slippery mud. I
had a delightful stroll back down and knew I'd made the right decision when
Paul and Courtney limped in at dusk. They enjoyed....I enjoyed!
The coffee cooperative, Finca Magdalena, was formed in 1980, currently
has 20 members (5 are women), and has wisely diversified by offering food
and sleeping quarters to visitors. Getting there requires a rough
bus ride of an hour and a half (bus isn't frequent and most people seem
to take the 4 am bus) and then a hike of about a kilometer. I was constantly
amazed by the line of people that would come walking up the trail about
6 am, fresh off the bus, and all of them significantly younger than Paul
and I!
Staying at the Finca was a treat. We thoroughly enjoyed the
coop members as well as they other guests. What a fine place to unwind!
Plus we saw lots of howler monkeys...and I saw a white faced capuchin (during
my most pleasant stroll down the volcano).
And here's the tidbit of economic info. The coop nearly lost
their land after the 1990 elections. With the changes in government, and
the privatization of the banks, the loans were called in at a faster rate.
The coop could not meet these increased payments and were about to
fold when a young hiker from the US chose to visit Finca Magdalena. While
there he learned of their plight and offered to pay off the loan, requesting
that the coop pay him back as they could! Nice story, eh? They have
repaid this man.
They sell most of their coffee (organic, shade grown) through their
sister city, Bainbridge Island, Washington, but production has increased
and they are looking for new markets.
Besides vacationing, our other news is that we've decided to extend
our time here. We were due back to the U.S. February 7th, but now we're
going to stay until early April. We know we'll never feel the project
is completed, but with 2 more months we'll be closer!!
No more vacations for Paul! He's been struggling with another
cold, he's winning for sure, but it's a slow process.
We plan to head to Somotillo in northern Nicaragua 5am Thursday morning.
We won't be away from email connections for long and we do love hearing
from anyone who has the time and inclination!
Thinking of each of you!
Fondly,
Pam and Paul