What’s up! My name is Parry and I’m from Fremont, CA, and today I had the wonderful opportunity of being the leader of the day. Thank you for coming to this page and reading about Estelí 1C!!

Yesterday was sort of like an agglomerated mess of fantastic fun and stress. The morning made us feel fairly groggy because we woke up a little after five, but the field trip after breakfast energized us. We went to a small communal farm called “La Garnucha”, and explored every wonderful aspect of this lovely place.

La Garnucha is a self-sustainable farm that endorses fair trade practices; the farm exemplified the effects of sharing the profits. Not only is the place aesthetically beautiful, it also seemed to evoke an open and honest atmosphere. Children and adults alike smiled as they saw us exploring the community. Pablo, our delegation’s contact at the farm, greeted us with a big smile right after we got there. After the workers finished their shift and greeted us, we started on our daily activities. We divided into three groups, with each one doing a different task normally done on the farm. We took turns feeding goats, cleaning beets and carrots, and shelling coffee beans! It was especially interesting to see the uncooked coffee beans, which had a goldfish hue, and the baby goats, which were fun to hold! Altogether, it was a good time: other workers laughed along with us whenever we spilled coffee beans, and encouraged us when we pet the goats.

After coming back to the hostel, we sat down and starting prepping for our community action project (CAP). It was a bit hectic trying to figure out our plan for the next few days, but we managed to make a building team for each EcoPark structure. As a group, we learned how absolutely stressful it is to start a project from scratch, and how lucky we were to be working with two wonderful organizations. Once CAP prep finished, we had our nightly meeting and the passing of the torch for the next leader of the day.

Overall, it was an empowering and enriching experience being leader of the day. It was empowering because I did my best to show initiative and work alongside the group. It was enriching because we got to go to an amazing farm that will stay entrenched in our memories.

Food for thought! In the U.S., organically grown produce is always smiled upon. It makes up a strong niche market, and is generally more expensive than other chemically grown produce. However, it’s the other way around in northern Nicaragua. La Garnucha is one example of a farm that makes everything itself, including its own compost, which means that they don’t have to import anything from anywhere else. Therefore, the farm is able to sell to a larger percentage of the community, while maintaining a conscientious mind.

E1C over and out!