Author: Denver

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Help Us Support Projects In Nicaragua

Dear Friends & Family,

We wanted to share a letter we wrote in support of fundraising efforts for projects in Nicaragua connected to La Mariposa, the place we did our language study. We were so impressed with the projects connected to La Mariposa in their support of the local community, children’s programs, animal rescue, and environment protection, that we want to help with fundraising efforts for some of these projects.

Prior to the political crisis in 2018, these projects were fully funded by tourism dollars at La Mariposa. We are starting monthly sponsorship programs to ensure these programs have steady income that is not so reliant on tourism in Nicaragua.

We need 20 people to donate $35 a month to fully fund Chispa de Vida, a program for children with disabilities. Learn More Here.

Equine program at Chispa de Vida – a program for children with disabilities.

This program is especially close to our hearts because we are in the process of adopting a child with special needs. The services and medical treatment he is able to receive for free through USA government programs is amazing. Without programs like Chispa de Vida, children in Nicaragua with disabilities have far fewer opportunities.

There are also plenty of other sponsorship opportunities if you have a special place in your heart for horses or dogs.

Cheyenne feeding rescued dogs at La Mariposa

Please read our full letter below, and we ask that you consider a monthly donation to one of these programs.

Denver & Tara

Our visit to Volcano Masaya, which we could see from La Mariposa

Dear Mariposa Supporters,

Those of you who have visited La Mariposa know that it is much more than a language school. It is a place of employment, an animal rescue & environmental sanctuary, a resource for local children with disabilities, community projects, and so much more. All these projects were started through revenue generated by students like you and me coming to the Mariposa. However, the political situation in 2018 and continuing into 2019 has decreased attendance to the school, and in turn hurt revenue to support these wonderful programs. We want to challenge you to support these projects through tax deductible giving this holiday season.

Why We fell in Love with La Mariposa

We are Denver and Tara Steiner (Ohio, USA), and we would like to share our family’s journey of how we fell in love with La Mariposa and why we have chosen to continue to support its projects.

Both of us had spent time in other countries individually before we met, and as parents we desired for our children to have an immersive experience in another culture. In our research to find a family-friendly setting, Tara discovered a number of travel blogs recommending La Mariposa for families with children. We checked out the La Mariposa Website, and knew that was where we needed to go. So in February of 2018 we traveled to Nicaragua without the kids to get a better feel for the school and plan out our future trip.

At that time, the Eco-hotel was so full of guests that we were placed with a host family (which was an amazing experience in itself) because there were no rooms left at the school. We got a tour of the various La Mariposa projects, rode horses up the mountain, and joined two micro-buses full of students to La Boquita beach (which quickly became our favorite beach ever). We excitedly made reservations for our family to return later that year.

Two months later, we were horrified to learn of the violent crackdown on protests at the hands of the government. La Mariposa school closed for a time, and we reluctantly started researching a plan B in another Spanish-speaking country if Nicaragua wasn’t an option. However, every place we researched online just didn’t feel right. They seem to do some things well, but they weren’t La Mariposa. It felt like we were compromising what we wanted our kids to experience.

Fortunately, by December 2018, the situation had settled down enough for La Mariposa to reopen. So in mid-December we took our 3 children (ages 8, 7, and 3) and traveled to Nicaragua as planned (and, by the way, felt perfectly safe for the 2+ months total we spent in the country, so don’t let fear stop you from coming). Over the next 6 weeks, we all studied Spanish with great teachers, explored Nicaraguan culture in a new city every weekend, swam in a volcanic lagoon every Wednesday, and so much more. We joined the participants in Chispa de Vida for their Christmas program. Tara volunteered in the newly-opened children’s program in San Pedro. Our kids each had their favorite rescue dogs, and our daughter looked forward to horseback riding every Sunday on rescued horses. Our family fell in love with the school, the staff, the animals, and the country.

  • New rescued puppies
  • Tara volunteering in one of the local children’s projects
  • Rescued Horses used for riding

We could go on, but that is not the purpose of this email. Check out our family blog to read more about our experience in Nicaragua, or watch our children’s presentation of our trip to their classmates back home.

While we were having a blast at La Mariposa, we also watched it struggle. There were a handful of other wonderful students, but nowhere near the numbers La Mariposa had seen previously. The absence of college groups was especially challenging. Finances got tight, staff salaries had to be cut in half, some staff left, and for a time even the Chispa de Vida program had to be closed to the children who so need those therapies, until several donors stepped forward to help it reopen.

Today we are hopeful that La Mariposa is making a comeback. That said, we never want to see any of these wonderful projects close or turn away children or animals that need rescued simply because of lack of funds due to political situations and other circumstances outside their control. To ensure these programs continue to operate, La Mariposa needs your help in ongoing support of these programs.

Ways You Can Help La Mariposa

1.       Visit – Come stay at La Mariposa, learn (more) Spanish, learn more about Nicaraguan culture, and volunteer at one of the projects. Invite your friends and family to experience La Mariposa for the first time. Encourage college and other groups to return. Your money will be used to pay staff salaries, give them dignified work, and the profit will continue to support the various projects. Online Skype classes are also available

2.       Ongoing Giving – We challenge all friends of La Mariposa who care about its future to consider monthly giving to one of the projects below, so that they will have a stable income independent of the state of tourism within the country.

  • Chispa de Vida – a program providing helpful therapies for children with disabilities. We need 20 people to sponsor children at $35/month to fully fund this program, and ensure these children can continue receiving the services provided (physical, equine, and hydro therapy). Click here for monthly giving.
  • Dog Sponsorship – $25/month covers food and veterinary services for the many rescued dogs that are part of the unique personality of La Mariposa. We currently have 5 sponsors, and are looking for 15 more to fully cover our dog rescue programs. Click here to sponsor a dog.
  • Horse Sponsorship – $35/month covers food and veterinary services for our rescued horses (many of which help provide equine therapy for the children in Chispa de Vida!). We need 20 sponsors at this level to fully fund the horse care project. We challenge individuals and even 4-H groups and riding clubs to consider sponsoring a horse together. Click here to sponsor a Horse.

3.       One-Time Giving – We welcome any one-time, end-of year gifts designated to any of the projects listed above. Additionally, the following are some special project considerations:

  • $10 buys diapers for a disabled child for 2 weeks
  • $20 funds the sterilisation of a dog
  • $30 provides wages for one week for one of the gardeners
  • $50 buys 15 days worth of materials for the 5 children’s projects
  • $100 pays for two tankers to deliver water to communities who have no water supply 

4.       Carbon Offsets – Global warming is a looming reality that disproportionately affects countries like Nicaragua. Perhaps the company you work for or you individually would like to purchase carbon offsets. Asociación Tierra is an NGO started by Paulette to support environmental projects and education. With money given here, hundreds of trees are being planted to help offset the vast areas of forest that have been cleared for dragonfruit exports. Larger giving would also allow additional land to be purchased and reforested. Contact Paulette if you have more questions or ideas on how you can contribute to this.

  • $50 – Purchase Native Trees

If you are receiving this letter, it is because you also love La Mariposa and we know you want to see its work in Nicaragua survive as much as our family does. Thank you for your consideration of ways you can help us keep Paulette’s dream alive for the sake of the communities surrounding the school who have benefitted from its presence, and all of us who have learned so much from being a part of it.  

Gracias por tu amistad y apoyo a La Mariposa,

Denver & Tara Steiner

Last day at the Mariposa (although we plan to return many times more!)
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Trip Recap

Our last month (March) as we traveled through Guatemala & Belize was a bit of a blur. We spent more time enjoying ourselves and seeing new sites, then we did keeping up on our blog. Perhaps we’ll come back and finish out our Travels through Antigua, Tikal, and Belize. But for now I want to post this, a trip recap by our children which sums up the entire trip well.

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Saturday in Managua

Most of the guidebooks I’ve read have treated the capital city, Managua, as a place to fly into, but then leave as fast as possible to get to your final destination. Other than a few business trips to edge of Managua, we had pretty much avoided it, despite being less than an hour away. We decided to give it a try our last free Saturday at La Mariposa.

At the recommendation of a college friend of mine, Derek Charles, we agreed to meet him and his family at an Aquatic Park in northern Managua. Derek and his wife Rebekah have been serving with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) as country representatives in Managua since 2015. Their kids Lia (8), Silas (6), and Miriam (2) were close in age to our three children, and I was eager to give our kids a chance to rub shoulders with “Third Culture Kids” and see part of their life in Nicaragua.

Not sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised by the Aquatic park. The water park was only two years old and rivaled many parks you can find back home. One big difference, adults weren’t allowed on slides and larger equipment, everything was for kids.  (Water slides aren’t very well regulated, and “crashes” are common. So less adults might actually be safer). Our kids were initially shy, but quickly overcame that and made new friends with the Charles kids. The older kids soon could navigate the larger structures and slides together without us. This gave parents time to chat, while we tailed Cheyenne and Miriam in the kiddy pool area.

After a pizza and chicken lunch, we said goodbye to Rebekah and Miriam and sent them off for naps. The rest of us explored the rest of Xolotlan park. They have an impressive display of scale models of cathedrals found throughout Nicaragua. It was cool seeing the variety of architecture side by side.

Following that we walked through a scale model of “downtown” Managua as it looked in the early 1970’s before an earthquake took out many of the buildings.

Models of the old cathedral and presidential palace.

From there we got a tour of many other sights in Managua. Some highlights include:

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception – AKA the “Eggcarton Cathedral”, a modern twist on cathedral design.

Loma de Tiscapa – an overlook over the city of Managua. The kids enjoyed snacks here, and running around on the playground.

    Old Cathedral – We couldn’t go in, but you can see the shell of what’s left from the earthquake, and the huge cracks on the sides.

    We ended the day at Parque Luis Afonso Velasquez Florez. It’s a very large and well-done children’s park. Our kids enjoyed paddleboats, a roller coaster ride, and playing on the many playgrounds. The park was named after a young 9-year-old boy who is considered a martyr of the Sandinista Revolution. He was killed in 1979 for being an outspoken critic of the Somoza government. Just three months after his death, the “revolution” took place with the ousting of “Somoza”.

    In 2019, it is a bit ironic to observe the “niceties” of these children’s parks and beauty of some of these city centers juxtaposed to the current political and economic crisis in Nicaragua. Last April (2018), a benign protest turned deadly when government forces shot and killed 26 people. Things fell apart from there, and hundreds more were killed over the next several months before opposition protest were snuffed out, leaving a political and economic mess in its wake.

    During this trip in Managua, I observed graffiti and burn marks on scale model cathedrals being painted over and restored. My kids enjoyed the result of lots of money poured into very colorful park systems.  I saw a forest of 140 Metal Trees costing around $3.3 million in one of the poorest counties in the Western Hemisphere. While my kids immensely enjoyed the parks, part of it felt like a facade, hiding the many problems and challenges of this beautiful country. A more optimistic reflection would point out the attempt to build an impressive and iconic downtown area for this capital city, something Nicaraguans can be proud of.

    At Tiscapa, a huge monument to the current government: the silhouette of Sandinista hero Sandino, the FSLN (Sandinista party) flag flying right alongside the Nicaraguan, and on the left one of the infamous giant metal “Trees of Life.”

    I was confronted with a different reality as we headed back home on public transportation. For nearly the hour plus trip, I stood with my two oldest kids on a jammed bus, bracing myself and them for the constant braking and acceleration of the bus. Something I’m glad my kids experienced, but something I wouldn’t want to do everyday. The verdict? Managua was a great trip and worth seeing, but not something I’d do every weekend.

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    Christmas in Nicaragua

    Our last two days of Christmas celebrations have been full of new experiences. Check out the video below to see what we have experienced. Following that is a journal entry to go along with the video.

    After waking up early enough to help feed the animals, Christmas Eve started out like a normal study day. We all had Spanish classes. Halfway through my grammar class, I got serenaded by Quin singing me a colors song in Spanish. For the conversation part of our class, we switch teacher each week. This week I have Marvin, an older gentleman who also was our tour guide for some recent trips.

    In the afternoon, we joined a Christmas Eve Celebration for children with disability and their families, a program run connected to La Mariposa. The celebration included kids singing, dancing, and pinatas. Their pinatas are well designed in layers that include balloons. If someone breaks through one layer, some candy falls down (instead of all of it at once), and there are more layers to get through. This way more children have the opportunity to take a crack at it. Another unique characteristic was they had to do a “pinata dance” while they were hitting it. Quin took a turn viciously attacking a snowman pinata (but didn’t bother with the dance).

     We were also fed arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), and cake during the ceremony, which ended in each child in the program getting a present.

    At sundown, we joined a procession made up of kids and their parents. Some were dressed as shepherds, some angels, others wise-men, and finally Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. They went from house to house reenacting Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to stay, stopping at each for around 15 minutes, singing songs, and getting treats and drinks. The procession was complete with a band, and fireworks at each stop. If you can imagine a cross between trick or treating, forth of July, Christmas caroling, and the Christmas story (plus a marching band), you can start to image what we experienced (watch the video). Their final stop was at the church, where we left them to have a Christmas celebration supper at a host family’s house. By the time we left, it was late, and Cheyenne was passing out in my arms.

    Christmas morning, the kids opened a few presents Tara had brought along. Following that, I took the two oldest kids to a reserve owned by La Mariposa to release 26 Iguanas. Iguanas are endangered in Nicaragua, and were purchased at market where they normally would have been eaten. Instead we were able to cut free the string that tied their legs and that sewed their mouth shut, and release them into the wild. Thea was very brave, and helped release “Pinky” and “Tiger”.

    In the afternoon we headed for Laguna de Apoyo, a lake that formed from the “caldera” of a nearby volcano. The water was warm, and wonderful to swim in, however we picked a windy day, and the waves made it difficult to Kayak. The shoreline was filled with volcanic rocks, which were hard on the feet, but overall a beautiful area.

    Overall we experienced a very different Christmas experience outside our normal traditions, and now have some neat memories to take home with us.

    Merry Christmas to all of you back home!

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    Through the Blue Portal – Overcoming Our Fears

    Out of all the animals on the campus at La Mariposa, the 3 older spider monkeys are my favorite. Each has a unique personality. The two females are sweet and cautious. The male is bravo (mean) at times, but full of personality and strut. Recently they were relocated to the Mariposa main campus from one of the reserves due to staffing cuts. A larger outdoor classroom was converted into an enclosure to house them. For what they had to work with, the construction crew did a good job adding swings and other things to keep the monkeys entertained. But at the end of the day the floor is concrete, and a step down from their previous habitat.

    This past Friday, the construction crew finished a second enclosure right beside their current one. They did an excellent job encasing a large tree, several banana trees, and other natural habitat. They then connected the two enclosures with a blue barrow. Saturday morning, they opened this new tunnel between enclosures for the first time. The male, curious and bold, took no time in entering this new blue portal, and immediately started enjoying swinging from trees and ripping banana leaves.

    The two females, however, were scared. Not wanting to leave the comfort of what they knew and stressed by this new blue portal, they chose to spend the next hours in their old concrete prison, instead of venturing into this new green paradise that awaited them. Finally, one and then the other made their way in, and are now fully enjoying their new habitat.

     As I observed these monkeys, I reflected on how we sometimes keep ourselves in concrete prisons (metaphorically speaking) afraid of our own blue portals into unknown worlds and experiences. I’ve mentioned in a previous post, that a big part of this trip is to expand our comforts zones. It is uncomfortable at times, but the potential is there for amazing discoveries on the other end. (At the very least we can come back if things don’t pan out, and we haven’t lost anything.)

    On this trip, I’ve observed these same themes in my two oldest children. One is bold, not afraid to try her Spanish out, or try new things.  I think she’ll pick things up the quickest. The other is more afraid to make mistakes or be forced to use his Spanish. I was a lot like him at his age. I wanted to make sure I said say something perfect and was probably slower to speak a new language because of it. He also had to be coaxed out of the room a bit more to explore the outdoors. But now that he is out, he is hooked and will play for hours. That’s the good news, sometime others intervene and go through that tunnel first, and make things easier to follow. Being stuck on the concrete side isn’t a terminal diagnosis. All three of my children are still working on acquiring a taste for now foods. Hopefully forcing them to try new foods pays off by the end of the trip.

    So what is your Blue Portal? What concrete prison are you sitting in, and what is keeping you from venturing into what you need to become?

    Denver

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    Pictures & Politics

    We finally figured out the Wi-Fi password at this place, so can now upload pictures to blog entries! Please look back over our last two entries. They now contain photo galleries of our travel day and first full day in Nicaragua.

    We found out that unfortunately it was probably more than car sickness that made Quin throw up last night. He threw up two more times during the night and spent most of the day in bed reading and liquids. I think he is turning the corner, and hopefully can bounce back tomorrow.

    Another interesting note about last night, I halfway remember hearing someone driving around with a speaker system making announcements around 3am. Turns out someone in the town died, and I guess you can hire someone with a vehicle and huge sound system to drive around and announce who died, and the survivors… at 3am. One of those interesting cultural things we don’t get to experience back home.

    Cheyenne was up at 6am, and after dragging myself out of bed, enjoyed walking the campus and visiting the monkeys with her. After breakfast, all of us (minus Quin) settled into our new routines of conversational Spanish and then grammar.

    Following lunch, we put Cheyenne down for a nap, and then one of her teachers watched the kids, while Tara and I attended a class on the current political climate in Nicaragua and what has transpired in the last 8 months. It’s more then I want to get into in a blog post, and bit sensitive. In a nutshell, protest in April 2018 against the current government turned deadly with many students getting shot (likely by snipers). Things continued to turn ugly, and the current government has cracked down heavily since then (but denying a lot of their own involvement or blaming other). Because of the heavy crack down, things have stabilized since then (and we haven’t seen any evidence of the conflict). I appreciated hearing the first-hand stories from people who lived through it. It’s important to note, staff at La Mariposa has avoided taking sides and both sides have their issues. However, it is clear to me that those currently in power have abused it. Elections are in 2021, however the current president has removed term limits, and will likely run again (or put his wife in office) and squashed most opposition.

    All of this has hurt the economy and tourism in Nicaragua. Currently we have about 7 other students besides ourselves, when the school is equipped to handle much larger groups. We are glad to help contribute to the return of tourism and spread the word about this neat school to anybody else interested in similar experience.

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    So I’m not going to pretend everything is amazing…

    So I’m not going to pretend everything is amazing. It’s not. There are things that are uncomfortable… kids that wake-up way to early (5:30am) and argue loudly in a shared housing space. Long rides in vehicles on winding roads. Oldest child throwing up hours later after long road trip. Children’s taste buds not expanding as fast as we would like. Realizing I’ve already used up nearly 1gb  of my 3gb monthly cell plan because photo sync and updates were turned on.

    It would have been simpler and more comfortable to stay home with unlimited bandwidth and sticking to our usually routines. But I find that in times of discomfort and trying new things I grow the most. And this is why we are doing this – to intentionally put ourselves and children in stretching situations and grow.

    Now that is out the way, we did have a rather good day overall. The same kids who woke up way to early did so because they were eager to get out and explore. Quin spotted a beautiful blue bird. Speaking of beautiful birds, La Mariposa is situated in a beautiful forested campus, an oasis from the bustle going on outside of its walls. We each have our own teacher and are taught Spanish language in little open-air cabins, during which it is easy to get distracted by humming birds, insects, beautiful birds, squirrels, and monkeys chattering nearby.

    Our weekly schedule goes something like this:

    7:30am Breakfast
    8:00am Conversational Classes – tailored to our individual needs with a 1 on 1 teacher
    9:50am Break
    10:10am Switch teachers for Grammar Classes
    12:00pm Lunch
    1:30pm Sign up for afternoon planned activity
    5:45pm Supper

    Everyone down to Cheyenne has their own teacher. Quin has been a bit shy practicing his Spanish in front of us, but Thea has jumped and picking up vocab already. I started working with my teacher on agricultural, banking, loans, and other business related language. During breaks, and meal times, it has been fun to get to know the other students who are passing through.

    This afternoon for our afternoon activity, we drove an hour to Masaya, a town situated next to Lake/Lagoon formed by volcanic activity. We stopped at the town plaza and got our first taste a Nicaraguan playground, ice cream, and side attractions. Later we visit an overlook over the lake with the volcano putting off steam in the background. There too was a children’s park that the kids enjoyed.

    As I mentioned earlier, the ride back didn’t sit well with poor Quin, but we made it back tired and hungry. Another day is in the books. Looking forward to new adventures that wait for us tomorrow!

    Thanks to all of you who have been following us and reading comments. It’s great to hear from you. I think I finally rigged up e-mail notifications so we can see better when you leave us comments.

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    The Adventure Begins

    We made it! I got 2 hours of sleep and Tara pulled an all-nighter and last night trying to get all our loose ends tied up (animals, cleaning, final packing, laundry, etc). Last night, we also dropped off our infant foster son who my mom is watching while we are gone. So, if this post is a bit scattered brained, it is due to lack of sleep.

    This morning at 3am, we threw kids in the van with our mountain of luggage, picked up my dad (for the return van trip) and headed to the airport. The Cleveland airport was surprisingly busy at 4am, but we made it through. After getting through the line, security was actually the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had. It helped to have cute kids, but they weren’t requiring us to take out laptops or remove our shoes.

    This trip is about introducing our kids to new experiences, and it was fun seeing Quin and Thea learn to find gates and gain confidence (to the point, we almost lost them because they were so far ahead of Tara, myself, and a slow Cheyenne). Cheyenne was cute with her lady bug backpack and Elmo. The kids all enjoyed the take off in their first experience in a commercial jet. Quin and Thea did fine for the most part. Cheyenne was a challenge. Keeping a fidgety 3-year-old who was low on sleep in her chair was not today’s highlight. We made our connecting flight in Miami easily with about a 1-hour layover.

    Side story, for an early Christmas before we left, my Steiner side of family opted to give us cash towards an area of need instead of buying each other presents. “Area of need” was left to our judgement/spirit leaning.

    I didn’t expect our first recipient of this gift to be on the first day, much less the flight to Nicaragua, but that’s exactly what happened.  Our flight to Managua was packed.  Before our flight took off, Quin sat next to a lady who was deep in a phone conversation in Spanish, and mid conversation completely broke down sobbing. I felt like I was supposed to do something, but didn’t know how to approach a complete stranger. Early in the flight, I ended up helping her with her with immigration paperwork. It seemed like she had never done that, or even flown before. Through further conversation I learned her father had just passed away yesterday. She has been working the past 6 months in Tennessee with her daughter. She doesn’t speak English and has been pretty isolated because nobody but her daughter speaks Spanish where she has been living. Because of her father’s death, she took an emergency flight to Nicaragua (from Esteli area), with tickets costing her $1800. Based on the conversation, I could tell that was as stretch for her. So as she was leaving the plane, I slipped her $100. It wasn’t much, but I hope it brightened her day in the mist of a very hard time.

    When we finally got to Nicaragua, it took over an hour to get through customs. Marcelo, Lydell’s brother-in-law was waiting for us, because we had to suitcases for him. He also had a sim card ready, so I now have a phone with internet. Our driver to our language school was also kept waiting, but fortunately was still there.

    It was about an hour drive to La Mariposa Spanish Language School. Everybody but Thea and myself passed out on the trip. Driving the streets of Nicaragua, I was struck with similarities to other Latin American countries I’ve been to, including Bolivia where I grew up when I was Quin and Thea’s age. So as a random person washed our windshield at a red light for a few coins, or others tried to sell us things through the window, or as we passed small shops and a completely foreign world from Ohio, I thought to myself how much I was looking forward to showing my kids a new culture.

    The schools is great. Our living accommodations at the school fit us well. The kids all have their own bed, and we have a private bathroom. It was fun seeing our kids explore the school (they have monkeys!), and forget how tired they were. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more to share about this amazing language school in the future, but for now I hear the bed calling my name.

    Blessings to all of you back home. (We don’t miss you to badly yet).

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