Eco-hostel Casa Abierta, Leon, Nicaragua

Over Winter Break I visited Nicaragua for 11 days. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America, and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere (after Haiti). Perhaps their extreme poverty has lead people to adapt more sustainable ways. My last stop was Leon, which is located North West of the capital Managua and is the second largest city. It has long been the intellectual and liberal political center of Nicaragua. 

I stayed at the hostel, Casa Abierta.  They are a budding Eco-hostel, offering Vegatarian meals, recycling projects and an overall awareness of greener practices. Their mission statement is: "We are committed to the environment, we recycle our waste and make crafts such as lamps or menu newspaper."

http://www.guialeonesa.com/perfil.php?l=1

  South side of HEODRA Hospital.

  (505) 2311-0313

We are an eco-hostel. We are a work in Progress.
Recycling Zone. 

The Recylcing Zone. They collect materials such as glass bottles, egg cartons, plastics and wires. They use these materials for crafting and building things for the hostel.


The showers are made with bottle caps and broken tiles.

Waste bins and made with straws connected to each other and woven through wires! They have different bins for materials, to allow for recycling. 

An ash tray made from a beer can.

A checkers board using wine and bottle caps.

They offer a wide variety of sustainable and Eco-friendly services and practices:


Acupuncture, Massage, Recycling, Reiki, Tours, Natural Medicine, Organic Products, Yoga


Shampoo, soaps, tahini, flax flour, soy products, herbs, spices


Natural apple and honey soap

The hostel is built with natural and recycled materials. It is open air, with mosquito nets to protect guests while they sleep. 

Dorms

Mosquito nets

Throughout the hostel, they encourage guests to think about their actions and take steps to reduce their waste.

 They have a garden where they grow some of their food. The offer a full organic and vegetarian menu, with many vegan options. Everything was delicious! 

Sign made with bottle caps


Salad

Garden

They reuse plastic bottles to act as barriers in the garden.

They offer free filtered water, in order to discourage guests from buying more bottled water. 

Filtered water. 

 They have artistic signs about the environmental impact on straws.

Why should we stop using straws?

1 restaurant = 45,000 straws per year

It takes 1000 years to decompose straws

There is inspirational artwork throughout the hostel:

There is beauty in simplicity 

Unity in Diversity

Love Joy Peace

Look at things. . . Different

We are looking for people who want to change the world

Just Smile
Think Green and Leave Footprint

They encourage guests to buy local:

6 reasons to consume local:
Fight against monopolies and help construct a country that is more fair.
Generate self-esteem and security for small businessmen.
Promote an economy more equitable.
Transform the reality economy of the country.
Support families to thrive in an independent way.
Promote social justice, solidarity, and take care of the environment. 

They reuse and recycle to make art:

I was there during Christmas time, and they made a Christmas tree out of books. They are available to swap, encouraging reuse. 

Wish for Change. 
Guest write wishes on pieces of paper and tie them to a tree.

Leon was a truly magical place, and Casa Abierta was a wonderful Oasis. 

Me with my tour guide in the Museum of Revolution. He has been fighting for the Sandinista's for decades!  

El Zopilote Sustainable Permaculture in Nicaragua

Over Winter Break I visited Nicaragua for 11 days. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America, and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere (after Haiti). Perhaps their extreme poverty has lead people to adapt more sustainable ways.  I visited the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua in the Southwest. The island is formed by two volcanoes: Concepcion and Maderas, and I stayed in the middle of them near a town named Balgue. 

Ometepe is our house, do not mess it up!

El Zopilote is an organic permaculture farm that attracts backpackers to stay at their hostel.

"It is not an easy task to describe our farm briefly, it is so much more than just a farm with a never ending variety of elements. So we have decided to outline just a few of the assets which make this place and project so unique. Other than the restaurant, pizzeria and our farm products we would like to emphasize the attention that we have put into making the whole area as natural and eco friendly as possible using renewable energy and with a particular regard for a “no waste” policy. The surrounding natural environment with its large variety of plants and animals which you can freely explore and enjoy adds to the riches of our project."

http://ometepezopilote.net/

Welcome

I took a tour of the grounds and documented some of their innovative eco-friendly ways:

1. Dry compost Toilets:
Fresh water is scarce, so El Zopilote uses dry compost toilets. After someone uses the toilet, they throw their toilet paper as well as 2-3 cups of rice shells that are provided. Once the tank is full, the organic material is composted with other matter such as leaves, ash, and hay for 2-3 months. They use the end product as fertilizer throughout the farm. 

Toilets with live roofs, which help mask the odors

Dry Compost Toilet

Toilet

Rice Shells

How the Compost Toilet Works?

Compost Heap

2. Recycling:

El Zopilote strives to be a zero waste facility. They have bins in every room labeled with organic, plastics, paper, as well as larger bins throughout the hostel.

"Throw away the organic garbage in the special pail in the kitchen."

Paper

Plastic Bottles and Containers Only

Broken Glass Only

3. Solar Power:

El Zopilote powers all of their refrigerators and some of their huts on solar power. In the future they would like to be 100% off grid.

 

4. Renewable construction materials:

El Zopilote builds with natural and recycled materials. They grow palm trees and bamboo for construction purposes. They use a material called "cob" that is made of earth, clay, manure, vegetable fibers, hay and sand. They build roofs with either water-resistant palms, or fiberglass that is covered in plants forming a "live roof."

Cob walls

Thatch roof

Live Roof

5. Animals:

Originally the farm kept honey bees, but due to a few stinging incidents (guests and pets), they traded their honey bees with sting-less bees from a local farmer. The sting-less bees are actually endangered, so in return for housing and maintaining the bees, the farmer provides them with local honey. 

Magpie Jay are everywhere on the island. They also believe in zero waste, as they try to steal the food off your plate!

Puppies! Not related to sustainability but they were so cute!

6. The Power Bike:

 

Power Bike: "1 shot of our homemade liquors for 15 minutes biking. The bike recharges batteries used to light the restaurant."

7. Filtered water:
El Zopilote provides filtered water for free to discourage guests from purchasing bottled water creating more plastic waste. 

 

8. Plants:

El Zopilote grows their own food. They start many of the plants in the nursery before planting them in their fields. El Zopilote practices permaculture farming, in which they try to mimic nature's ecosystem so that the plants work together with minimal human interference.

Nursery 

9. Lookout points:

There are a few of these throughout the grounds. They are made with recycled materials and allow visitors to enjoy the beauty and see the progress that has been made over time. 

"No Photo. Breathe!"

10. Constructed wetlands:

In order to re-use waste water from showers and the kitchen, El Zoplilote has a series of canals and tanks throughout the farm that leaves them with water pure enough for irrigation. They hope to further expand this system by building one more set of tanks so that they have potable water. They encourage guests to use organic toiletries, to decrease the amount of sludge they have to remove.

11. Food:

El Zopilote has a restaurant and Pizzeria. They take the vegetables from their garden to produce organic Farm to Table 0km meals.

Pizza Sauce

Pizza Oven

Staying at El Zopilote was the highlight of my trip in Nicaragua. I enjoyed being in the beautiful nature and learning about the sustainable practices the locals practice to conserve and protect their island.