First financial investments

Donations are coming in, and we’re so excited and grateful for all the support! We are applying to grants to add to the family-and-friends campaign, and we have a pretty good list going of what we plan on buying with all of that.

We have already bought some books, and plan on buying many more. Some of those are ones we had for ourselves and will donate to the cause, including environmental education classics:

English language, but simple enough.

…and just plain good reads (since it’s hard to get good books on the island):

To get people to read, you need something interesting first.
Left to right: The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, Ender's Game, by
Orson Scott Card, and Burro Genious (a Mexican-American memoir)
by Victor Villasenor.

We plan on helping with English learning, so we have some easier books in Spanish and English – this collection will be increased for sure:

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss (which we will get an English copy of soon),
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, and a side-by-side English-Spanish compilation of
many Curious George stories, by H.A. Rey.

Of course, we have some more serious guiding necessities:

Nicaragua-centric field guides really aren't a thing, apparently.

We will be getting more field guides, and more copies of each one, so copies can be shared around. More than anything, though, we will be looking at which work best, and perhaps compiling a guide or guides of local flora and fauna in Spanish with local names. That, though, requires a lot of time on the island to narrow down the huge number of species in each book to what’s actually seen around Ometepe.

Of course, for real birding, etc, one needs a decent pair of binoculars. Considering the conditions there, including heavy seasonal rains, humidity, and cloud forests at higher altitudes, binoculars need to be sturdy to handle field use. And, of course, they can’t be too pricey, so we can afford enough pairs for many tour guides to use. Jeff is a master internet researcher and found these:

He’s been using these for a few years now, and gives them a high rating. However, to be sure they’re the best for the conditions, we’d like to get a couple pairs of other, similar types to test out.

We’re looking into getting daypacks, basic first aid equipment and books, and perhaps things like trekking poles and decent hiking shoes, for the tour guides down there as well.

Getting all of this down there will be a trick, but we have people down there to send some to in the mail (international shipping is pricey, though!), some friends in the airline business, and hopefully friends visiting who can ferry stuff down. We definitely won’t be doing one huge load, as we will want to try some things out before buying in bulk for all the tour guides. Good thing we’ve dealt with these kinds of logistics before in our seasonal living and international travel!

This is all very exciting, but we still have our jobs to do in Florida for a few months. Also, some exploring. This is us over the weekend, remembering to live life in the present!

Cheers, and thanks for your support!