Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua







	news and events news \| events (On-line Art Auction) News Hermanamiento News, the newsletter of SCSRN, spring 2008 PDF file Finca Esperanza Verde coffee wins Top Ten in Nicaragua's Cup of Excellence! The Cup of Excellence is held in coffee producing countries once a year to determine the very best coffee. FEV coffee is declared a TOP TEN coffee of Nicaragua in the competition held April 25! Press release... Finca Esperanza Verde ranks #1 in Guardian newspaper article on Green Tourism in Nicaragua. Read the Guardian newspaper article United Nation's World Tourism Organization visits Finca Esperanza Verde: over 110 representatives from 12 Central American and Caribbean nations visited Finca Esperanza Verde Ecolodge August 30, 2005 on the second day of the WTO conference to learn about the project and to listen to the 14 staff members and many small entrepreneurs providing services to the tourism industry in San Ramón tell how their lives have been improved by the economic opportunities tourism has made available to them. Press release... Finca Esperanza Verde wins TO DO! 2005 Contest for Socially Responsible Tourism and 5,000 Swiss francs from the Swiss Foundation for Solidarity in Tourism and 2,100 euros from the firm of "Europäische Reiseversi-cherung". Ecotourism projects in Zanzibar and Costa Rica also received awards. Klaus Betz of Studienkreis für Tourismus und Entwicklung e.V. (Institute for Tourism and Development), Ammerland, Germany visited our ecolodge and coffee farm in December, 2004 as part of the selection process and hosted Yelba Valenzuela, manager of Finca Esperanza Verde, during her visit to Berlin to accept the award March 13, 2005. The award is given annually to organizations, projects and initiatives which promote the sustainable development of tourism by improving the economic well being of people in the region and by protecting the environment. THANK YOU, TO DO! for your generosity and support. We are grateful and proud to be a winner. Yelba reports that the Nicaraguan ambassador to Germany was so moved by her acceptance speech at the award ceremony that he cried with emotion. Both this award and the Smithsonian Magazine/Travelers Conservation Foundation award we received December, 2004, have been acclaimed by the Nicaraguan government and the news media for bestowing honor and respect from the international community on Nicaragua. Press release (November 22, 2004): Smithsonian Magazine Awards $20,000 Sustainable Tourism Award to Nicaraguan Eco-Lodge Launched by North Carolina Volunteers Events Art is available for the benefit of San Ramon and for sale on the Raleigh Craigs List. View examples here. To participate visit Raleigh Craigs List at http://raleigh.craigslist.org/art/499020966.html. If you are looking for our 2007 schedule of ecotours, please follow this link.
	Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua 1320 Shepherd Street, Durham, NC 27707 Tel 919-489-1656, Email: info@san-ramon.org