Chillin' In the Cloud Forest

I had never heard of Selva Negra when I was first told that was going to be the place for our two-month reconnect.  Situated up in the cloud forests of the Matagalpa highlands, I found myself starting to forget about the rest of the world in the peaceful tranquility. I had never heard of Selva Negra when I was first told that was going to be the place for our two-month reconnect.  Situated up in the cloud forests of the Matagalpa highlands, I found myself starting to forget about the rest of the world in the peaceful tranquility. 

            Selva Negra is a major, organic coffee plantation and resort.  The coffee made in this place is some of the finest in Nicaragua and is shipped out all over the world to be sold in organic supermarkets like Whole Foods.  When not in coffee season, the plantation also cultivates different types of fruits and flowers.

            Getting there was no easy task.  I left my site town at 4am to catch a bus to the small highway pueblo of San Benito.  Not what most would a pretty site, but it was in this town that I sat and waited on the Peace Corps bus to pick me up.  Some of my fellow “tefleros,” as we call ourselves were already on board, and we picked up more on the way.  After about three hours we pulled into the highland resort.

            The first thing we all noticed was how much colder it was.  It was low 50s all day long with lots of wind and misting rain.  The nights were much wetter and much much colder.  Luckily for us, freezing temperatures are not common.  We were still all shivering at least until we could find the one sweater or hoodie that we had brought to this “tropical” country.

            After dining at the resorts restaurant and sampling the first non-instant coffee we had drank in almost five months, we started with the main reason for why were here, charlas.  If you don’t know what a charla is, it’s basically an information session where we learn either about safety issues, medical things to watch out for or teaching techniques.  I have to say that they can be the extremely boring to rather engaging and informative.  It’s really luck of the draw on what each will be.

            After we were done for the day, the entire group set up a bonfire and we started grilling hotdogs and hamburgers.  We even topped it off with a talent show and roasted marshmallows.  The clouds cleared off and we sat out under the stars, swapping stories, playing guitars and otherwise just enjoying the company of or fellow TEFL volunteers.

            In the morning after another fresh round of charlas, we got to go tour the plantation.  Like I said earlier Selva Negra is a completely organic plantation, but it’s really much more than that.  It’s completely self-sustaining.  They grow banana plants in and among the coffee bushes not just for more crops but because the palms of the banana tree shade the coffee for a semi symbiotic relationship.  They also run cattle on the land for milk and homemade fertilizer.  They grow or make almost everything that they need, which means the profits all stay with the family.

            When people think of plantations here in Nicaragua, they usually picture hundreds of migrant workers slaving away for pennies.  Yes, Selva Negra does use migrant labor, but completely differently.  They are paid roughly 5-7 dollars a day, but are given housing, food, medical attention, and even primary school education for all children and adults who lack it.  Our guide also told us that they prefer to higher the women than the men to work in the fields.  “They don’t fight or get drunk or anything,” he said.  “They are much more reliable.”

            We even met the owner, Señor Khul, pronounced “cool.”  I don’t think I’ve met a sharper 72 year old man in my life.  His stories of traveling the world, studying in the US and being named the defacto ambassador of Nicaragua to Europe after the contra war ended while he was in Spain definitely earned him his name.

            At long lasts it was time for us to leave this amazing place.  “Khul” stories, beautiful landscapes and great company; What more could I ask for in a trip in Selva Negra.

            Selva Negra is a major, organic coffee plantation and resort.  The coffee made in this place is some of the finest in Nicaragua and is shipped out all over the world to be sold in organic supermarkets like Whole Foods.  When not in coffee season, the plantation also cultivates different types of fruits and flowers.

            Getting there was no easy task.  I left my site town at 4am to catch a bus to the small highway pueblo of San Benito.  Not what most would a pretty site, but it was in this town that I sat and waited on the Peace Corps bus to pick me up.  Some of my fellow “tefleros,” as we call ourselves were already on board, and we picked up more on the way.  After about three hours we pulled into the highland resort.

            The first thing we all noticed was how much colder it was.  It was low 50s all day long with lots of wind and misting rain.  The nights were much wetter and much much colder.  Luckily for us, freezing temperatures are not common.  We were still all shivering at least until we could find the one sweater or hoodie that we had brought to this “tropical” country.

            After dining at the resorts restaurant and sampling the first non-instant coffee we had drank in almost five months, we started with the main reason for why were here, charlas.  If you don’t know what a charla is, it’s basically an information session where we learn either about safety issues, medical things to watch out for or teaching techniques.  I have to say that they can be the extremely boring to rather engaging and informative.  It’s really luck of the draw on what each will be.

            After we were done for the day, the entire group set up a bonfire and we started grilling hotdogs and hamburgers.  We even topped it off with a talent show and roasted marshmallows.  The clouds cleared off and we sat out under the stars, swapping stories, playing guitars and otherwise just enjoying the company of or fellow TEFL volunteers.

            In the morning after another fresh round of charlas, we got to go tour the plantation.  Like I said earlier Selva Negra is a completely organic plantation, but it’s really much more than that.  It’s completely self-sustaining.  They grow banana plants in and among the coffee bushes not just for more crops but because the palms of the banana tree shade the coffee for a semi symbiotic relationship.  They also run cattle on the land for milk and homemade fertilizer.  They grow or make almost everything that they need, which means the profits all stay with the family.

            When people think of plantations here in Nicaragua, they usually picture hundreds of migrant workers slaving away for pennies.  Yes, Selva Negra does use migrant labor, but completely differently.  They are paid roughly 5-7 dollars a day, but are given housing, food, medical attention, and even primary school education for all children and adults who lack it.  Our guide also told us that they prefer to higher the women than the men to work in the fields.  “They don’t fight or get drunk or anything,” he said.  “They are much more reliable.”

            We even met the owner, Señor Khul, pronounced “cool.”  I don’t think I’ve met a sharper 72 year old man in my life.  His stories of traveling the world, studying in the US and being named the defacto ambassador of Nicaragua to Europe after the contra war ended while he was in Spain definitely earned him his name.

            At long lasts it was time for us to leave this amazing place.  “Khul” stories, beautiful landscapes and great company; What more could I ask for in a trip in Selva Negra.

School's In!

  So, I’ve come full circle it seems.  When I was younger, I was so anti-school.  I felt like my homeschooling experience was by far the best way to educate yourself.  Now here I am in Nicaragua teaching in front of classes of up to 45 kids!

                Ok, let’s clear some things up.  I’ve been in Nicaragua for over a month now and started to get the hang of this English education business.  I won’t lie, stepping into that classroom for the first time was pretty scary.  It was actually in my opinion a bit of a disaster. 

                The theme of the day’s lesson was Environmental Protection.  Nicaragua’s Ministry of Education requires themes in a lot of their classes that sometimes don’t seem to be something that fit with language learning.  None the less, my counterpart and I tried to find a way to work it in.  We decided to work on the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; all of these are cognates in Spanish and should be easy to teach. 

                We came up with some interactive ways for the kids to learn them, but the first big hurdle was our use of Spanish in the classroom.  The teacher was used to teaching in Spanish extensively in class, and he wanted to translate everything I said as I said it to the class.  Took some work, but I managed to convince him to let them mull over what I said and try to understand it themselves.

                After the kids fully understood the vocab came the grammar, and things just went down hill.  Gerunds were the subject and they are completely foreign to Spanish speakers.  Where we would use a verb with the ING ending as the subject of a sentence, they never would.  But I reacted as best I could simplifying as much as possible.  When the bell finally rang I was ready to get out of there.

It wasn’t all bad.  The vocab was understood it just came down to assuming prior knowledge.  That’s where we always trip up here.  It’s really very unrealistic to walk into the class, just  throw down a completely new structure and expect them to get it in just one class. It takes multiple tries, and you’re bound to have classes that just completely bomb.

I’ve come a long way since that first day, and I’ve had many successes.  I’ve had classes that I feel that  every single kid completely understood what I was teaching.  I think it’s really important to celebrate those small successes, they’ll keep you sane.