About us. Get involved. Supported projects.
Coffee sales and other products. Newsletters, links, videos. News and events.
Ecotourism visits to Finca Esperanza Verde in San Ramon. Awards and testimonials. Photo gallery.

resources
online video | newsletters | articles | websites | recommended readings | programs for your class or study group

Online video

Use either of the following links to view an online video of Finca Esperanza Verde and of our ecotours:
56K modem | high speed

Newsletters - "Hermanamiento News"

Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua, publishes its newsletter twice a year. This is a great way for you to find out about what is going on within our organization, including past, present and future projects taking place in both Durham, NC and in San Ramón, Nicaragua. The newsletters include plenty of pictures and truthful testimonials from people who have visited San Ramón. Read for yourself!

To view the newsletters, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the .pdf files:

Articles

Websites of interest

Recommended readings

Have you read any books or other literature that you found useful to your adventures in Nicaragua? If so, please email us and tell us about them. We will post your comments right here to share them with others.

  • "Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who owns Paradise?" by Martha Honey. Island Press. 1999. ISBN: 1-55963-582-7. Overview of the ecotourism industry and a first-hand account of ecotourism projects around the world. Vivid descriptions and analysis of projects that meet the goals and standards of ecotourism as well as those that claim to be ecotourism but in reality fall short. In-depth case studies of seven destinations.

Dave Catlin, Naturalist, Springfield, Missouri, USA
From a naturalist's perspective, I can recommend several books for Nicaragua travelers:

  • "A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica," F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch, Comstock Publishing Associates (a division of Cornell University Press), Ithaca, NY, 1989.

There is no one bird field guide that contains all of the birds a person might see in Nicaragua (or at least, if there is, we didn't find it). One person in the group should bring this one. Someone else should bring the next one:

  • "A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America," Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995.

Like the above title, an excellent field guide. Every bird we saw occurred in this book or the previous one. Many species are found in both. If you are a hard-core birder, buy both titles. They are pretty fat books for field guides, though. You don't want to carry both in the field. So share.

  • "A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, & Ecosystems of the New World Tropics," John Kricher, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1997.

Not everything in this book relates to things folks will see in Nicaragua, but it does provide an entertaining and readable introduction to that part of the world through the eyes of an ecologist. This is a good book to get from the library. Read the chapters that sound most interesting as background for your trip.

Ann Rivers recommends:

  • "Nicaragua In Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture". Hazel Plunkett. Interlink Books, 1999, 2002. Brief and insightful.

Programs for your class or study group

Email us to schedule a slide show to help raise awareness about San Ramón as well as social justice issues.
Slide show topics include:

  • "How Children Play in San Ramón". Full of adorable scenes of children having a good time with hand made toys
  • "Coffee from Harvest to your Cup". Slides of the shade grown organic coffee farm, Finca Esperanza Verde, and the "beneficio" where the green coffee is dried and prepared with great care for export
  • "Creation of Finca Esperanza Verde", eco-tourist center developed by Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua, work delegations and objectives of a sustainable economic project
  • "Ecotours at Finca Esperanza Verde-What an Adventure!"-describes a week-long ecotour

Video presentations and discussions on social justice issues include:

  • "SOA. Guns and Greed". Presents powerful statements from students, labor leaders, veterans and church people involved in nonviolent protests to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas. 20 min. 2000. Maryknoll World Productions.
  • "Zoned for Slavery". Shows exploitation of sweatshop labor in Central America. 23 minutes. 1995. National Labor Committee.
  • "Peace Corps at Thirty-Five: The Power of an Idea" 8 min. 1996. Peace Corps.

 

Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua
1320 Shepherd Street, Durham, NC 27707
Tel 919-489-1656, Email: info@san-ramon.org
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