apply here for summer trips to Nicaragua and Belize!!
Alternative Breaks Maymester Trips*: Nicaragua and Belize**
Community Development and Health/Fitness
*Note: Must be a full-fee paying student during the duration of these trips. If you graduate May 2012 you are NOT able to attend.
As of December 16th, prices have not yet been finalized, waiting on airfare prices.
*Current estimate for both trips: approximately $1300 PLUS airfare (~$900) PLUS international insurance (~$150-200).
Estimated total cost around $2400.
(Note: airfare is being booked for the group, you must travel with the group to and from the site;
insurance is through CU Study Abroad and is mandatory).
Contact altbreak@colorado.edu with any questions.
**Due to international concerns, the Alternative Breaks' trip to Honduras will now be going to Belize.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Dates of Trip: May 14, 2012 – May 26, 2012
Trip Leaders: Jeff Wood and Sarah Taggart
Group guides:Roman Yavich
Price per person:*see above note
Included in cost: Airfare, transportation, international insurance, lodging, meals and snacks, activities, bilingual group guide, all project materials and equipment, drinking water.
Not included: Personal spending (e.g. gifts, coffee)
Useful websites:
Comunidad Connect: www.comunidadconnect.org
Los Quinchos: http://www.losquinchos.it/index.php?language=eng
World Factbook on Nicaragua:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html
CU Alternative Breaks - Nicaragua May 2012
Trip Description
This will be the third annual CU Alternative Breaks trip to Nicaragua with the nonprofit Comunidad Connect. Comunidad Connect’s mission is to the help Nicaraguan communities meet environmental, economic, and social opportunities through local and global resources. The trip will be focused on service work at two locations in Nicaragua with intermittent tourism activities. The first location will be in the central region of the country where we will work with an organization that provides shelter and care to children who used to live on the street with addictions to sniffing glue. The second location is in the northern region where we will work with residents of a rural community on a construction project. Tourism activities will include going to the beach, hiking a volcano, swimming in a crater lake, a mural tour, and a tour of Nicaragua’s historical colonial capital, Granada.
Day1 (May 14th). After arriving to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, in the evening, we will travel to San Marcos, a small town where the Los Quinchos organization is based. Los Quinchos is dedicated to helping children addicted to sniffing glue (a shockingly common problem in many countries) rejoin society. We will be volunteering on the farm where kids who have been in the program for at least 6 months live and learn to take care of plants and animals.
Day 2. We will spend the day volunteering with Los Quinchos, including visiting their two farms, one for boys and one for girls. The project will involve agricultural work on the farm, most likely helping with planting, gardening, and reforestation efforts.
Day 3. We will spend the first part of the day volunteering and travel to the beach in the afternoon, weather and time permitting.
Day 4. We will spend the day working with Los Quinchos and will visit the Masaya Volcano National Park in the evening. This park is located on a spectacular active volcano. After a short hike we will visit lava caves with our park guides.
Day 5. After breakfast we will travel with some of the kids from Los Quinchos to Laguna de Apoyo, a pristine crater lake, perfect for swimming and lounging. In the afternoon we will depart for the city of Estelí, in the Nicaraguan north.
Day 6. Esteli has more than 300 murals on environmental, political, and social topics. We will tour the murals with a local guide in the morning and depart for Sontule, a rural community in the Miraflor Nature Reserve in the afternoon. Upon arrival we will meet with some of the community members and learn about past projects done with CU Alternative Breaks. Los Quinchos kids at lunch
Day 7 -11. Sontule is a beautiful community located in the mountains of the the Nicaraguan north. Due to its elevation of more than 3000 feet above sea level, the temperature is cooler here, especially at night, than in other parts of Nicaragua. The home stay accommodations will be rustic, with outdoor latrines, no running water, and little electricity. To experience this lifestyle and exchange cultures with the residents of this community has been one of the most powerful experiences for past groups. The community has a tourism cooperative mostly made up of women who share resources and profits from hosting groups like ours. Members of this cooperative, along with other community leaders, will decide on the service project that we will be doing and will be in charge during the project. In addition, community members will work along side us. This has been a very successful model of operation for us, because the community residents know their needs better than any
outsiders. Because the project is designed and managed by the community, it is largely their project and not ours. Therefore, our work leads to ownership rather than dependence, which can be a problem when outsiders simply give handouts. The details of the project are being planned by the community. Two alternatives that have been proposed so far include the construction of a water storage pool, which could be used for
potable water, coffee production, irrigation, and recreation. The other idea is a backstop at the community baseball field. Baseball is the most popular sport in Nicaragua and even the smallest communities usually have field. The community will have an assembly to decide on one of these or another option for our work. In addition to the service work, we will tour the coffee farm which serves as the major source of income in this
area, have a clay-making workshop with a local artist, and visit several lookouts with incredible views. Other activities may include milking cows and bird watching. We will eat breakfast and dinner with our home stay families and, mostly likely, eat lunches together. On the last day we will have a farewell activity at night with Sontule residents.
Day 12. We will travel to Granada and arrive in the afternoon. After lunch we will have a short tour of the city, and some free time before the farewell dinner and final discussion.
Day 13. We will leave Granada in the morning and depart to the US around noon.
HEALTH and FITNESS
*Due to international concerns, we are in the process of moving the activities for this trip from Honduras to Belize. The volunteer activities will be the same, however the tourist parts will be altered for Belize.
Dates of Trip: May 12, 2012 – May 22, 2012
Trip Leaders: Lindsey Jones and Amy Moore-Shipley
Group guides:Ana Weir and Michael Sandrock
Price per person: *see above note
Included in cost: Airfare, transportation, international insurance, lodging, meals and snacks, activities, bilingual group guide, all project materials and equipment, drinking water.
Not included: Personal spending (e.g. gifts, coffee)
Useful websites:
One World Running: oneworldrunning.com
Itinerary (subject to change):
May 12, Saturday: Fly Denver-Belize. Dinner together. Orientation Meeting.
May 13 Sunday: Unpacking the shoes, and setting up clinics to get ready to start working on Monday.
May 14 Monday: Work in health clinics and schools; start at 8 a.m., finish at 4 p.m. every day. OWR Run race preparation. Yoga (Hot!) preparation. Historian talk.
May 15 Tuesday: Work clinic/school distribution. Visiting schools. Local tour in p.m.
May 16 Wednesday: Shoe distribution; medical clinic. Evening free.
May 17 Thursday: OWR Race, clinic work. Afternoon: Drive to village..
May 18 Friday: Shoe distribution. Tour..
May 19 Saturday Drive to town amd catch ferry.
May 20 Sunday Free day.
May 21 Monday: Free day for snorkling, swimming or hanging out.
May 22 Tuesday: Fly Belize-U.S.
contact altbreak@colorado.edu to be added to the CU Alternative Breaks list |
