The new centro PUMA is open!
After 2 years in pandemic during which we moved the center to a new location that needed major restoration, we are fully back in service.
So what is Centro PUMA? Centro PUMA is our community center and cafe where locals and foreigners come together for a common cause.
Our cafe is run by tour guides and teachers who serve the community, so it is less like a restaurant and more like having a refreshment at a friend's house. If you are coming for coffee, a smoothie, salad, or snack, you can chat with our staff about their projects while enjoying the beautiful ambiance of our new location.
Know that all donations and all proceeds from our tours and cafe go to serve the community. We currently offer free english classes to the community,
we offer after-school tutoring and educational games and activities for kids,
and we have a library with local reference materials, guide books, pop fiction in multiple languages, school books, language learning resources, games, and musical instruments free to all visitors.
We are Centro PUMA, Protectores Unidos por el Medio Ambiente, or the United Protectors of the Environment. Our ultimate goal is environment. By empowering the community with locally-run ecotourism options and teaching the english language skills necessary to run this industry, we help protect Ometepe and the world. Our junior ranger program teaches kids to protect their environment and our reforestation program has been planting 2000 trees every year with the help of the kids who frequent our programs.
Volunteer with us, make a donation to the project (here), or just purchase a tour or sip the best cup of coffee in Altagracia and help support a grass-roots effort to engage the community in the future!
Take a tour of our new location!
Check out the before and after of the restored building, winner of the oldest house on Ometepe competition:
Inside the coffee shop, notice the recycled posts and doors from the old place:
Our walled-in garden, safe and private, will be stunning after establishing more plants in the following wet season.
Our conference room for events, classes, and expanded cafe seating space:
Our classroom annex for extra capacity:
and a focus on our tourist information area:
Come visit us in Altagracia! Hang out locally, engage globally!
