Peace Corps Nicaragua - 2010 to 2012

I worked as an Environmental Educator in Nicaragua from 2010 to 2012. Read the blog posts I published while I was a volunteer here. 

Below you'll find a summary of my site and my work. It used to be the "About" section of the blog during my time in Nicaragua.

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My Peace Corps site is Santa Lucía, Boaco.  Santa Lucía is the smallest municipality in the Nicaraguan province of Boaco with a population of about 13,000 people, and it can be best described as an absolutely beautiful place.  The town itself sits 560 meters above sea level in the caldera of an ancient volcano, and is ringed by sheer rock cliffs on nearly all sides.  The horizon line is dominated by a few iconic formations like the Cerro Santo Domingo and La Peña Labrada.  The municipality is made up of the town proper as well as more than 15 smaller rural communities called comarcas.

I live on the edge of town (population 5,000) in a little house that I rent.  I say it's little, but there's a fair amount of space for just one person.  I work in a few different elementary schools located in various rural communities teaching science classes and organizing school garden projects, compost piles, and tree nurseries.  I like being in the schools, but my real passion is working on projects with NGOs.

I coordinate with a couple of NGOs on a few different projects.  With Visión Mundial (World Vision), I plan, develop materials, and facilitate environmentally themed workshops for elementary school kids involved in ecological brigades.   With Alcance Nicaragua (a part of Outreach International) I'm helping to design and facilitate a huge community project building seventy improved stoves between two small communities.


One of the most rewarding things about my service has been learning Spanish.  When I got to Nicaragua I couldn’t speak at all, but after a lot of feeling stupid and sounding super gringo, I'm doing alright.  As they might say here, "ya la llevo, loco."

It is definitely a cool thing to be able to relate to another people and another culture using that culture’s own language as your tool.  Actually, I’d argue that it would be impossible to truly learn about a culture without learning the language.  Culture is something to be experienced on its own terms.

I do a lot of reading, listening to music and podcasts, cooking beans, frying plantains, hiking around my site, hanging out with my Nica and volunteer friends, chopping stuff with a machete, speaking Spanish, and travelling around the country.  It's a pretty good life.  Other stuff I find myself doing a lot (though enjoying less) is washing dishes, washing clothes, sweeping the floor, killing bugs, and telling little kids to stop robbing my mango trees.

radiant[allusions] (this blog) serves as a platform for me to channel the excess creative energy I find myself with a lot of the time.  I draw things, write stories and articles, take pictures, make videos; and it all seems to be informed by my day to day experiences living in Nicaragua.

Read the blog posts I wrote while I was a volunteer here!